Woot!

Guess who just e-mailed me out of the blue!

Bob Olsen, the ice palace historian and builder of the 1975 palace! He said:

You've angsted over this Carnival stuff too long, and been treated to the royal run-around. Call me anytime. I like some of your storylines, but you aren't half as deep as you need to get.

I'll help you get to the bottom/to the beginning/to the essence of the Ice Palace in Saint Paul.

I have replied, and will call him today. Hurrah!

Eowyn Challenge Report: On Mount Doom, doom shall fall!

I have come to the end of the journey and stand today at the Crack of Doom.



I have traveled 1779 miles since I first started keeping track in March of 2003. In this year alone I have logged almost 200 workouts.

Read more about the Eowyn Challenge here.

So . . .

When do I get my ceremony at the Field of Cormallen?

Glare Report 11/1/04

I called Bob Olsen and spoke with him today. He apparently found my LiveJournal by doing a Google search on his name and found the entry where I was talking about wanting to meet him. I described the project and we talked for about ten minutes. He is intrigued and says he'd be willing to meet with me.

I asked about why the fish were put into the ice blocks, and indeed, he did know the answer. And it fits beautifully in with the whole story with Rolf. At that time, people were fascinated with experimenting with refrigeration, and wanted to know whether life could be preserved that way. They froze the fish into the block in one of the 1880s palaces specifically because they were trying to find out whether the fish could be revived again after the block was thawed out.

I read more of Icy Pleasures during my lunch hour, reading specifically about the first palace, in 1886.