Running of the Reindeer!

After the mushers leave 4th Ave, Anchorage is ready to let off some steam!  There is an interesting event called "The Running of the Reindeer."  Modeled after the famous "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, Spain, people line up for a 3-block race. As soon as the people, dressed in crazy costumes and foam antlers, take off, organizers release 5-7 reindeer, which run through the crowd of racers. 

And They're Off!

Paige Drobny, Iditarod musher

Yesterday was a day for fun and fanfare. Today is all business.  The race officially begins on Willow, AK, a 2-hour drive from Anchorage.  Mushers are packing their sleds and checking their lists. 

John Baker's team gives the dogs one last meal before hitting the trail.

Packed and ready to go. This is Martin Buser's sled. He is a former Iditarod champion.

Newton Marshall, First Jamaican musher to finish the Iditarod.

It's much colder, and there are way less people here. The general public had their fill of the festivities yesterday. It is bright and sunny. The dogs know it's time to open the throttle and run full speed ahead. And they are barking at the top of their lungs in anticipation. 

These dogs love to run. And run. And run. About 100 miles a day!  

We wish all our musher friends the best as they spend the next 10 days to 2 weeks battling the elements to complete the great race to Nome, Alaska!!!

Fun Facts About Anna Berington and The Iditarod

Anna is 30 years old. Her twin sister, Kristy, is also mushing in the Iditarod. This is Anna's 3rd race. Many of her dogs are puppies, so she doesn't think she will win. But she is using this race to train her puppies so in 3-5 years she can compete to win. She hopes to finish the race in 10 days. Last year it took 11.

Anna works at a sled dog kennel in the winter. In summer she works on halibut fishing boats and does construction jobs. 

Anna is bringing 16 dogs to race. Their names are Crazy, Dollar, Precious, Straight, Rooster, Zuko, Jandal, Oklahoma, Slash, Bison, Razor, Lincoln, Floyd, Kelley, Corn and Taco. Each dog has a microchip so it can be tracked on the trail.  

Anna will run 12-14 dogs at one time. The others will sit in the sled and will be rotated in as the others get tired.

Anna only sleeps 3 hours a day when racing. She eats instant oatmeal, meat sticks Go-Gurt yogurt tubes, water, Gatorade and candy.

Anna is required to bring certain items in her sled including an axe, rope, dog food, people food, something to start a fire and cook in, and a repair kit for her sled.

Anna's favorite checkpoint is Nikolai, about 1/3 of the way into the race. Once you hit Nikolai, you've passed most of the dangerous terrain.

Anna will race more at night than during the day because the dogs prefer colder weather.  Anna wears a head lamp to see at night. 

They sometimes run into wildlife on the trail like wolves and moose. In years where it is very snowy, moose like to travel on the trail, where the snow is packed down, making it easier for them to walk. Sometimes the moose won't move to let the mushers pass. Moose kick and can be very violent. If a musher has to kill a moose to defend him/herself, the musher is required to stop and gut the moose. No other mushers are allowed to pass until the moose has been properly gutted. So if the musher doesn't know how to gut an 1,800 pound moose, they hope the person behind them can.  The musher has to report the downed moose at the next checkpoint and someone from the village will get the moose for the villagers to eat. 

The first musher to the halfway point gets a bag of gold nuggets and a 7-course dinner.  

The winner of the Iditarod gets a new Dodge pickup truck and $50,000.

We can follow Anna and all the other mushers at www.iditarod.com. The website shows where each musher is on the trail, how fast they are going and how many dogs they have hooked up to the sled. Go Anna!!

Dogs, Dogs Everywhere!

Overnight, 4th Ave. in Anchorage was magically transformed. The city trucked in snow from other parts of town to blanket the street. By the time we finished breakfast at Snow City Cafe, there were dogs everywhere. (Mrs. Thornton's class, if there are 70 mushers and each musher brings 20 dogs, how many dogs are on 4th Ave right now?)

Dog transport truck. The dogs travel in the tiny boxes in the truck. 

Today is the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, where mushers run their dogs through 45 minutes of trails and everyone comes out to cheer their favorite musher on. You can meet and pet all the dogs along the street. 

In the sled with Anna Berington.  Can you believe she will live out of that tiny sled for the next 12 days?

Anna Berington hooking her dogs up to the sled. 

The dog teams line up at the ceremonial start line and take off in 2 minute intervals. Mush!!!!!

Mt. McKinley or Denali?

 

Mt. McKinley?  Or Denali? Depends on where you're from. Most people call it Mt. McKinley, but Alaskans proudly call the mountain "Denali", which is the Athabascan Indian word for "The Great One".  At 20,320 feet, Mt. McKinley is the tallest mountain in North America and the crown jewel of Denali National Park. The park is bigger than the state of Massachusetts and is 240 miles north of Anchorage.  While the park itself is full of grizzly bears, caribou, dall sheep and wolves, Denali is so high up that there is no life at the top. Just rocks and snow and glaciers. 

You can spend several weeks climbing to the summit to get views like this or take the easy road and hop a 10-seater plane on skis (ours was called a "beaver").  If you can believe it, we landed on our airplane skiis on the 6-mile long "Upper Ruth" glacier on Denali. We were above the clouds!

