2014 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Ice Palace

For the last four or five years, I've stopped in at the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival on my way to or from the farm. But now that I'm living here permanently, I thought I wouldn't get the chance to see the Ice Castle. So one snow-less, not too cold day, I drove down to the town of Saranac Lake just to see it. I pulled in to the Lake Flower boat launch and parked:

The ice castle was plain to see from nearly anywhere near Lake Flower (the source of all those blocks of ice). I walked over to take a look:

There were still piles of unused ice blocks, each at least four feet long, near the edge of Lake Flower:

I walked first to the back of the castle:

There were several entrances, and each led to turns which dead ended. I concluded that this was part of the fun and that I would have to walk around to the front to get inside. There was a crawl-through for children, but I decided not to crawl on my hands and knees over the ice to enter:

So I walked around the side of the castle:

To the front. Apparently, it had a Celtic theme this year. Last year, if I remember correctly, it had an "Under The Sea" theme, complete with Neptune and Seahorses:

There were ice figures guarding the outside of the entrance and one on each side of the interior archway:

Inside were two elaborate ice thrones, apparently for the Winter Carnival king and queen, local citizens chosen for their service to the community:

And a giant dragon, my favorite ice sculpture of the day:

There were two ice beasts of unknown species, but they were popular. Folks were "riding" them and getting their pictures taken:

Most folks were doing just as I was doing - walking around, snapping photos. But there wasn't much else to see. So I walked back to the car, where always before my dogs had been waiting for me. I drove back to the farm, about an hour and ten minutes north of Saranac Lake, where the dogs were indeed waiting anxiously for me: