Grapevine, Texas: The Gaylord Texan’s Ice Exhibit
I’ve had these pictures since Christmas time, but, because of some kind of flu, their journey to fame within the blog has been delayed. So, I’ll share them now. Out of season. Out of place. Out of boredom.
If you’ve never heard of the Gaylord Texan then you should know that it is basically a gigantic hotel and convention center in an otherwise empty part of Texas. It houses several clones of famous landmarks from around Texas and, for all intents and purposes, looks just like a Las Vegas hotel minus the gambling and cigarette smoke. Architecturally… it exists… but the focus of this trip was not to photograph the hotel itself (which likely merits several more trips), but rather to visit the Ice exhibit that is hosted annually around the holiday season.
After waiting in a small line, you are shuffled through a series of other lines. After waiting in all of the lines, you are handed a parka and are shoved into a gigantic tent that is functioning as a freezer. Having lived in Colorado for most of my life, I’m no stranger to the cold. However, this was the type of cold that makes the moisture leaving your nostrils freeze on your mustache (Ladies? You know what I mean?).
Though the exhibit was impressive, it was obviously for children. The theme was based off of a Madagascar Christmas special, which meant that the majority of the ice sculptures were of cartoon looking penguins and monkeys. The ice was colored to look more realistic, but it ended up looking like frozen Kool-aid. With that said, I fell upon the habit of detail photos:
My favorite portion of the exhibit was the nativity scene at the end of the tour. I was indifferent to the subject matter, but I loved the lighting and the clear ice. I think I would have liked the entire experience more if all of the ice was clear, though it is worth noting that the rest of my group disagreed.
Welp, there’s my blast from the past. I’ll now try to resume regular, punctual blogging.
OH! 