Winter Bucket List Item-Ice Castles Wisconsin Dells

I had been waiting patiently for the chance to see the Ice Castles in Wisconsin Dells.  When I read in December that Ice Castles were coming to Wisconsin for the first time I was pretty excited.  Truthfully I had never heard of it before, but it looked like a cool thing to do.

All we needed was the Wisconsin weather to cooperate.

The construction of the castles began in Mid December. Due to the warm temps around Christmas the opening was delayed until mid January.  Within a few days of opening, Wisconsin was due for a January thaw that closed down the Ice Castles temporarily. Once we moved back into the freezing temperatures,  it reopened. I could never get my work schedule to cooperate  until Wednesday when Hubby and I decided to take the afternoon and drive down to Wisconsin Dells to see the Ice Castles.  We purchased our tickets online in the morning for a 5:30-6:00 pm time slot.  That time would be perfect.  We would be getting there when it would soon be dark to take full advantage of the beauty of the huge formations. The bonus was we witnessed an absolutely beautiful sunset!

It may seem crazy to some  just jump in the car and take a 5 hour round trip to see a bunch of ice, but I can say it was so worth it.  It was beautiful how the colored lights were embedded in the ice and it made the whole thing positively magical.  Even for a couple of us “older folks”, we were blown away at the shear size and all the work that went into the Ice Castles.  There was a fountain, and oversize chair for a perfect photo op, a maze to walk through. and even a slide (which by the way was a blast to go down!!). The walls of ice and the interesting formations made for a castle right out of Frozen! I felt like a kid at the wonder of it all.

Winter bucket list item-check

We spent a little over an hour walking around and taking pictures.  Even though we were dressed warm, it was cold in the middle of all that ice.  It was time to head back home.  I only had one winter bucket list item on my to do list and this was it.  I was so very happy that we took the time to go.

Sadly because of the unseasonably warm temps coming up the next week or so, last night was the last chance to see the Ice Castles in Wisconsin. If you didn’t get the chance to come to Wisconsin, you can still catch this amazing spectacle at these locations.

• Midway, Utah
• Lincoln, New Hampshire
• Stillwater, Minnesota
• Edmonton, Alberta Canada

I am hoping Ice Castles returns next winter to Wisconsin!