Book research!
Jan. 25th, 2003 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrAs this new novel is supposed to be about the St. Paul Winter Carnival ice palace, today, logically enough, I went with the girls to the St. Paul Winter Carnival, which I've never seen in the fifteen-plus years I've lived in the Twin Cities because, logically enough, I live in Minneapolis. Note: Because this jaunt was for research, this made my parking fees tax deductible and everything. Specifically, we went to see the ice sculpture competition and the King Boreas parade. Read about the King Boreas legend here. The ice sculptures get very elaborate:
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The parade was unexpectedly long (an hour and a half), and the girls were whimpering from the cold after only a half an hour--their boots were not insulated enough. So we retreated to a Starbucks shop on the parade route and watched in warmth and comfort for the next hour. I did run outside when the Vulcan Krewe came by to get the black "V" drawn on my cheek, which supposedly gives you luck for the next year. For the book I wrote down the names of the groups and floats that passed but soon wearied of that. I mean EVERYBODY was in this parade. The Lions International. The Shriners. The American Legion. The Unicycle Club. The Elvis impersonator. The Board of Education. A float for the "Wells Fargo Family Farm Display at the Minnesota Zoo." I kid you not. Also the new Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, who was elected after Paul Wellstone died (I kept my boos sotto voce).
There are more events this weekend, but I don't know how many more I will attend. I think that the events of the book will be mostly focused on the ice palace itself, and they are not building one this year.
Cheers,
Peg
.The parade was unexpectedly long (an hour and a half), and the girls were whimpering from the cold after only a half an hour--their boots were not insulated enough. So we retreated to a Starbucks shop on the parade route and watched in warmth and comfort for the next hour. I did run outside when the Vulcan Krewe came by to get the black "V" drawn on my cheek, which supposedly gives you luck for the next year. For the book I wrote down the names of the groups and floats that passed but soon wearied of that. I mean EVERYBODY was in this parade. The Lions International. The Shriners. The American Legion. The Unicycle Club. The Elvis impersonator. The Board of Education. A float for the "Wells Fargo Family Farm Display at the Minnesota Zoo." I kid you not. Also the new Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, who was elected after Paul Wellstone died (I kept my boos sotto voce).
There are more events this weekend, but I don't know how many more I will attend. I think that the events of the book will be mostly focused on the ice palace itself, and they are not building one this year.
Cheers,
Peg