When you drive up all you can see is the main building (where you sign in and there's a gift shop and stuff). Tours also leave from here.
So you walk through this building and out the back. The hotel is located about 200 yards behind the main building. You can't get a clear view of it when you walk out as there are trees.
This was our first view of the hotel when we got closer:
To the far right you'll see there is a separate building. This is the Celsius Pavilion. It's not ice; it's where the locker room is, a sitting area and a cafe. We had to head there first to check in (OK, admittedly, we wandered into the ice hotel first to take a sneaky peak but then we headed over).
We checked in at the Celsius Pavilion and got signed up for the 7PM class. Yes, I said class. They give you a lesson on how to live in the hotel.
So we had about an hour to kill before our class. We went back to the car to grab out bags (we didn't bring them in as we weren't sure how big the lockers were - turns out they're big enough to fit 2 suitcases with extra room if you ever need to know this). We put on our warm layers (base layer, wool sweater, running pants, down jacket, wool hiking socks and LL bean Thinsulate boots…in other words we dressed to stay extremely warm as the hotel is around 20 degrees).
We then went into the hotel to check out some of the suites and find our room. First we wandered into the chapel (don't get excited Dad, they didn't post a service time so we weren't actually able to make it to mass…but the chapel was incredible to see).
The alter
After the church we headed in to see some of the suites. The carvings they put on the wall and the lighting are amazing. Some of them had fire places like in the bar. These don't actually give off heat; they're just for show.
After looking through some of the rooms we went off to the bar to enjoy our first drinks at the Ice Bar.
They have strobe lights built into the walls and polls which is why the lighting is so crazy.
So we went to find our room (room 34) but somehow could not figure out how to get there! There's a lot of walls that we didn't expect. Probably should have taken this map with us!
We did find the ice slide and decided to head to that later as it was now time to head to class. In the class they showed us how to get into our sleeping bags at night, told us the spa/hot tubs open at 9 and the bar was open until midnight. We sensed getting into bed was going to be a show because you can't let anything touch the floor (including your feet or the sleeping bag) and you have to tighten the cords to keep the cold out.
So this is probably a good time to tell you how smart we are. We thought ahead and brought alcohol with us. Ann made us a couple of her version of a rum and coke (you know, a glass of rum with a splash of coke). After having a couple we went in to search for our room. To get there we had to pass the hot tubs and sauna.
We then started walking through the halls.
After a few wrong turns we finally found our room (and yes, the bed has lights built into the ice). The bags sitting on top have our sleeping bags in them.
The room is around 20 degrees…I couldn't believe we were actually going to sleep here!
So from here we went back to the bar for some more frosty beverages. The bar is really cool (no pun intended!). It's made totally from ice.
There is a back room with seats cut into the walls, tall tables and a fire place (again, no warmth…all for show).
The bar also had some really cool carvings in the wall and an ice front desk
Ann sitting on a chair in the bar
Bar fireplace
After the bar we hit the ice slide. Wicked fun. We each took turn going down.
A kid that only spoke French went ahead of Ann and managed to tell her that going down on your knees is more fun. I had to try this. It was really fun getting tossed around on the slide. Around the slide there were some amazing animals carved in.
The stairs up to the slide go up and around this guy:
We decided to go pour a couple of roadies and head out snow shoeing. We were told there were 2 trails (short or long) with cut throughs. Here's the map:
Unfortunately they don't clearly mark the trails. We ended up on the tubing trail. I tried walking down it but that didn't go so well. Let's just say the bruises will probably take a good week to start going away! I talked to another group of girls that went out and they said they couldn't find the trail either….happy it wasn't just us! We ended up heading back (nearly broken glasses and all) and had a couple more drinks at the bar, including the Accident on a Skidoo which tasted like a Christmas tree.
So we headed back, put on our bathing suits, grabbed towels and robes at the front desk, Ann poured us some margaritas and we headed to the hot tubs. I should tell you, you have to walk from the locker room area inside, out the back door and the hot tubs are about 30 feet away….yikes that's cold!
It was really cool to hang in the hot tub while it was snowing out. We stayed in there until we were positively pruny. We headed back in, showered and decided it was time to head to bed.
Now, to get in your sleeping bag, you have to take off your jacket and anything you don't want to wear to bed (I slept in base layer, running pants, a running shirt, hiking socks, wool slippers, scarf and hat). So to get in your sleeping bag, first you take the sleeping bag out of it's case bag and shake it out. Inside of it there is a separate liner and pillow you take out. Your jacket goes into the case bag for the night along with anything else you don't want to wear in the sleeping bag. Once you're ready you sit on the edge of the bed and slide off your boots, making sure nothing hits the floor. Then you have to get into the liner. The liner has one side with a slit in it. You have to make sure that side is on the same side the zipper of the sleeping bag is on so you can pull the zipper up once you're in the sleeping bag. So once your in the liner you the get into the sleeping bag and zip it up. Then you have to pull the cords to tighten the bag around your neck and pull another cord that tightens the part of the sleeping bag that goes around your head. I woke up with my hat pulled down over my eyes and the sleeping bag pulled up over the rest of my face. Oddly, I wasn't cold at all…even though I was sleeping on a slab of ice!
Ann was brave and actually got up during the night to go the bathroom (and she actually came back)!
So this is what Ann looked like in bed
It was odd waking up in an ice room completely unaware of what time of day it is, there's absolutely no noise and it's freezing cold! Oddly, once I got out of the sleeping bag, and even though it was only about 20 degrees, I wasn't as freezing cold as I thought I would be.
When we got up in the morning, we had some breakfast and then decided to head on home.
We dropped our our card with room number (but kept Grover)
On the way out we grabbed a few more photos of the hotel.
We headed back to Sasha and decided to take off the boots and drive home in our slippers. In a few minutes it will become clear why I am telling you this.
I took the first leg of the drive. Ann's favorite song of the trip came on:
Thankfully it wasn't snowing anymore
So we got to the border and it happened….we got stopped by border patrol. Obviously we look so suspicious!
This is what it looks like inside (note I was still wearing my slippers). Ann was smart and put on her boots but she was taking so long to do it I was afraid they would think we were hiding something!
They took our keys and made us sit inside while they went out and searched our car. They didn't find anything so they let us go.
We decided to stop at the Flying Goose for lunch because we wanted to eat under more dead animals
We dropped Sasha off at the Hertz lot (much dirtier than she started) and headed home.
I will leave you with Ann's favorite picture:
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