Playing in the Snow, Los Angeles Style

As Franklin Avenue readers know, we're big fans of driving up the Angeles Crest Highway to play in the snow during the winter -- especially since the white stuff can be found just 45 minutes away from our Franklin Avenue HQ. (That remains one of my favorite things about L.A. -- it could be 70 degrees at home, but we're still less than an hour away from snow.)

And after Monday's downpour and freeze, I'm assuming the snow is ready for us should we decide to head up next weekend.

But for people who don't want to make the Angeles Crest drive, there's another snow option in L.A.: The man-made variety. Evan's preschool threw a Winter Festival on Saturday.. and brought in the big guns for the occasion. In this case, the Union Ice Co. -- very busy this time of year -- came in to create a snowy wonderland for the kids:


The fun part of the job: Blowing snow onto bales of hay to create a snow ramp to slide down.


Here's how it works: Massive blocks of ice, shaved down into snow.


Kids wait in anticipation.


Testing out the new snow.


The finished product -- yep, it was quite a hit with the kids.

Total cost of the man-made snow? About $1300.