I am doing all I can to truly embrace the winters here in Minnesota. As I am sure you either know, or have heard, our winters can be rough, cold, snowy and LONG. Now that we have little Gradie I am trying to be positive about the winters and seeing them through Gradie’s eye’s sure does help.
For this family adventure we headed to Stillwater, MN to explore the Ice Castles.
Located on an acre at 201 Water Street N, Stillwater, you’ll find a giant ice castle – really you can’t miss it and you’ll likely be in awe as I was once you see it.
There is a lot to be said of the Ice Castles at night with the lights and music, however, we visited during the day as we have a 3 year old and this was perfect for our family. We entered the giant ice structure, after a ‘mandatory’ #IceCastles family photo. Immediately we were amazed, Gradie couldn’t wrap her head around all the ice and to be honest, neither could I.
I do highly recommend you wear your winter boots as the snow you’re tredging through can get deep at times, with so many people walking through each day this is understandable. They also recommend you bring a sled for your little ones, this would be very helpful and add to the fun. There are, what appears to be endless tunnels, arches, a maze, and glacial waterfalls.
PLUS – imagine our delight when we turned the corner and stumbled upon Princess Anna and Elsa. Gradie was beside herself with excitement telling us all about how she loves them and she has their dolls at home, and they are ‘Frozen’ – however, when we got to her turn to take a picture she got a little stage fright. so Mommy joined her for the picture.
Then we found the slides – ice slides, PERFECT!!! We had so much fun creating memories none of us will likely forget anytime soon. Gradie is still talking about how she went sliding at the ‘giant ice place’ – as she calls it. While the photography skills below aren’t exactly on point, the fun we are having has been captured perfectly.
We ended our visit with a nice cup of hot chocolate, a little more exploring and left with happy hearts and lots of stories to tell. I will share that we didn’t explore the larger slides/tunnels as it was a little too much for Gradie, but I could tell just how much fun all those who did participate were having.
With locations in NH, MN, WI and AB (UT has closed for the season) there is still time to take your family to enjoy the Ice Castles and make lasting memories. Be sure to head over to the Ice Castles website for more information on your local site and be sure to get your tickets before the castles literally melt away.
As tomorrow is Valentine’s Day – be sure to have a date night like never before!!
Be sure to follow their social media outlets, so you will be kept up to date with news, closures, etc and of course, where the locations will be next winter.
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This all sounds so amazing. Sounds like the perfect place for family fun.
Although this looks fun and exciting, I am not a winter person. I’d rather be walking on a beach.
Looks like fun they are so pretty and scary at the same time
We have Ice Castles in New Hampshire and it’s beautiful.
oh that is so cool . i have been wanting to do something like this and those ice slides! ah! we get no snow here or barely so anytime I can do something with snow or ice, i am there since I was raised in new england…maine and new hampshire. i miss the snow
Wow, so beautiful! I am not a winter person myself, but I might just spend some time out in the cold if I could see some ICe castles!
Looks like you all had a wonderful time! Here in Georgia we don’t have anything like Ice Castles. We rarely get snow & when we do it melts fairly quickly.
This is cool! When I was a kid we went to HoweCaverns..Best stop we ever made .. Stalactites and other formations were everywhere it was a great stop!!
WOW! Im jealous. I don’t know of any ice castles down here in Jersey. Really cool!
I missed out! I am putting this on the calendar for next year. Looks amazing. There is something so magical about ice.
This looks just gorgeous. We moved to florida in fall, and I miss having real seasons. I used to complain during winter, but there was so much I loved to do that I can’t now.
Omg that is so cool looking. I’m adding it to my bucket list. I have 4 grandkids and I wld love to take them. 3 live in AZ so they would be so mesmerized by the ice