*Thursday*
Since we were going to have a pretty busy weekend we let
Oliver choose what he wanted to do on Thursday. He chose that he wanted to stay
at the house and play, so that’s what we did. We spent the day in the living
room playing board games (Oliver now loves board games), Legos and watching
toons. It was a much needed day of relaxation for all of us. Days like this are
the reason that we have started renting houses rather than hotels – we have all
of the comforts of home and we aren’t missing anything but we are surrounded by
beautiful landscape.
*Friday*
I woke up feeling better than I had in days. I looked out
the window at the head of our bed and saw it was snowing! We would have loved
to sit and watch it snow but we had a reservation to go DOG SLEDDING! So we are
loaded up and started the drive North to Willow, to Dallas Seavey’s kennel.
Since our goal on these trips is to just enjoy the state we limit ourselves to
one “touristy” trip – and this was the best one yet. Originally we were
scheduled for Monday but I called and asked to move it so that Monday could be
a day to walk downtown and relax since we fly out at midnight that night.
Moving the reservation worked out so well for a couple reasons… We were able to
see Dallas (it was also his birthday) putting the final touches on the sled that
he built for the Iditarod; All of the dogs that will be with Dallas on the
trail this year were in the yard so we got to love on them; and last but not
least is just made my birthday awesome!!
When we arrived they were just harnessing up two of the dog
teams – every dog in that yard was beyond excited hoping it was be their turn
to pull the sleds. We walked down onto a frozen lake to be picked up by our
team and then went on the ride of our lives. Those little dogs work so hard and
you can see it on their faces that they absolutely love what they do! Half way
through our ride we stopped to give the dogs a little break (they really didn’t
want to stop) and take some pictures. Once we got back to the kennel we were
given a tour – Dallas is a 3 time Iditarod winner and has a really great set-up
for training and taking care of his dogs. Knowing that these are working dogs I
never expected them to be as friendly as they were – I wanted to take all of
them home!! As you walked between houses, if you spoke to one and not the other
you were promptly fussed at with howling and a paw reached out as if saying “pet
me, love me”. I could go on about these dogs FOREVER – I told Jason that if we
had done this tour earlier in the trip I may have never left! Now as we watched
the Iditarod kick off this weekend it’s really cool knowing that on Friday I was
loving on those sweet pups!
I had packed lunch for Oliver but not for Jason and I and we
were getting quite hungry. We were focused on getting Oliver home for his late
nap so we knew we wouldn’t be able to stop anywhere to sit and eat. I wasn’t
sure we would eat before we got home but Jason stopped at a gas station to run
in and get drinks and found that they had a little “snack bar” inside. OMGosh –
delicious food! Jason had a buffalo burger and I had halibut fish and chips…
sooooooo good!
We got home and got Oliver down for his nap. Following my “I
don’t cook on my birthday” rule we ordered pizza and salads from Moose’s Tooth
and Jason ran into town to pick them up – perfect birthday dinner!!
All-in-all my 30th birthday was amazing – even better than I
expected it could be! Oliver has now announced that he wants a Lego birthday
party in Alaska! Oh boy, we have created a monster…
*Saturday*
Today was the Ceremonial Start day – they brought snow in
from Fairbanks by train (Anchorage has had a VERY mild winter this year) and
pack it onto 4th street. Every two minutes a musher is released from
the start line and run down the street in a parade of sorts for all of the
fans! The last time that the teams will be able to be seen from the road system
will be Sunday just North of the official start so for many people this is the
last time they will see these teams in action. You can follow the whole race
online (we do and you should too) and towards the end it can become a nail biter
of a race. I’ve told Jason that by my 40th birthday I wanted to come
up and be here start to finish! Our favorite mushers were bib numbers 16
(Dallas Seavey), 19 (Mitch Seavey) and 32 (Brent Sass) - which I was very
thankful for because Oliver got cold and very grumpy by the time Brent was
coming down the street. There are a total of 85 mushers this year so we never
would have stayed for all of them anyway. Our next Iditarod visit Jason and I
will be volunteering with the ITC (Iditarod Trail Committee) to help with the
starts – Oliver will be able to help us too!
Oliver napped while Jason and I relaxed. For dinner we went
out to a small Mexican restaurant in Eagle River – Jason had halibut enchiladas
and I had a chimichunga stuffed with shrimp, crab and scallops – soooo good!
It’s Sunday now and soon we will be heading North to Willow
again – this time to watch the official re-start. We had discovered a spot that
we can watch the teams without being in the midst of all the tourists!! ;) We
will be bundling up extra today in hopes that Oliver won’t get grumpy today but
we shall see…
I’ll work on pictures tonight…
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