The 2016 Saranac Lake Ice Palace!

The winter of 2016 had so far been extraordinarily mild and I knew that the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival would be in trouble. But I heard on the news that they'd managed to build the annual ice palace anyway, so I drove down to take a look. I parked near Lake Flower and was pleased to see that it was covered with ice:

The ground, however, was free of snow. I walked to where they'd planned to have the yearly Arctic Miniature Golf. Each station had a colored mound of snow, remnants of the miniature golf course someone had worked so hard on, but that was all - except for this snowy Minion from "Despicable Me:"

But the stations, or holes, for the intended Arctic miniature golf were just rapidly melting piles of snow:

This one looked especially sad and apparently had once been an elaborately decorated basket of fruit:

This hole had begun as a slide with a green dragon, but all that remained was this:

So I walked over to see the ice palace. I could tell, even from a distance, that it was smaller than usual, yet I was impressed that they'd managed to build this much. Small groups of toddlers were touring the ice palace, following behind their teachers, each child holding onto a rope:

I wouldn't have known it otherwise, but I heard the children saying that this was the Batman's famous Bat-Car. It was a popular spot for children and parents, taking pictures:

I went to the front entrance, where this year's theme was boldly displayed in writing made of snow. It was Superheroes and Villains - hence the Bat-Car:

There were ice thrones inside the palace but they had melted rather badly. I saw only one other ice sculpture (bottom left of this photo), presumably a superhero, although I couldn't identify it:

Yet even this modest ice palace was a wonder to behold, and the groups of children and their excitement helped me enjoy it also:

I walked around behind the ice palace, where piles of unused ice blocks remained. The blocks looked to be about 2 X 4 feet, but only 9-12" thick this year. Normally they would be 2 feet thick:

The ice palace looked impressive, but surprisingly small from behind. I'd known that it was a tough winter for ice and snow before I'd left home and I was happy to see that the ice palace had made an appearance in spite of all the weather related obstacles. This is an event which I plan to attend every year:

Arctic Golf At The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

At last, the weekend arrived when I could attend the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. It's a 50 mile drive from my house, but a yearly event which I enjoy. I found parking on a side street and walked down to Lake Flower. My first stop was Arctic Golf:

I didn't golf, but asked if I could walk around and look. Basically, this was miniature golf, built of ice and snow. The first hole was an ice castle through which one had to putt the ball:

The second hole was a big mound of snow. One had to putt the ball up a ramp of snow and through a pipe to the other side:

The theme of the 2015 Winter Carnival was "The Groovy 60s" and peace signs and hippie music were everywhere. The third hole was a peace sign made of ice:

The fourth hole was a big, fat snowman. One had to putt the ball down the snowy alley and through the pipe to the other side. By the way, that's frozen Lake Flower in the background:

I'm not sure what these ice sculptures were, but I'm guessing they were either snowflakes or flowers, reminiscent of the 60's Flower Power:

The fifth hole required golfers to hit the ball down a snowy alley and between the two ice sculptures:

The sixth hole was a - well, I'm not sure what it was. Perhaps an alligator? A Polar Bear, lying on its belly? Whatever it was, someone's ball had become stuck halfway through its alimentary tract and the officials were working to extricate it:

The seventh hole was a snowy ramp up and over a barrier. Apparently the colors did not last, because children were running around the course with spray bottles, recoloring the golf course obstacles:

The eighth hole looked to me like a snow ghost, a ghost which did not intimidate this little girl:

She made it through the ghost and to the hole on the other side. Did she cheat? I don't know, I didn't notice, but it looked like a difficult shot to me - and she does appear to be checking to see if anyone is looking:

The final hole was a series of mounds which I supposed might represent the high peaks of the Adirondacks. This was, after all, Saranac Lake. But it was time for me to amble over to the ice palace. I'll post about that tomorrow: