Ice Skating Donner + The Ice Tunnels!

Hello!

On Wednesday, we got to go ice skating on Donner Lake!!  Isn't that amazing?!?!  We went to the South side of the like, where the ice is over 5 inches thick, and it is shady.  We were very safe, and with a friend who knows what he's doing.  It was unbelievably beautiful, and we had a wonderful time!  Lindsay actually got really freaked out because of the cracking (Cracking is totally normal, and happens on every frozen lake; it's just from expansion and contraction.), and the sounds it made.  To me, it sounded like when the phasers were being shot in Star Trek!  It was also windy, so she got caught by the wind, and her fear escalated from there.  My dad said he would stay with her, and told my mom and I to go skate.  It was super beautiful, and the ice was super clear.  A few times, the wind got really gusty.  Once, when I was going with the wind to skate back to the car, I got going SUPER FAST.  The wind blew me, and I was trying to make turns and slow down, but nothing worked.  Next thing I knew, I was sliding across the ice in the upside-down splits!  Plus, my sunglasses flew across the ice, and my mom retrieved them for me!

My mom and I on the ice!

A really pretty view of Donner.

Yes, those are buoys frozen in the ice!

A really cool bubble garden.  We actually got to see one forming underneath the ice!

 

A really, really amazing crack in the ice.  Isn't it neat?

After skating on Donner, we went to an abandoned train tunnel that was just up the road.  It was totally iced over.  There is usually running water, but it was COMPLETELY FROZEN!!!  There were huge icicles hanging from the ceiling.  I didn't really like it because 1) I'm not into big, long, closed-in tunnels that are very dark 2) Having big, HUGE icicles above me that make me feel like they are going to crash down and stab someone made me VERY uncomfortable.  I just got really claustrophobic and kind of freaked out, and on the way back, ended up fast walking/running through the tunnel to get to the other end.  I had to be careful though, because the the 'floor' was literally ice.  I mean, the ice stretched all the way across, and there was no dry ground.  It was pretty insane.  That whole thing just made extremely nervous and uncomfortable.  Let's just say I was REALLY glad to get out of there. :)  We were totally safe, and never stood under any icicles, and I knew that.  It just made me nervous.  To finish up the day, we went to Panda Express for lunch, and then headed off to dance!  We had a very full day, and it was a lot of fun!

The entrance to the tunnel.

This picture kind of gives you a good idea of how MASSIVE the icicles are!!!

A big icicle on the right, plus the tiny light at the end of the tunnel.

An interesting ice formation.

LOTS of ice!

 A long icicle.

 A cool picture with the 'light at the end of the tunnel' effect.

This MEGA icicle came all the way down from the escape hatch hole in the tunnel, which was really high up.

My silhouette at the end of the tunnel.

Pretty scenery!

That is Donner from a little lookout point on the road up to the ice tunnels.

We had a wonderful time!  Have you been on any fun adventures lately?

Have a great night!

~Grace

I'm Back!

Hello!

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days!  I have been having tons of fun soaking up my last days :'( of Christmas break.  Can you believe that school is back in TOMORROW???  I can't.

On Wednesday, I completed the Perplexus puzzle ONE TO ONE-HUNDRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have been trying to complete it for quite a while, and I FINALLY got it!  You're probably wondering what the Perplexus is.  Well...

...THAT is the Perplexus!  In a nutshell, you basically have a little silver metal ball that you are trying to move around on the tracks without falling off.  It is hard because of the MANY obstacles that you encounter along the way.  The tracks have numbers on it from 1-100.  I have been working on it for about 2 years, off and on, and I decided to bring it out again on Tuesday.  I started off pretty well, and completed both level 2 and 3 pretty quickly.  I had never fully completed level 2 or 3; only level 1.  So, that made me happy!  My goal then became to complete level 1-3 (1-100).  I wanted to complete it on Tuesday, but that didn't happen.  Then, after about 4 straight hours of working on it on Wednesday (yes, I was slightly obsessed), I GOT IT!!!!!!  It was an amazing moment of joy.  I am now working on the Perplexus Epic...

...which is insanely hard.  Unlike the Original Perplexus, it does not have levels, it is just one thing that goes from 1-125.  The obstacles are WAY harder than the Original Perplexus.  So, I will let you know when I complete this one.  It may be awhile, because I've only gotten to 26.

On Thursday and Friday, we went skiing.  We had a lot of fun, and I am starting to go on some more fun, advanced runs!  I love it!

