Utah: Midway Ice Castles
Update: while this post shows Midway Ice Castles at night, you can also check out this post to see what they’re like during the day!
I visited Utah at the beginning of January, and I'm going back again to visit Matt and friends next week! #holla
One of my favorite things we experienced when I was there were the Midway Ice Castles.
About a year ago, I learned that Utah had these "ice castles" during the winter. Utah sounded like a good place to go on a four day trip, so Krystal and I went. We had a blast making a quick trip to Brighton, eating waffles in Provo, and visiting some of my favorite places in Salt Lake City, but there was virtually little, if any snow (which is why we drove up to Brighton to make some semblance of a snowman). It wasn't cold enough. Even at the end of January.
So we did a lot of fun things, but we did not get to see the ice castles.
Fast forward to this year when I went to Utah again. This time there was snow. LOTS OF IT. And I loved it, as expected. And I loved it even more because it meant the castles would be open! And it was the beginning of January this time!
We prepared ourselves by watching the movie "Frozen". And felt ready to sing "Let it Go" at any moment.
Arriving at 9:30pm on a Saturday night, Midway was noticeably a lot colder than Salt Lake City or Provo. Aside from being able to see my breath in the chilly night air, heavy jacket, gloves, scarf, snow boots, hats, and warm pants were necessary. I think I was the only one who came prepared this way. The other two couples did not expect 17 degrees, nor did they expect walking around in 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. But I liked it. "The cold never bothered me anyway," as Elsa would sing. ;)
I absolutely loved the whole experience in general. The ice "castles" felt more like an ice fort, but even so, as you entered inside the space, there was a fountain with music playing and different colored lights moving and it felt magical. We set out to discover all the "caves" and tunnels within the ice wall.
At one point, there was some fire throwers performing by the entrance. So we stood mesmerized by their tricks for awhile.
Most of us had reached our cold limit after an hour, so we walked over to get some hot chocolate. Their sugar cookies were also genuinely delicious. We took a final group photo that became treacherous as we climbed over an ice throne to get everyone in.
There was also an ice slideee. I was glad we came near the end of the night because there were less people than there would be earlier in the night. The slide had a long line, even at the end of the night, so we decided we would go on a plastic or metal slide at some point and it would probably be just as cold, and probably just as slick.
It's definitely something I'm glad I did, and it was worth the year-long wait!
Check out their website to see some more photos, tips and other activities (like getting a sleigh ride) you can do. Also, check their Facebook page for updates.
