when they say 'bal de neige', they mean it!!

rob, robin, jo, nadia and i set off from sunny kingston yesterday with nothing but skates and dreams as we made our way to winterlude in our nation's capital. i have to say that my first ever winterlude experience did not disappoint.

unfortunately the not so cold weather leading up to this weekend left the condition of the ice pretty poor. however, being the troopers that we are, we still managed to skate about half the lenth of the canal (into the wind, no less!). that's about 8 km round trip. needless to say, we were all pretty pooped after that. after gorging on many delicious treats including beavertails, hot dogs, poutine, maple syrup taffy and numerous hot beverages we wandered about looking at the ice sculptures and scooping up free boxes of boca chik'n nuggets. mmmm... chickenless chicken. can't wait to dig into those bad boys...

there were some interesting characters out and about for the festivities. apparently not only is the mullet alive and well in ottawa, but fur coats are where it's at. our personal fave yesterday was the gentleman with the sideburns that matched his fur coat in both color and length. ooh la la.

after all the excitement, physical exertion and sugar consumed during the day, only rob and i managed to maintain conciousness for the entire trip back. good thing rob didn't pass out... me driving standard would've been an adventure all it's own. and not in a good way.

update!!
hey look! pictures, courtesy of chumptastic.