Let's Go Outside...It's Not a Nice Day

I knew that it would be a cold winter in the north of Vermont. Having grown up in New Hampshire, I had no romantic notions about the upcoming winter weather and gathered my collection of winter clothes in preparation. I was surprised, however,  to discover just how enthusiastic the locals get about the winter. It seems that the farther north you go, the more people you find outside...and I am not just skiing.

During an online search of the Northeast Kingdom winter carnival, I stumbled on a picture of a castle made completely out of ice in Quebec. It seemed so cool that I proposed an impromptu weekend to Quebec to my FPIC and within a few hours had found us a couchsurfing host. We bundled up, packed all our blankets (our car's heater is broken) and headed north. Our host was an engineering student with long hair and a hammock in his living room, who's only response to the freezing temperature was to say he was wearing long underwear. Within minutes of meeting him, he invited us to an improv show which was hilarious mostly because neither my FPIC or I had a clue what was going on through the strong Quebecois accents.

Our first day in Quebec was mostly spent shopping due to the fact that it was impossible to stay outside longer than ten minutes. We braved the weather long enough to visit the ice castle (so cool) and nearly died waiting in line to try out a luge track (totally worth it). We returned back to our host's house to find he had arranged a dinner of spaghetti and Canadian bacon for us and his water polo team (not joking). We spent the rest of the night discussing Canadian health care and watching memorable water polo clips on Youtube.

Our last day in Quebec warmed up to over 0 degrees (F) and we were able to explore a bit more. Our host took up to see the Montmorency Falls. The waterfall was frozen except for a light mist that froze on contact with our jackets and soon left us encased in light capsule of ice that cracked when we moved. The result meant that even though we were standing at the bottom of the falls, we did not get wet until we mistakenly went inside to use the bathroom and our ice covering melted.



The best outdoor winter activity I have ever seen was found at the Quebec winter Carnival. We had just about finished wandering around looking at the ice sculptures, drinking free hot chocolate, marveling the outdoor ice bar that served wine in cups made of ice, and gawking at the dancers who had their tutus and scarves strategically sewn onto heavy woolen pants and snowgear; when we found Human Foosball!

Picture if you will, people wearing red and blue jerseys over their winter jackets, strapped to long poles by pieces of seat-belt, and standing on glare ice and you will have the best sport ever invented. My FPIC and I tried a couple of rounds. It is funny to play a sport where you fall if your teammate falls and your movement is limited by your own winter pants. I don't think I have laughed so much ever.



We returned back to our car and headed back to Vermont with a new appreciation for the cold and a bag of M&M's frozen so hard they could be used as weapons.

Before I end, I want to share one last gem from Vermont. While walking on the lake by our apartment one day (because walking on a lake is a normal activity :)) we found something odd frozen into the lake. Now what is something that you would only ever find while walking on a lake in Vermont? Why an empty gallon jug of maple syrup of course.

That is all for today! :)