Those of you who know me, know that I am somewhat fanatical
when it comes to anything that has an international bend or theme. You also know that I have become somewhat
obsessed with ice in last several weeks.
So when my son’s grandmother suggested that we drive up to Lakeville, Pennsylvania
for a trip to Cabin Fever at Ice Works I was more than just a little
excited. Around the world in ice – what
a spectacular idea! I was more than just
a little excited, maybe even more excited than my son.
I had no idea ice could be sculpted so brilliantly. When we walked into the large barn that
housed the exhibit my son and I could not contain ourselves while waiting on
line for tickets. First we walked over
to the Egyptian corner where a small ice pyramid stood next to an ice sphinx,
about the size of a small pony. My son,
like all the other little kids, could not wait to sit on it. Built beside Egypt was France with a towering
ice Eiffel Tower. Sure it was short
compared to the real one, but pretty impressive considering it was made out of
ice. The Statue of Liberty was small,
but my son recognized her right away and ran up to her to get a closer
look. Looking over her right shoulder
you could see the sky line of New York and to her left Mount Rushmore. The Roman Coliseum housed the wine bar, and next
to the food and hot chocolate stand stood Big Ben. Finally, tucked away in the
back corner with his arms spread out was Jesus, an ice rendering of Corcovado,
the famous statue in Rio de Janeiro.
In the midst of the international landmarks were two slides
made out of ice – one fifty feet, one slightly smaller. I’m not sure who
enjoyed the slide more – me or my son.
First he went down the smaller one by himself but then he wanted to go
down the bigger slide with me. With him
on my lap, we flew down the slippery cold surface at such a rapid pace that we hit
the bottom so fast and hard I bounced once on the matt then slid another
several feet on the muddy ground.
Leaving the barn, we stepped outside and into the back where
two men were battling out their skills as ice sculptors. We had seen ice sculpting before but my son
was younger and it was colder so his interest level was low. Therefore, I was extremely surprised when he
stood watching, his eyes focused on the saw and chisel, as the men expertly
coaxed live shapes from a 300 pound block of ice. As the saw sliced through the blocks of ice,
streams of icy dust, like snow, settled on the crowd. My son blinked against the cold as is sprayed
his face, but still he was not tempted to move.
He was more impressed by the fish than the skeleton racer in the first sculpting
competition he watched, and in the second, he found the dragon far cooler than
the Indian.
Around the side of the barn was a tiny petting zoo with
rabbits, sheep, a goat, a donkey and a cow. My son loves animals so smiling his cute
little smile he walked up to the animals and very enthusiastically petted
them. He also enjoyed a short pony ride,
sitting astride the pony like a seasoned rider and waving to his family. When
it was time to go, my son didn’t want to leave, a sure sign that he had a
wonderful time and that the day was a success.
When I got home, as usual, I couldn’t wait to upload my
photos and start playing around with them.
I thought it might be fun to set the real landmark beside the one
sculpted in ice. My indoor pictures have
never come out as well as my outdoor pictures, and while the pictures themselves
weren’t spectacular, I did have fun superimposing older photos onto the ones I
took yesterday. Sadly, most of my old
photo albums containing pictures I took around the world are still sitting in
my childhood closet at my parents’ house which means I was limited in the
pictures I could work with, but I was still able to manipulate three of them –
Big Ben, Corcovado and the Statue of Liberty.
No comments:
Post a Comment