Happy Seward's Day!

Today is Seward's Day. State offices are closed. Thank you, Mr. Seward.

I'm home with the cutest patootest. She's watching a little Sesame Street while I enter this blog.

It snowed briefly yesterday evening. Just a little dusting. But all in all, it's really been a very mild winter.

We looked at a few more houses yesterday. Only one had real potential for us. But it's priced a little over our limit. It is a FSBO...

Here is Wikipedia’s description of Seward’s Day:

Seward's Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Alaska. It falls on the last Monday in March and commemorates the signing of the Alaska Purchase treaty on March 30, 1867.^[1] It is named for then-Secretary of State William H. Seward, who negotiated the purchase from Russia.

It should not be confused with Alaska Day, which marks the formal transfer of control over Alaska from Russia to the United States.

Spring's Surprises

Eureka! I found the snow shovel!

I figured once enough snow melted off the back deck & yard, it would make its presence known. And lo 'n behold... the front end emerged from the receding snowbank on the deck just this afternoon.

I'd say we probably have one of the few hibernating snow shovels in all of Alaska.

I wonder what else we'll find once the rest of the snow melts. Countless treasures, I'm sure!

We've begun doing a little house hunting in our spare time. It's a daunting process. Prices remain fairly high here despite the "buyers market". But we're optimistic we'll find something we can afford that works for our family.

Since we can't seem to part with all of our "mystery boxes" and "sentimental attachments", we require a good deal of interior storage. That, and 4BR 2BA should do it... We'll keep you posted.

Easter in Alaska

Easter morning began at 7am when Alicia started browsing the dining room area.

I hadn't been able to locate our Easter decorations until Easter Eve. So I let the Easter Bunny set them out near Alicia's basket. She enjoyed the decorations before she noticed the basket of goodies sitting on the chair.

We went to the 10:30am church service. The older kids didn't get up till just before we departed for church. So they located their hidden baskets when we returned home.

After Alicia's nap, we all went outdoors for a snow Easter Egg Hunt. Alicia had a good head start as she was the only one of the hunters with the forethought to put on snow boots before the hunt. :o)

We had Easter dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, green beans and wheat rolls.

All in all, it was a peaceful Easter holiday.

Iditarod Final Update

In case you didn't hear, Lance Mackey won the Iditarod again this year. That makes two years back to back with victories in both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod. Amazing.

He pulled a fast one on Jeff King to snag this victory. He pretended to be taking an extended rest in Elim, had his dog food kettle set up and everything. So Jeff figured he was safe to take a short nap. As soon as Lance heard the first snore, he hitched up his team and hit the trail for the home stretch!

As for our 62-year-old rookie, Deborah Bicknell, she took the Red Lantern, which means she was the last musher to successfully arrive in Nome. She arrived Monday evening, I believe, after more than 2 weeks on the trail.

Tess is planning to make one last snowboarding trip to Alyeska this Saturday with her friend Robyn. We've had a pretty mild winter. We're now entering the ugliest season in Alaska, Spring... If nothing else, it's interesting to see what emerges from the snow drifts.

Fairbanks and Chena Visit

We had a wonderful stay in Fairbanks last week.

On Friday night, Stephen drove up with Donald, Alicia, and Little Bit (sporting her winter disguise as "Lotta Bit"). They arrived at the cabin very late, around midnight.

That worked out okay because it meant we were forced to be awake at that hour so we were able to catch our first glimpse of the beautiful northern lights (aka aurora borealis). The light show started just after 1am and only lasted about 20 minutes. But it was really cool to see. Lots of green lights jumping and dancing across the sky. I'm not sure my camera is capable of capturing it very well, but I tried.

We loved the peaceful solitude of the cabin, as usual. Every time we stay in one we breathe a little easier. No phone, no TV, no frantic obligations. Just read a book, do a puzzle, keep the fire going in the stove.

This cabin is wheelchair accessible with ramps and an oversized outhouse. It's relatively new and located at mile 32.2 of the Chena Hot Springs Road. It is called the Chena River Cabin and it overlooks the river which was frozen during our stay, but you could see a little running water.

After the 2-night retreat at the cabin, we drove back home via Cantwell where we looked through the lodge which is for sale there. It actually has great potential. We just can't figure out a way to run it while still having kids in school 3 hours south of there... If anyone wants to take care of it during the snowmachine season, let us know! It has 18 lodgings and a well-equipped restaurant/bar. There is minimal competition in Cantwell and it's 20 minutes away from the entrance to Denali National Park.

The Road to Fairbanks

All right, who's game to go into the lodge and pub business with us here in Alaska? Even if it's just a matter of relieving us for a couple weeks every now and then. Come on, you know you want to!



So we stopped at the lodge for sale in Cantwell on the way up. I think it has decent potential. We'll be looking into it further on the way home this Sunday.

Here are some photos of the interior of one of the cabins and the back of the main lodge.


During our drive up to Fairbanks (which took 7 hours with stops), Tess practiced her driving a little. We stopped in Cantwell, then in Healy for a bite to eat. We also took a driving tour of Nenana where they have the Ice Classic. That's a cute little village/town. Lots of log cabins.


We also came across this nice igloo just south of Cantwell. Flat Stanley couldn't resist the photo opportunity.





