Step 4: Make sure to put on your gloves first, then take your ice cup from the bartender and sip your fruity or spicy vodka cocktail. If you're still thirsty when you're done, just suck on your cup of ice. It will eventually melt in your mouth. 
Step 5: Cosy up for warmth in a beautiful ice throne. This picture totally doesn't do the intricate carving justice. It rocks in real life. 
Step 6: Leave before your whole body goes numb. When you buy your ticket for the ice bar, you only get to go in for 45 minutes. Sure that doesn't sound like a lot of time - until you're in there. We lasted 30, I think. It's pretty cold, like freezing. 
My dear friend Brooke loves to post about hot mansions all over the world. (Check out her blog by following the link on the side of the page.) This trip to Sintra totally reminded me of her hot manse posts. Who doesn't love a palace on a hill?
The Palacio de Pena was originally built by Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Maria II in the 1840s and was the home of the royal family until 1910, when they fleed from Portugal. The palace was left as it was when they lived there, so the inside is lavishly decorated as only historical palaces can be. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside, but we did get plenty of photos of the beautiful outside of the palace.
Here's a picture of one of the outdoor courtyards with spectacular views of land and sea. Sintra is a beautifully wooded area with lavish estates, castles, palaces and a view of the ocean. I'd live there, I guess. :)
This little tower totally made me feel like Rapunzel and the view was spectacular. If I lived here, I would totally put a comfy chair right in the middle of the tower and use it as a reading corner/book nook.
Thanks for the specific, posted objective, Rib City! I like that you have high expectations and communicate them clearly and effectively. (I do love teacher talk.) :)
Really? A phone number that connects you to the nearest public toilet? Awesome, since receipts required McDos are no longer a sure thing for a free, clean public restroom! Forget the golden arches - keep an eye out for the stick figures doing the potty dance!
These days, there's all sorts of opportunities to recycle and organic, biodegradable stuff is all the rage. Cannons don't fit into the biodegradable category, so the Brits had to figure out a way to recycle them.
So...they decided to dismantle them, paint them, and use them as barriers and decor throughout the city.
These ones are my fave - they look so....British! :)
So of course I took him up on his offer.
And he gave me his card so that I could send him the pic for his website. Check it out at: http://www.freelondonevents.co.uk/free_hugs.htm What a fantastic way to spread love throughout a big city!
We got to check out all sorts of awesome modern machinery like these giant kettles, but we also saw the old stuff they used to use way back in the day. Well, not way back in the day - the place has only been a dry brewery (no drinking on the job) since 1993. Up until that point, workers got beer tokens with their wages and they could use them on the job. People with icky jobs like shovelling grain out of mashtuns got more beer tokens, so those jobs were actually quite popular. Now they've got fancy shmancy machines to do those jobs, so only the tour guides and the tasters get to drink during the work day.
I was surprised to find all sorts of signs, pipes and machines that referred to "hot liquor" or "chilled liquor", but our tour guide explained....(and I double checked with Oxford Dictionary and Webster's Dictionary)
If you look up "liquor" in the Webster's Dictionary (for Americans), you get this definition: a usually distilled rather than fermented alcoholic beverage. So why do they have all sorts of liquor in a brewery?
The answer can be found in the Oxford Dictionary (for Brits). One of the definitions: water used in brewing. That's why you find pipes and storage tanks full of chilled liquor - it's just brewing water, not something you mix into a Cosmo or a daiquiri. 
Did anybody who knows more about brewing than me know this already? I was happy to add it to my list of useless, but somewhat interesting facts.
They are also very funny. This place is called Bung Hole 57. The name just makes you want to go in - who doesn't want to go into the Bung Hole shop or restaurant?
Check out the 76 gas station sign - true Bavarian style. 
Even the McDo in Leavenworth is Bavarian themed - how cute is that building?!? Doesn't exactly scream dollar cheeseburgers, but it fits with the rest of the town.
Of course, you can't totally change the golden arches, because otherwise people wouldn't be able to find it. Just put a pretty backdrop behind those classic arches and you'll get a Bavarian McDo. 
Did you know that in America, there are bad spellers, too? How awesome is this sign found in the airport in Missoula, Montana? Since when was the plural of "woman" womens?
By far my favorite road to travel is the I-90 Interstate. I pop on I-90 in Butte or from the cabin and drive all the way over to Seattle, often stopping in Spokane on the way. All through Montana, Idaho, and Western Washington, there are stunning roadside views. Mountains, lakes, rivers and farmland all have a place in the beautiful landscape. They even have wildlife - horses and cows out to pasture.
There are so many amazing places to stop for a break along the way from Montana back to Seattle - here are some of my faves.
Anaconda is known for the Old Works Golf Course and a ridiculous speed limit. Here's what it looks like cruising through town. 2 lanes each way and only a couple of cars moving on the road. This is pretty much the extent of rush hour. 
You may think that a sleepy little town like Anaconda would be a find place to speed above the 25 mph speed limit. However, it is crucial to drive the speed limit in Canooch. To avoid getting a speeding ticket and signing up for years of teasing by my family, I set my cruise control when driving through.
My parents, Jeff, Tina and I thought it was so hilarious that we all stopped to pose for photos. British advertisements never cease to amaze me.