Yesterday (Saturday) we went skating on WILD ICE!!!  We had a 45 minute to an hour hike in the snow to get to the lake.  Some of the terrain was flat, but most of it was sloped.  We had to pack in our skates, extra clothing, and all our food for the day.  It was fun to hike in the snow.  Once we arrived at the lake, it was SO amazingly beautiful.  The experience overall was incredible!  It was really hard to believe that we were actually skating on a lake.  It was super cool, because in some spots, we could actually see the bottom of the lake.  Another very neat and special (but also kind of freaky) part of skating on wild ice, is the sounds it makes when it's cracking.  It cracks, and then it makes a sound that almost sounds a bit like a dog barking.  There was one crack that was really big, and when you skated over it, it moved, and a bit of water came through it!  The ice was 3 plus inches thick, so we were totally safe; the ice is constantly expanding and contracting and cracking.  On most of the ice, you could not see through.  The spots that you couldn't see through had TONS of tiny bubbles underneath the ice.  It was super cool!  There are also these really neat formations of bubbles under the ice called bubble gardens.  Here are some pictures:

A crack in the ice and some branches from a fallen tree underneath the ice.

A beautiful view across the lake. 

I love the lighting in this picture!

A part of the ice by the shoreline where you can see RIGHT THROUGH!!  You can see my skates in this picture.

A bubble garden.  Isn't it incredible?  Here are a bunch more bubble garden pictures:

So cool!

I think this one is the coolest one.  It reminds me of the Jetson's little houses and the big mall in the middle!

This is another picture of the one above from a different angle.

These people had their lawn chairs and stuff out on the middle of the ice, which we thought was cool/funny! 

It was so cool to just look right through it! 

A very interesting, beautiful cloud formation over the mountains. 

A reflective picture.

We had a wonderful time.  It was such a beautiful experience, and it might be our only wild ice skate this season, because it is snowing today!  Once the ice is covered with snow, you can't skate on it.  We aren't supposed to get much snow, so it's possible that the snow will melt into the ice and freeze.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and all of the pictures!  Have a great day!

~Grace

P.S. If you haven't already, please participate in my survey here!

Thanksgiving Break!

Hello!

So, I haven't posted about Thanksgiving break yet, and I thought I'd fill you in before Christmas is even CLOSER (I can't believe it's already the 8th!!!!), and there are other holiday things going on. :o)

We started out the week by going ice skating.  We didn't get any shots of us actually skating, but this is my dad and I by one of the (SUPER WARM) fires after skating.

The rink after they closed.  They were getting ready to run the Zamboni right as this photo was taken.

We had some rain, and we were blessed with several beautiful rainbows over the lake.

This year, my dad and I made an apple pie.  It is my uncle's special recipe.

The turkey: Before.

After.  It was cooked perfectly, and tasted DELICIOUS!!!!

Our feast.

Our pretty table.  We always use plants to decorate our table.  We used pine branches and mini pumpkins we bought from the store.  We also had gravy, cranberry sauce, and a relish dish.

Me hanging out with my sweetie!

Kooper has a new bed!  Ever since he pulled a muscle on a hike last month, he's been sleeping on the bean bags.  We brought them out for him, because he couldn't jump up on the couch or our beds.  He now loves it, and we plan to make a cover for it so it matches with our decor better. :P  He is actually using the blue one with his special blanket on top now (he doesn't like the vinyl - he's so funny!), because it is more manly! :P

My mom's birthday was during Thanksgiving break, and we made her a special breakfast of Eggs Benedict.  We had a really nice, relaxing day.

 I made this cake for her.  It is lemon cake with lemon frosting.  It was very yummy!

I hope that you and your family had a very nice Thanksgiving break also, and that you are enjoying preparing for Christmas.  We just got our tree up tonight (it is artificial), and we are going to decorate it tomorrow along with our house.  Have a great weekend!

~Grace

A Break and Ice Skating

Hello!

I am so, so happy!  It is FINALLY Thanksgiving break!  I have been counting down the days for the last month!  I am so happy to have days off ALL WEEK LONG(!!!!) and we plan to do lots of fun things!

Do you like my new background?  I think it's really cute!  I love the little turkeys!

Do you have any special plans for Thanksgiving?  We will probably be at home, and we will make our special Thanksgiving feast.

We got hockey skates this year to go skating on natural ice, and a local outdoor rink.  The natural ice hasn't formed yet, so we went skating at the outdoor rink last week, and had a great time.  Here is a picture of my hockey skates:

I found this picture off of the internet.  See all of the silver and gold detailing?  I'm going to use a marker and color them blue!  Won't that look cool?  We're also going to make blade covers using pipe insulation and duck tape.  Lindsay has some fancy duck tape, and hopefully she'll let me use some. :P  I'll post pictures of my fancy ice skate/marker job, and my blade covers when we've made them.  I can't wait to go skating again tonight!

Have a great day!

~Grace