Magical Ice Carving Festival, 2010

What better way to spend Valentine's weekend than at the Magical Ice Carving Festival in St. Joseph, Michigan! We had a wonderful weekend checking out the ice carvings and trying to photograph them.

Unfortunately, we were unable to get into town in time to see the "fire and ice" opening ceremonies Friday evening. The organizers assembled several blocks of ice and lit a fire inside them. It was probably awesome to see. I was only able to grab a picture of it the day after.

Maybe next year we'll be able to see it ablaze.

We were lucky that the sun came out both Saturday and Sunday making for lovely pictures of the ice carvings.

Just look at this beauty. Nature's spotlight makes it sparkle!

And to add to the fun, there was a miniature golf course set up and competitions waged...

Doesn't that look like fun?!

My personal favorite was this ice carving...

What a great castle!

The ice carving that took the first place blue ribbon was...

A fish! Very appropriate for a town on Lake Michigan :-)

Here are a few more pics from the ice carving festival...

Monday was President's Day and a holiday for some (like us :-) . We went into town to photograph the ice carvings that were done Sunday afternoon that we hadn't gotten yet. Unfortunately the sky was overcast and the pictures weren't quite as colorful. We still had a good time though and had a nice conversation with a fella from St. Joe Today. By the way, St. Joe Today has moved to their new digs in town at the south end of State Street. 

Ok, just two more pictures that really give you a feel for the town of St. Joseph. First, where else can you find an Elvis snowman?

And here's the perfect photo to end this post with...

The ice carving festival was a really nice event for St. Joe. I can see why it's so popular!