On the way home, we all took turns being the co-pilot. What fun!

Spencer Glacier and Musher's Ball

Yesterday Lauren and Ryan snowmobiled to Spencer Glacier in Girdwood, AK. How amazing. We got to crawl inside and slide down. 

Spencer Glacier

Later we went to the Mushers' Ball and Lauren and Ryan met all the mushers who will compete in the Iditarod. And also Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and VP candidate. 

Martin Buser, Iditarod champion

Lauren and Gov. Palin with our friends, John and Olivia. 

Anchorage in Late February

While most of the country has had a pretty frigid winter, in Anchorage, it has been unseasonably warm. In fact a few weeks ago, it got as warm as 50 degrees, and all the snow melted. The Iditarod organizers were in a frenzy and thought they would have to move the start to Fairbanks (an 8 hour drive from Anchorage on a good day) or change the race route altogether.  Luckily it started snowing again, so the race will go on as planned -- they'll just have to pump some snow and groom the trail leading to a couple checkpoints.  And they'll definitely need to pump 4th St. full of snow for the ceremonial start on Saturday. 

Above is the weather forecast for the next several days. We'll definitely be wearing ski clothes, but it won't be windy so it should be quite pleasant. 

Daylight is a funny thing here too. December 21st, the winter solstice, is called the "shortest day of the year" because the sun is only up a few hours that day. This is has to do with the position of the Earth and the sun. So then, 6 months later, on June 21st, the summer solstice, the sun is up most of the day. So now, since it's almost March, days and nights are about equal. Here is the daylight calendar for the next several days. You'll see Anchorage is gaining about 5 minutes of daylight each day. 

Anchorage Or Bust!

Well, it's a day later and our luggage is lost, but we are in Anchorage.  We saw a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains as we landed. We can't wait to start our adventure!!

Sleepless In Seattle Airport

It started out so perfect. A smooth ride to Miami Airport. A pleasant snack in the Delta room. A first class upgrade thanks to Eric. We had just settled into our comfy seats and pulled back from the gate when the Captain informed us Engine #2 wouldn't start. They would fly a part in from Atlanta. We would be delayed 3 hours. We would miss the only flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage. 

The world's most incompetent Delta employee worked feverishly for two hours to make our lives as miserable as possible. "Everybody's going to Anchorage!" She smiled. No kidding. We could take 3 flights and get there in 2 days. Luckily, Eric, the seasoned traveler, worked his phone to find an Alaska Airlines flight from Ft. Lauderdale that would get us there in the morning. The Delta employee cheerfully "booked" us putting two reservations in Ryan's name, putting me on a separate reservation and omitting Eric entirely.  And they couldn't get the luggage off the plane, but assured us they'd get it to Anchorage ASAP.  

Off to Ft. Lauderdale we flew in an overcrowded Super Shuttle in the beginning of rush hour traffic. 

We made it to the flight and were able to fix the tickets, and went from our first class upgrade to the last row of seats, which didn't recline, and were next to the toilets.  But the flight  attendants were so nice to my family and gave the kids electronic games to play with. And we were going to make it Anchorage in the morning. I was so happy I didn't even mind the baby in the seat next to me who kicked me for 6 hours. 

This story would have had a happy ending if Delta would not have also messed up the "complimentary hotel".  After landing in Seattle at 10:30 pm, searching in vain for a Delta Customer Service desk with a live person, we decided to camp out in the airport for the night. While not the best night of sleep it was probably better than what the Iditarod mushers will have for 9-13 days in sub-zero temperatures with a pack of dogs. 

About the Iditarod

The Iditarod trail is just over 1,000 miles long and runs from Willow to Nome.  Before snowmobiles and airplanes, dog sled teams driven by "mushers" delivered mail, firewood, food, furs and other needed supplies between the trading posts and tiny settlements across the vast Alaska interior.  

The most famous event in the history of Alaskan mushing is the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy." People in the tiny village of Nome were sick with diphtheria and the nearest medicine was in Anchorage.  Twenty mushers and 100 dogs relayed the package 675 miles to Nome.  The dogs ran in relays, with no dog running over 100 miles.  They arrived in Nome 5 1/2 days later.

The Iditarod Race began in 1973.  Each year over 50 mushers compete with teams of 12 to 16 dogs, racing across the 27 checkpoints to be the first team in Nome.  Most of the checkpoints are in remote areas, where the villages can be as small as 100 people.  Here is a map of the race course.

The dogs are well-trained athletes that love to run.  The mushers take good care of their health, but if a dog gets tired or sick, the musher can carry it in a basket in the dog sled, or leave the dog at a checkpoint to be cared for.  The dogs are mixed-breed huskies bred for speed, tough feet, endurance, good attitude, and most importantly the desire to run.  Here is what they look like.

This year, our family is sponsoring two mushers, Anna Berington from Kasilof, Alaska and Hans Gatt from Yukon, Canada.  Here are their pictures.

Getting Ready

We leave for Alaska in 4 days.  The Rosenbergs are packing for the Iditarod.  And Christine is trying to learn how to blog.  Hopefully this works and our friends can follow us on our great adventure!  If you want to learn a little more about the Iditarod, here's a link to their great website. www.iditarod.com