You've got your dogs, your reindeer, and your reindeer dogs...

Our weekend was full of fun, mostly of the 4-legged variety.
On Saturday, we picked up our Chicago cousins from the airport and headed downtown to catch the tail end of the Fur Rondy festival.  This included the 5^th Annual Running of the Reindeer which takes place along 4^th Avenue in downtown Anchorage.  Hordes of crazy, cabin-feverish Alaskans don wacky outfits for the chance of running in a throng up the avenue.  They are followed closely, and then passed completely, by a herd of reindeer who are surprisingly zippy given the right incentive.  In this case, a female reindeer in heat stationed at the far end of the running route…

We enjoyed a few more carnival rides and checked out the snow sculptures and the reindeer sausage dog stand before heading home for the night.

On Sunday, we headed north to Willow Lake to watch the “Iditarod Restart”.  They do the Official Start in Anchorage on Saturday morning.  But, that’s just for show and to provide a way for more people to see the teams without trekking all the way out to Willow.  We prefer the Willow event.  Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people flock to the venue of frozen Willow Lake.  A long starting chute has been fenced off running all the way across the lake.  The teams are lined up in bib number order and released to the trail at 2-minute intervals.  This year’s race has 66 teams on the trail.

We watched from alongside the chute fencing about halfway across the lake.  Our favorite mushers were scattered throughout the field of teams.  Some of our favorites include: Jeff King (#10), Aliy Zirkle (#14), Lance Mackey (#18), DeeDee Jonrowe (#17), Dallas & Mitch Seavey (#34/#35), and Martin Buser (#41).  It’s fun to get to know the mushers through their bios on the Iditarod website and then follow their progress along the race trail.  To see the Current Standings, go to: http://iditarod.com/race/current-standings/.

To see more of our Iditarod photos go here:  

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150623530108159.399915.523908158&type=1&l=753a636de4.

Later this week, we are heading up to Fairbanks and the Chena Hot Springs for an Alaskan style retreat with our cousins before they fly back to Chicago.  Nothing makes for better vacation memories than running barefoot down a stone path in your swimsuit when it’s -8 degrees outside.  Unless, perhaps, it’s getting up in the middle of the night to use the outhouse outside your rented cabin at those same temps….  Hopefully, the aurora borealis will be cooperative and light the path.