Fire and Ice Festival

It’s Monday! I know some of you must be wondering what the crazy weather icon I shared on Friday turned out to be.  Well, me too.

Today is actually considered warmer in the 40s with the only downfall being ice and slush everywhere.  The forecast is clear, but last night’s was a little bit of a different story.  Welcome to driving through it all, Scott!

We dodged the talked up alien invasion and snowball fights, but instead got caught in the middle of an ice storm.  If you have no idea what I am referring to, scroll to the “crazy weather icon” link above and it will all make sense.

All I can keep thinking is how I’m glad that I was not the one in the driver’s seat!

Lunch in Rochester

Before the intense weather hit, Scott and I were able to enjoy a great (but rather chilly) afternoon in Downtown Rochester Saturday.

You might remember me mentioning this area when I shared the beautiful lights that line the streets this time of year.  They are still up!

It had been a while since Scott and I took an afternoon to go grab lunch and walk around our new city, so thought this weekend was the perfect time to explore.  We picked to eat at a restaurant we had been eying calling Rojo Mexican Bistro on Main Street.

The atmosphere was very unique and red – as in, “rojo” in Spanish. 😉

Soon after we sat down, we were offered chips and salsa, which is pretty much a no-brainer of a yes between the two of us.  Each of us was brought our own bowl of salsa, and appreciated the option of two flavors to add into our bowl, if we chose.

After five years of being together, Scott and I have finally figured out the perfect amount of food to order at Mexican restaurants.  We split an entree, and also their specialty soup as an appetizer.

Our waitress was nice enough to split this Chicken Tortilla for us.

It was a lot creamier and cheesier than I expected, but it was delicious!

Not too much later came our main dish of Chorizo tacos filled with sausage, onions, potatoes, queso fresco and a three cheese blend.

It was Scott’s pick, but I have to admit that it was a good one!

With all of the issues my stomach has been giving me, I was worried the amount of cheese I consumed would come back to bite me.  Surprisingly, I was fine.

Three cheers for me still being able to enjoy Mexican food!

Fire and Ice Festival

After any large lunch, we like to take a stroll around to walk a little bit of it off.  It was pretty nippy out, but quickly became intrigued to find out what the very detailed ice sculptures were that lined the streets!

Did any of you notice the international theme? Scott is posing with the leprechaun at the top left that represented Ireland, while other sculptures displayed well known monuments representing France, Japan, Germany, Australia and more.

Lo and behold, when we got to the end of the street we stumbled upon the 6th Annual Fire and Ice Festival!

After finally noticing the signs, we read that there was a festival taking place right under our noses that offered a few really fun and free winter activities.

The first thing was tube sledding!

It looked like such a good time, and had Scott’s name all over it.

Unfortunately for us, the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees at that point in the afternoon and we were too cold to stand in line!

At the bottom of the hill, we spotted the rest of the activities including ice skating.  Also fun, but also a little to cold for us to enjoy at the time.

Besides, we might have been the only ones who did not get the bring your own skates memo.

Everyone who was skating looked like they were having a great time!

We continued to explore, and just as we were discussing where the heck the “fire” part of the festival was, we ran into our first warming station.  Hello, S’mores!

If both Scott and I had not just devoured a lunch that almost popped the buttons off of our jeans, we would have been on that roasting station in thirty seconds flat.

Instead, we kept walking around and hovered over any warming station we found.

Umm… can you say obvious Floridians in the crowd?  It’s fine… we were cold and not ashamed to admit it!

The last thing we came across were the dog sled demonstrations and rides.

They were cool, but I have to admit that I tend to feel a little sorry for animals that live a life of work.  I was pleased to find out they switched the dogs out often and topped out the amount of rides people can purchase.

I also made sure to give some of them a little love in their resting tent!

So sweet.

By this point, our feet were numb and we decided that might be an indication that we needed to head back to the car.  On our way there, we walked up on an ice carving demonstration of the coolest sculpture there.

I hope we remember to take advantage of this festival being here next year, because it looked like a wonderful time if you came prepared with the right snow shoes and apparel.  I did not want to push it after what happened last time I was under dressed and out in the cold!

Next year I will be looking forward to trying out everything we saw as well as the snow shoeing, cross country skiing, and staying for the fireworks at night.

Downtown Rochester, I am beginning to love you.