Saturday –
Today was a fun chill day. We were pretty tired after getting home at 3:00 AM from seeing the Northern Lights so we slept in until a little after 8:00. I fully intended to take a nap, but that never happened. After showering we went down to breakfast right away. It was really crowded down there. I’m not sure if it was because it was 8:30 instead of 6:30 or because it was Saturday and people were in town for the weekend.
After breakfast I texted Annie to see if Kinsley could facetime sometime to see the reindeer on the property. She said that right now would be best because they had plans later. So we went back to our room and got on our snow bibs and other warm stuff since it was 0 degrees. We facetimed with Kinsley and showed her the reindeer. I think she was underwhelmed by them. As were we. They offered a Reindeer Experience that was supposed to be “magical” but we declined.
Walking back to the main hotel we noticed a little sled run complete with sleds that we hadn’t seen before. Bruce & Chris had already gone in and Jennifer was regretting her glove choice and needed to go in to upgrade. But I couldn’t pass up a fun little sled run. The first time I went down it I thought it was extremely bumpy. I’m pretty sure my backside acquired several new bruises. When I was bringing the sled back up I realized that they had dug little steps into the side of the hill and I had actually just slid down the stairs. Right next to them were 2 nicely groomed sled runs. I went down them a couple of times and then felt satisfied enough to go inside.
I was kinda ready for a little nap before we started the day. Bruce and I went upstairs to chill and nap while Chris and Jennifer made another little trip into town to hit the bowl factory store and the tea place.
We met downstairs at 1:45 to head out for “Linner” before the Art Sculpting Competition. We ate at Fenders which was pretty much a sports bar but the food was decent. They had a sign on the door that it was Woman owned. So I guess that’s important. We all shared fried okra for an appetizer. We ate it with our fingers and dipped it in ranch and another sauce. Not sure I’ve ever had it like that before. I had a marginal chicken sandwich and wished and I gotten Halibut like Jennifer.
After our meal we bundled up again and headed for the Ice Park. It was so fun!! They had several slides that you could sled down with sleds that they provided. They had ice sculptures of the ring and hook game, corn hoe (very hard because the bean bags like to just slide right off the back), a checkerboard table, a ping pong table and even a one hole ice mini golf course. We walked through and played some of those games. The next section was full of huge amazing sculptures in the multi-sculpture category that had already been judged. It was amazing how intricate of details they could carve. The last section was a 3 day 2 artist competition that had just started today. Most of these sculptures were just getting started. It was cool to see the artists sawing on their ice with chain saws or fancy picks and scrapers.
Around 5:20 we went back to our car and peeled off our winter gear and then headed to the Army vs Airforce hockey game. The Lette’s friends’ son Joseph is stationed here at the Eielson Air Force Base and he invited us. Since it was a free game, we were told to get there a little before the gates opened at 6:00. We obeyed and got there about 5:45. The doors were not un-opened yet then so Bruce, Jennifer and Chris walked right in. When I walked up, after taking my snowbibs off in the car, the doors were locked. I could see Bruce inside but couldn’t get in. As I was waiting with the crowd another guy went up and knocked on the door and someone from inside came over to let him in. I grabbed my chance and went up with him. They were like, “are you with him?” (apparently he was the announcer for the game) I told them I wasn’t, but my husband was already inside. Someone came up behind me and started asking him questions so I took my opportunity and scooted inside and off to where Bruce & the Lettes were. This was my first hockey game so I was pretty excited but didn’t really know what to expect. Our friends, the Mullens were at the game also. I need to clarify here, we thought it was Army vs Air Force like the college football games you see on tv. This was actually 2 club type teams made up of Army and Navy people. It was pretty interesting. Almost as interesting as watching the drunk Army guys a few rows in front of us who got kicked out for repeatedly banging on the protective glass but then somehow kept getting back in. Maybe they just sent them to time-out. I was actually embarrassed for them, acting like this was there first time drinking beer (one guy had all his plastic cups stacked up, drinking from the top one with beer in it – seriously?) while simultaneously representing our country. Air Force won 8-2.
