Utah Ice Castles, also known as the coolest thing I've ever SEEN

It all began on Monday, when I saw some engagement pictures on Facebook. They said they were taken at "Utah Ice Castles," and I had no idea what that meant, so I Googled, and then I gaped, and then I planned.

I texted Chris and said, "Am I allowed to take you on a really cool surprise family night outing? Do you have time? We have to drive somewhere and it would probably take about 2 hours. Total, not driving."

He told me, "Yes, but it better be good."

I responded, "Oh, it is!"

You should also know that I kind of have a history of telling Chris that things are a surprise that I would be excited about, and not things that he would be excited about, which is why he said it better be good. I'm sure in his mind the surprise outing was to Target to look at the new Spring home decor or something. (However, in all fairness, I'm excited about a LOT more things than he is. So sometimes I forget what is a fun surprise to him and what is not. Sausage? Fun surprise. I got a new shirt? Not as much.)

So we bundled up and drove to Midway, and until we actually saw them, Chris had no idea where we were going. But he LOVED it, just as I knew he would. We both did.

These things are JUST ICE. They have PVC pipes to pump the water, but that's it. There aren't trees or anything under there. There might be a little bit of wood framing, but I'm not sure.

The point is, we took almost 100 pictures. Here are a bunch. I think this is the most pictures I've ever posted. Also, keep in mind that I have a crappy camera. So just imagine how cool these would be with a really boss camera. Yeah. I know. Anyway, enjoy.

They handed out ski poles at the beginning to aid your walking. That's what I'm leaning on, in case anyone was thinking, "When did you start walking with a cane? Weirdo."

See? I told you he loved it. Also--Beard. I don't think the blog has met the 2011 beard. There it is. It is reddish and wonderful.

It was seriously the perfect time of day to go. Because we were there while the sun was setting, and saw them in the daylight, the dusk, and the dark. Also, lights come on and it looks incredible.

That is all ice. We have no idea how it got all horizontal like that.

When we left, we were SO freezing, and went in search of hot chocolate. And lucky for us, the Ice Castles are right in historic, charming, wonderful downtown Midway, as is Cafe Galleria. Which is where we found this stuff. It was the cutest place, and we both expressed repeatedly our desire to go back sometime and have dinner. They have a brick oven and make homemade pizza that smelled DELICIOUS, but it's also a coffee and bagel place. It was adorable. Did I mention we didn't need dinner because for lunch we went to the buffet at India Palace and gorged ourselves on chicken coconut kormah and naan? I KNOW. It was such a fun day.