Iditarod (Sunday)

Sunday was the day of the actual start of the race. This took place in Willow, AK, which happens to be where some of our dear friends live. We drove to Willow on Sunday and spent the day with our friends on the frozen Crystal Lake.

The lake was full of people who were cooking out, riding snow machines, skiing, or coming and going in ski planes. It was a beautiful, sunny day-actually a little too hot for the dogs.

We learned a lot about the race and about dog mushing in general. Here are some facts that I found interesting:

1. If the musher falls off the sled, the dogs will most likely never stop and you will probably lose them. So don't fall asleep.

2. The strongest dogs are the two closest to the sled.

3. The dogs use the restroom while they are running. The sleds were quite smelly as they rode by. The dogs also drink water while they run by bending down and eating the snow.

4. The race usually takes 8-9 days and they even run in the dark.

5. A team must start with between 12 and 16 dogs, and they must finish with at least 6. Dogs may not be added or replaced throughout the race.

6. All of the dogs are Alaskan Huskies-small and scrappy, not the large, pretty Siberian Huskies that you seen in movies.

7. We saw several mushers drinking a beer, but they are not allowed to mush under the influence and there is testing along the way.

8. The dogs wear booties the whole 1100+ miles and prefer it to be very cold.

Gus was not allowed at the false start in Anchorage, as we were told he could distract the dogs. He was, however, allowed to be on the lake during the race and he was a perfect gentleman.

Iditarod (Saturday)

We had a fabulous weekend experiencing the Iditarod. On Saturday, we got up super early to get downtown so we could grab a good spot. We ran into this little lady on the way. I felt as though she was making a statement by snacking on the natural vegetation growing in the McDonald's parking lot.

Saturday is the "false start" of the Iditarod. Downtown Anchorage shuts down and they load snow into the streets for the dog sled teams. The streets are lined with Alaskans, as well as spectators from all over the world. It is truly the biggest event of the year here. All 63 teams do the "false start" and it gives a boost of excitement to the whole event-and to the dogs! Watching them unload in the morning was so fun. They were so excited they could hardly stand it.

Despite the fact that it was 1 degree when we arrived Saturday morning, it was a gorgeous, sunny day, and warmed up after a couple of hours.

You will notice in these photos that there are multiple mushers and even two sleds per team. This is all part of the show on Saturday. People win or bid to get to ride on the sleds, but in the actual race, it is just the one musher and his or her dogs.

We discovered a new (to us) diner, The White Spot, and took refuge from the cold. Will definitely be returning.

"The Running of the Reindeer" took place on Saturday afternoon. It was a phenomenon I knew nothing about before I arrived in Anchorage. It is obviously a play on the Running of the Bulls, but much more humorous and much less frightening.

People pay to enter the run and dress up in crazy costumes. Patrick even found a couple of Sooner football players in the crowd! And we even managed to capture a runner taking a spill into the snow.

We spent the afternoon at Midnight Sun-one of our favorite Alaskan breweries and ended the evening with dinner at the Taproot and a dance party at Mad Myrna's. Such a great Saturday!

Dogsledding

This weekend we will be attending our very first Iditarod. The race begins in Willow and ends in Nome, covering over 1150 miles of pure Alaska wilderness. In February. The dead of winter. It scares me to even think about. We will be attending the festivities in Anchorage on Saturday and the official start in Willow on Sunday. With our parkas and hot cocoa. Gus is totally stoked. We haven't broken it to him that he will not be competing.