Iditarod in Anchorage
Trip Start
Mar 04, 2004
1
4
10
Trip End
Mar 12, 2004
Anchorage,
Alaska,
United States
Saturday, March 6, 2004
So last night we went to Glacier Brewhouse for dinner. It was pretty good! I'm pretty sure I had the Thai Chicken Pizza. I've heard a lot about it so it was good to go there!
After that we all decided to go out (well most of us). We ran back to the hotel quickly so I can change and then me, charity, dee, dan, and his friend ethan went to Humpy's to meet up with the rest of the group. We had a great time drinking and talking. After a few shots, us three girls, eric, dan, and rich headed over to a 'trendy' lounge called Sub Zero. The bartender was definitely a little weird and we ended up getting our drinks for free! He totally forgot to charge us! The bar was a little weird so we headed back to a place called Darwins Theory . It was like a pub and REALLY small! We hung out there for a bit. Since it was FurRondy, there was a skanky lady pretty much naked
EVERYONE needs to know how to make snowangels!
. It was hilarious. Dee became the official 'popcorn queen' of the tour. =) after a few more shots, we finally decided to head home. Before bed, we stopped at nigels' and riche's and talked for a bit and then went to bed. A bit about Darwin's...
"This is a wildly hopping location most evenings, particularly in summer. A place known for its interesting clientele, many of these patrons seem to spend their every waking moment in this bar, and the result is a warning against alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, this is a fun bar with plenty of young and old people. Many pop in, intrigued by the regulars and the general theme of the establishment. In 1995, Indigo Girl's Amy Ray visited this joint and wrote "Cut It Out" after her visit here."
The next morning (this morning), I woke up around 7:30, got ready, and headed down tot breakfast. We bundled up like Eskimos and headed downtown to see the start of the Iditarod !
OK...definitely have to give a LONG history of the Iditarod since this is the main reason why we're ALLLLL here, right?? If you don't want to read about it, scroll down until you hit a new paragraph...=) (also more info http://www.iditarod.com/background.html)
"The race pits man and animal against nature, against wild Alaska at her best and as each mile is covered, a tribute to Alaska's past is issued
Finally no ice fog!
. The Iditarod is a tie to -- a commemoration of -- that colorful past. The Iditarod Trail, now a National Historic Trail, had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps at Flat, Ophir, Ruby and beyond to the west coast communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain and Nome. Mail and supplies went in. Gold came out. All via dog sled. Heroes were made, legends were born. In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a life saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened and serum had to be brought in; again by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful hard-driving dogs. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those yesterdays, a not-so-distant past that Alaskans honor and are proud of. Anchorage is the starting line -- a city of over 250,000 people, street lights, freeways and traffic. From there the field of dog teams which grow in number each year, runs to Eagle River, Checkpoint # 1. After a restart in the Matanuska Valley at Wasilla, the mushers leave the land of highways and bustling activity and head out to the Yentna Station Roadhouse and Skwentna and then up! Through Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, over the Alaska Range and down the other side to the Kuskokwim River -- Rohn Roadhouse, Nikolai, McGrath, Ophir, Cripple, Iditarod and on to the mighty Yukon -- a river highway that takes the teams west through the arctic tundra. The race route is alternated every other year, one year going north through Cripple, Ruby and Galena, the next year south through Iditarod, Shageluk, Anvik.Finally, they're on the coast -- Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain and into Nome where a hero's welcome is the custom for musher number 1 or 61
Ready to get goin
! The route encompasses large metropolitan areas and small native villages. It causes a yearly spurt of activity, increased airplane traffic and excitement to areas otherwise quiet and dormant during the long Alaskan winter. Everyone gets involved, from very young school children to the old timers who relive the colorful Alaskan past they've known as they watch each musher and his team. The race is an educational opportunity and an economic stimulus to these small Alaskan outposts. In the early 1920's, settlers had come to Alaska following a gold strike. They traveled by boat to the coastal towns of Seward and Knik and from there, by land into the gold fields. The trail they used is today known as The Iditarod Trail, one of the National Historic Trails as so designated by the Congress of the United States. In the winter, their only means of travel was by dog team. The Iditarod Trail soon became the major "thoroughfare" through Alaska. Mail was carried across this trail, people used the trail to get from place to place and supplies were transported via the Iditarod Trail. Priests, ministers and judges traveled between villages via dog team. All too soon the gold mining began to slack off. People began to go back to where they had come from and suddenly there was less travel on the Iditarod Trail. The use of the airplane in the late 1920's signaled the beginning of the end for the dog team as a standard mode of transportation, and of course with the airplane carrying the mail, there was less need for land travel
Typical wear in Alaska
