Modern Ice in Chicago!

I surprised Tim with an adventure date in downtown Chicago for our "Valentine's" date. We like adventures more than cheesy red hearts and chocolates, etc. (No offense to those who do...it's just not our preference.)

Chicago is the first in the States to have this artist from Canada display his huge ice blocks mixed with paint. He froze them on huge coils. Throughout the exhibit his crew members chisel away the frosted top layer to reveal the richer colors underneath.

It's about 40-50 yards long.

You could view the ice from both sides. Each looking very different. There were these unique shapes on the front as you can see and I hate that I didn't take a photo from the back side. They looked like colored ice sickles. It was really cool. (no pun intended!)

It was right beside the Chicago Bean. You can see the red and yellow reflection in the Bean by my camera flash.

Then we went into the tent that had a lot of activities from other museums and cafes, etc. One station had frozen fresh maple syrup. They boiled the syrup to a certain temperature and then poured into onto a cookie sheet of crushed ice. It instantly froze and you could take a Popsicle stick and roll the syrup onto it. A yummy snack!
It was fun to see the community out and about because Chicago has had an extremely cold and snowy winter. The worst in 30 years reports the weatherman.

Out side the tent there was a long line waiting to get their face drilled onto ice. It was fascinating to watch this man work. It's a good thing he was wearing glasses...ice was flying everywhere. He ironed the ice block to smooth all the edges. It was rather interesting. (NOTE: this is not me in the photo...however I think that all girls turn out looking the same)

Then I surprised him with an afternoon of ice skating. Except we both wore hockey skates because they feel more like roller blades and they are easier.

This was our first time skating since we have been together. We never took the opportunity in St. Louis to go. As we got our boots on it began to snow.

How perfect...snowing as we skated in the shadow of the Chicago skyline.

No wonder people go on dates ice skating. It makes you laugh, hold hands, grab each other before you fall down. We saw many couples on dates. This one couple made us laugh...she almost fell so she grabs her boyfriend or husband even, and Tim made the sarcastic comment, "Oh, you know he hated that!" I looked at Tim and asked him if I should be more clumsy...he said that he liked my diverse abilities in many adventures. It makes our relationship fun!