Fur Rondy 2011

We had a really nice time at the Fur Rondy celebration in Anchorage today. After church, we returned to the house to add multiple clothing layers before heading into Anchorage. This included long underwear, shirts, pants, sweaters, snowpants, coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and boots. We were pretty much worn out just from the process of gearing up. But we headed out just the same.

We decided to start our Rondy adventure down at the snow sculptures by Ship Creek and the Alaska RR Depot. Stephen was hungry, and we knew from past years that the tastiest reindeer sausage dogs could be found at the vendor in the corner of the snow sculpture lot. He was not disappointed. We looked at all the cool sculptures, and then we grabbed lunch from the dog stand. Alicia found a scrap chunk of snow to use as a mini-seesaw.

Fur Rondy is short for Fur Rendezvous. In the distant past, the trappers would come into town around this time of year to trade all the furs they'd accumulated throughout the winter. And, with their newly full wallets, they'd commence to living it up. There is still a fur auction at the Rondy. But there are also lots of other fun activities including World Champion Sled Dog Races (sprint, not distance...), snow & ice sculptures, a full carnival, "Running with the Reindeer", etc....

We were headed back to the van to drive up to Town Square Park and see the ice sculptures, when a shuttle bus pulled into the parking lot. Instead of driving, we decided to try the shuttle. We were really pleased with how that decision turned out. The shuttle ran a continuous loop around downtown, stopping at all the places we hoped to visit. It saved us the hassle of finding parking spots around town, and it was free!

We hopped off the shuttle near Town Square Park and slid around on the ice rink there for a little while as we admired the ice sculptures scattered around the park. Alicia particularly enjoyed being pulled around the ice.

From there, we decided to just walk the 2 blocks to the carnival. On the way, we stopped by the Kobuk which is one of my favorite little shops in downtown Anchorage. In the back is a little tea room with freshly made donuts. We each had an old-fashioned donut or a cookie before continuing towards the carnival.

As we crossed 4th Avenue, we caught the tail-end of the dog sled races as the final 4 teams crossed the finish line for the timed sprint races.

As we are on a pretty tight budget these days, we didn't want to invest too much money in ride tickets at the carnival. But Alicia did want to ride at least some of the amusements. I had allotted $10 for ride tickets, which got us 10 tickets. As it turns out, when you've only got one small child with you, you can squeeze 5 kiddie rides out of 10 tickets! So that worked out well.








Alicia even got to partake of one free ride... The blanket toss.

The blanket toss is an Alaska Native hunting aid which allows hunters to see game in the distance across the snowy tundra. Alicia didn't find any wild game, but she did spot a cotton candy stand while she was aloft.

Once her ride tickets were used up, she got a sack of pink cotton candy and we made our way to the shuttle stop to catch a ride back to our minivan at the Ship Creek parking lot.

The weather was clear and cold, with a glacial wind blowing. But, we were very pleased by the lack of crowds. Many of the events had taken place yesterday (Saturday) including a parade and fireworks. So the crowds were much smaller today. Worked out really well for us!

Altogether, we had a great day at the Fur Rondy!