McCall Winter Festival

So Monday January 30th we decided we would go up and see the Winter Carnival sculptures.  We like going and looking at them and we knew Rachel hadn't ever been so we thought what a great family outing.  I drove up so Scott could work on his homework so that it wouldn't be a total wasted day for him.  We were a little bit worried about the roads because there had been slid offs but we really didn't get moving until about 10:00 so by the time we started up to McCall the roads had some sun on them and they were actually really nice.  We found out that the best time to go to McCall is a Monday morning.  We had only one vehicle that I got behind on the way up there.  Other then that it was just me on the road.  So nice.  We got up there at lunch time and eat at the Pancake House.  They seated us next to an elderly couple and their friends.  Rachel picked up a conversation with them and they became "Friends".  The older gentlemen asked Rachel if she would be his grand daughter.  She wasn't to sure about it but it was funny I was laughing.  She loves conversing with older people. After lunch we then went in search of the sculptures.  This year as the day wore on we were more and more disappointed by the sculptures.  I'm not sure if they didn't have enough snow in time to make them or just what happened but they definitely weren't as good as they were in the past.  Here are some of the pictures of our adventure.

Inside of the tent of the Teton National Forest display.

 This is the view of most of the display.

VW Bus.  Pretty cool if they would brush off the fresh snow that had fallen.

 I really like this one.  Its the Sesame Street Characters.  Front Left to right: Oscar the Grouch, Count, Bert & Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Moster, Snufalufagus

 Polar Bear

This snowman is giant size.  It was really cool.  Scott's question was I wonder how they got those snowballs on top of each other.  My thought was a crane! 

Rachel rubbing the bell of this walrus.

Wee this is so fun.  She loved being able to actually play on one of the sculptures.

To eternity and beyond.  Rachel thought Buzz Lightyear was really cool because of how big it was.

My turn to stand next to Buzz.

I liked this sculpture because it was Candyland.  They had cupcakes and lollipops made out of ice.  So cool.

Rachel sitting in the Candyland Building.

Rachel falling out of the Candyland building.  She was like that's to slick as she went boom.  

 

This is Jurassic Park.  A really cool sculpture that someone took a lot of time to build.  One of our favorites. The next couple pictures are part of this one sculpture.

Triceratops Dinosaur

T-Rex Dinosaur

This is the Grand Prize Winner.  We thought it was definitely one of the better ones.

This was the last one we saw as we headed out of town.  I was surprised at how detailed they were actually able to get the snowmobile.  Of course the pictures don't do it justice.  Rachel started to get tired and didn't want to walk any longer and so around 4:00 we finished up looking at all the sculptures.  We headed back to Boise and I have to say the traffic was perfect again.  Hardly anyone on the roads and the roads were totally dry on the way back down.  It was a great day and a fun family outing.  Maybe some day we will actually get to hang out up there for several days and see more of the carnival, but for now we will just enjoy day trips.