|
|
Monday, 09 February 2009 02:09 |
|
| |
What a great weekend! We were up to camp (no big suprise there.) we made some good food, homemade bread. I tried a new recipe for French baguettes. Definetly a keeper. Saturday night after dinner we went to the kick off ceremony for the 2009 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.
The Winter Carnival's roots go all the way back to 1897 when Saranac Lake was a world renowned health resort, and there is a lot of interesting history like since 1981, the carnival button has sported an exclusive design donated by Garry Trudeau, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of "Doonesbury", and a native of Saranac Lake. If you want to read more about the winter carnival check out saranaclake.com.
The centerpiece for each years carnival is the world renowned Ice Palace! Blocks of ice are harvested from Lake flower and moved onshore to build the ice palace. The blocks taken from the lake are two feet wide and four feet long, are anywhere from one-and-a-half to three feet thick, and weigh between four and eight hundred pounds. The blocks are secured to one another with a "mortar" made of slush. While designs may vary from year to year, each palace has, on average, over 1500 blocks in it, and ranges from 70 to 90 feet in length and 40 to 60 feet in height. Within each design is an array of colored lights, that each night transforms the Palace into a vivid sculpture of ice and light!
The carnival is kicked off with the lighting of the Ice palace, and a fireworks display. I was able to snap a few good pictures of this years fireworks. I hope you enjoy them.
  
 
  
Of course there are more pictures in the gallery.
|
|
