This past Sunday there was temporary relief from what has otherwise been minus forty degree weather (minus 100,000,000 with the windchill), for the past month. So of course the whole city of Winnipeg was out enjoying the almost tropical minus eight degrees Celsius, myself included.

Seeing as I hadn’t laced up a pair of skates since last winter my boyfriend and some friends decided to head down to our cities famed tributaries and go for an early evening skate. Last year Winnipeg won the title of longest natural ice river-trail in Canada, and for several years it’s been a tradition for Architects and entrepreneurs to build creative warming shacks along the length of the winding path.

I only got to take a few pictures before the sun went down, but the shacks and installations that we did see were attracting pretty large crowds. Not least of all the pop up Deer + Almond cafe that is situated at the fork of the Red and Assinaboine and already has over 1,000 reservations for its $85 a head meals. The novelty would be nice but unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be making it to a seating.

Skating end to end the trail only took us about an hour to complete, even after I took a nasty fall and had to be pulled like a gimp for the latter part of the adventure. This left plenty of time to watch the Jets beat the Islanders in overtime and warm up with some whiskeys before skating all the way home.

Days like these remind me why I truly love winter. All of the horrifyingly cold days become a distant memory when you get a chance to spend some time frolicking in the snow and enjoying the things that only this distinct season has to offer.

(Also, I really like wearing that read hat of mine).