Iditarod, Ceremonial Start

We watched the ceremonial start of the 35th Iditarod Trail Race this morning. We had a couple hours to hang out downtown before going to Donald's game (and then Tess's game) at South Anchorage High School.

The ceremonial start is when the teams are released in 2 minute intervals on 4th Avenue in Anchorage. They travel 11 miles through Anchorage and then load the teams into trucks and head to Willow (about 50 miles north of Anchorage) for the official timed start tomorrow. This ceremonial start gives the teams and fans a chance to get a good look at one another. It's also an economic boost for the city I suspect.

Donald was already with his team by 9am this morning. We had dropped him off at a breakfast restaurant in Eagle River. But the rest of us parked in the JCPenney parking garage on 6th Avenue and walked the couple blocks through big crowds of bundled up spectators. The air temperature was 7 degrees above zero with minimal wind. Pretty pleasant given recent conditions.

After maneuvering for a good trailside position, we watched as many teams depart as we could before Alicia May decided she was too cold to be out there anymore. Then we made our way to the cafe at Nordstrom's in the 5th Ave Mall for some warm liquids and a chance to thaw out.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Willow after church (we're going to the early service) to see what that's like. It's sure to be a lot of fun.

Couldn't resist these three non-Iditarod photos taken at the games today. But I did post a bunch of Iditarod photos on the DropShots page!