Iditarod!

The Iditarod is an annual 1000 mile sled dog race across Alaska from Anchorage (Willow) to Nome. A driver and a team 12-16 dogs travel as fast as they can for glory and honor. The journey will take nine to seventeen days. Originally the trail was for mail and supplies, in 1925 the sled dogs were needed to care a serum for diphtheria.

We were lucky to have friends Lloyd and Jen visit us for the week. We began with cross country skiing and showing them some of the local sites.

For the Iditarod it was very cold .....about 0 degrees. We were invited by Kitty to the Exxon hospitality suite which was right at the start of the race. We stayed inside for a bit and then went outside to catch some of the excitement. The Saturday event is ceremonial and much more relaxed (I'm sure) than the real start. A Jamican musher came by dancing! Several sleds had an extra sled to slow down the dogs. The dogs were about 45 pounds and mixed Alaskan breeds. They were happy to be running and would occasionally grab a bite of snow to eat. One of my friends Julianne was riding in a sled. She is in the video below.
After we saw about half of the sleds we left the downtown area and went to a place along the path to see them come out of the woods.

It was a fun day.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=eae73d8ade&view=att&th=12e88346c8bf314a&attid=0.1&disp=attd&zw