The drive from around Trapper Creek until you get to Cantwell is amazingly empty of human markings. Not a power line, cabin, or driveway in sight. Just wide open vistas, forests of spruce and birch, and towering snow-coated mountains for as far as the eye can see. The little village of Cantwell appears out of nothing where the Denali Highway meets the Parks Highway. It's a native village but currently the population of about 200 is more non-native.

North to Fairbanks

Tess and I are headed to Fairbanks tomorrow. We'll be driving up the Parks Highway past Denali National Park. It's about a 6 hour drive depending on road conditions and weather.

I'm doing some training in Fairbanks and the kids are on Spring Break. So Tess is coming along for the ride.

On Friday, Stephen will bring the other two and Little Bit up, and we'll spend a couple of nights in a State Public Use Cabin on the road to the Chena Hot Springs. We're hoping to catch some aurora borealis while we're up there. That area is supposed to be great for viewing them if it's not cloudy...

On the way up, we might swing by a lodge that's for sale in Cantwell, just to check out the potential... Anyone want to go into business with us? This is just one of our several business venture ideas.

Bag of Gold

Well, DeeDee Jonrowe made it to the halfway point of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race first yesterday morning. She beat the next musher by 8 minutes and was unaware that she was in the lead.

By making it to the Cripple Checkpoint first, she received a bag of gold known as the Dorothy Page Halfway Award. Dorothy was the founder of the race in the early 70s. The gold is said to be worth $3000. So that was a pleasant surprise for DeeDee!

She'd have been in 2nd if Paul Gebhardt had been able to find the checkpoint. There's an interesting article on the Anchorage Daily News site which explains how someone could leave 6 hours ahead of the next musher but not arrive at the next checkpoint until 8 minutes after them...
http://www.adn.com/2694/story/336959.html

This the Sheep Creek Lodge where we went for dinner after watching the start of the Iditarod in Willow. It's a beautiful place. About another 20 miles past Willow on the way to Talkeetna. We really like that area. Scenic and peaceful.

Yentna Checkpoint Report

Tess had a great time at the Yentna Checkpoint. She met lots of new folks. There were many volunteers and guests at the Roadhouse including the family that lives there, 7 vets, a family from Alabama, etc... And then of course there was the continuous flow of sled dog teams starting Sunday evening.



She said the vets were there to check each dog on each team as they passed through the checkpoint. Dogs that had issues were dropped and then flown back to Anchorage to a safe holding area until their owners could retrieve them after the race.









Tess got to do some snowmachining. She said next year she's definitely going again. But she'll need to have warmer gloves and a headlight.



Lance Mackey and his team arrived first at the checkpoint.

Iditarod 2008

And, they're off!
We'll be following the progress of the 103 Iditarod mushing teams for the next couple weeks on the www.iditarod.com website. They have an interactive map on there which tracks the teams progress.

I haven't checked it yet today, but I imagine all teams have passed through Yentna by now.

It was a beautiful day at Willow Lake for the restart yesterday. Blue skies, very little breeze. I believe the temperature hovered at 8 degrees above zero all day. But we found it very pleasant.

Stephen had to watch the Willow Airstrip all day as his station with the AK Defense Force. I guess they've had trouble in the past with folks crossing the airstrip to get to and from their vehicles. But that's a super busy small plane airstrip. So you can't have people and animals strolling across it.

Alicia and I joined the throng of people on Willow Lake to watch the 103 teams be sent off at 2 minute intervals. So it's not like someone says, "Ready, set, GO!" and they all take off at once across the lake and down the trail. They are numbered and they leave in order.

You've got a lot of rookies and mushers of all ages. One of the rookie females is 62 years old. So if any of you are thinking of giving this a shot... go for it! Why not? We'll be at the Lake to cheer you on...

Off to Yentna

Alicia May and I saw Tess off on her short ski-plane hop to the Yentna Station Roadhouse today. Her flight was scheduled to depart at 11am, but some weather came in and their departure was delayed till 3pm. So we just sat around the Denali Flying Service office and chatted with another couple of women who were trying to get out to Skwentna.

Tess was looking forward to the weekend at Yentna. She borrowed some good boots from a friend of hers. We need to get some good boots like that. But for now, it was a good thing she was able to find a pair to borrow in her size. Actually, I believe they belong to her friend's dad.

While we were waiting for the weather to clear, we popped down to the Pioneer Lodge for a bite to eat. Alicia and Ava both had chicken strips, Iris had Mama Juice, I had a club sandwich (I'm polishing off the second half for supper), Tess had a fruit salad, Amanda had a burger. It was good food, decent price...

Once we got back to the airstrip, the weather began to clear. So they were lucky for that. Amanda and her girls piled into the back two seats and Tess got in the front passenger seat. And off they flew for their 30 minute flight to Yentna. They'll be returning on Monday evening...

The Iditarod starts tomorrow, of course. Yentna Station is the first checkpoint. All of the 90+ teams of dogs will be passing through starting tomorrow evening and through the night. Most of them won't stop for long. But some will rest their dogs a little and maybe stop in for a bite to eat or a warm beverage.

Amanda handles the dog drops at the checkpoint. If a musher doesn't think a dog should continue the race for whatever reason, he or she will drop them along the route. The dropped dogs are then transported back home either by plane or possibly snowmachine, depending on where they're dropped on the trail. (I could be just making this part up, but I believe that's how it works!) There are generally vets all along the trail at the checkpoints to make sure the dogs are faring well. It's really all about the canine athletes.