. The final blow to the use of the dog team came with the appearance of snowmobiles in Alaska.The race has started in downtown Anchorage since 1983. The teams leave the start line at the corner of 4th and "D" at two minute intervals, starting at 10 a.m. There are usually over 65 teams starting and some years even more. The mushers follow multi-use trails through Anchorage and out to Tudor Road An telephone auction is held each year whereby fans can be a rider in a musher's sled from the start line for the first 8-9 miles. This auction opens on October 1 and closes at 5 PM Alaska Standard Time on January 31. The money raised is used to offset expenses of the race and to provide each musher who finishes the race after the top 20 (who receive cash prize winnings), with $1,049. This helps the mushers get their teams home. They mush along the Glenn Highway into the VFW Post 9785 in Eagle River. From there the dogs are loaded into dog trucks and taken home for the night. This is a ceremonial start and does not count in the overall time to Nome. On Sunday, March 8, mushers will again line up at the old Wasilla Airport in Wasilla about 40 miles north of Anchorage. At ten a.m., the first teams will depart on their way to Nome. From Wasilla, they travel to Knik Lake, the last checkpoint on the road system. Spectators may drive the 17 miles from Anchorage to Eagle River and the approximately 30 miles from Eagle River to Wasilla. It's about 13 miles from Wasilla to Knik. Once the mushers leave the Knik checkpoint, they are OFF the road system for the duration of the race. It is impossible to predict the exact day or time that the first musher will cross the finish line in Nome. However, we expect it to be between 9 and 12 days, making it on second Tuesday or Wednesday. Doug Swingley, 1995 Champion, completed the course in 9 days, 2 hours, 42 minutes and 19 seconds to become the first musher from outside of the state of Alaska to ever win the Iditarod. OK... SOOOOO....Dan dropped us off and we got to the starting line and saw it was actually already very crowded. We started heading down the street but then me and Eric saw a guy with an AWESOME wold hat so we HAD to take a picture with him. The rest of the group kept going though se we got lost from them. We decided to just go on our own and if we met up with them, that would be great. We headed down the street and met up with the newlyweds peter and chalise. We were at an intersection and thought it would be great when the mushers went by. So we hung around there for a bit but realized the anchorage police department were probably the most incompetent and unathoritative in the whole US. None of them could get anyone to do anything needed. It was horrible so eric and I decided to head back to the start and watch the mushers get ready. Well we got down there(after playing pull tab lotto...which I obviously lost!) and realized that it was ridiculously crowded so we then decided to walk all the way down the street to see how it was. We noticed that the further down the street we went, the less people. When we walked past the parking garage, we ran up to the top to get a better view. Once at the very top, we were awestruck by the view of the mountains!! Sooooo gorgeous! The race didn't have the greatest view from up there so we went back down and kept on down the street. Towards the end of the street, the trail curved the corner and...there was like NO NOE there! We couldn't believe it! Not even road blocks and ropes and stuff! So we took a few pictures there, crossed over the trail, and headed back towards the start.
As we were walking earlier, we noticed a small carnival with a ferris wheel. With a great view in mind, we decided to check it out. It was definitely the WORST carnival we've ever seen but went on anyways. And we were right! The view was GREAT!
After that, we continued on our way and noticed the Hilton hotel was the tallest building in the area. We took a few wrong rides on elevators and finally ended up in the right tower. We got to the 2nd to the tallest floor where an executive lounge was but it was obviously closed off to the public. Eric somehow convinced the cleaning lady to let us in using her key. We got to go out on the balcony and saw an amazing landscape in front of us. Knowing the floor above had a restaurant that has all glass walls called the Top of the World Restaurant , we headed up one floor. Obviously, that was locked too. A bus boy actually walked by and eric AGAIN somehow convinced him to let us in! I felt as though we were sneaking around as we crept through the kitchen. The restaurant and view looked amazing!
We finally headed out after that and continued to the place we were meeting the rest of the group to head back. We got back on the van and dan brought us to a quick deli/grocery place to grab a bite to eat. He then dropped us back off at earthquake park since it was foggy when we went earlier. We snapped some pictures and half the group started walking back and the rest of us (charity, dee, paul, Nigel, me, ken, celia too) decided to walk down a path and see where it took us. It opened up to the water and yet ANOTHER great view of the mountains (I have a feeling I'm going to say that a lot!). a few more pictures and we decided to start making our long 45 min trek back.
The main road is actually through the airport so as we turned the corner, we saw a huge open field. Someone (me?) mentioned snow angels and the Brits and Charity had never heard of them so us Americans had to teach them! That turned into a huge snowball fight too!
Cold and wet we continued on our way. Showered and dressed, we headed for dinner at a Mexican restaurant (no idea what it was called...tried doing a search and htere's a MILLION Mexican restaurants!!). Yummy enchiladas and margaritas! We were all EXHAUSTED so after, we headed back to take an hour nap before going out.
The hour turned out to be an hour and a half but we got it together and headed over to Chilkoot Charlies . I felt like I had walked into huskies AND two steps (two bars at UConn for those who don't know..lol)! There were two sides to the club. We walked around both first then ended up in the hip hop room for a bit. Sat and then danced a little but everyone wanted to head over to the other room b/c there was a live band. It wasn't my style but pretty good. The band was kinda like.. I dunno...rock, punk. We stayed there for a bit and headed out around 2:40am. On our taxi ride back we saw the two BIGGEST moose! They were just chillin on the side of the road! Too bad we couldn't get a picture though! We headed to the Village Inn (the diner from the other night) and got a bite to eat. There was a table next to us of total white trash who were hilarious. They were sooo nasty and stupid! We were dying! We then headed home to the hotel and went to bed.
Anyways, quickly back to the race...I'm so glad I got a chance to see it. The whole town of anchorage transforms and the people are amazing. Everything is done on a volunteer basis. The mushers are great and always willing to talk to you. The dogs are SO well taken care of and obviously LIVE for running the race. They practically drag the musher down the trail!
