Alaska- And We're Off

Saturday morning I woke up (quite literally) in a burst of excitement.  I could already hear the dogs barking on the snow laden streets below.  It had snowed all night long and there was fresh powder covering everything in sight.  We got dressed and bounced downstairs to catch breakfast before the Ceremonial Start at 10:00 a.m. Apparently everyone else in the hotel had the same idea because there was a line at the only restaurant in the hotel that served breakfast.  While waiting in line we called another diner close by to check on the wait time... it was an hour and a half, so we decided to stay put.  The line moved quickly and I was soon enough eating my steak and eggs. 

While we ate, I freshened up on my musher knowledge reading the Anchorage Daily News filled with mini profiles of each of the 66 contestants.  The ceremonial start of the race takes place on 4th Avenue in downtown Anchorage, each of the mushers riding just eleven miles through and then out of town.  Its like a snow covered dog parade/ race.  And I LOVE IT.  You can walk around the streets and see the teams getting ready to go, take pictures, and say hi ! 

Lance Mackey, 4 times Iditarod champ!!

Sledding down the street!

We stayed to watch most of the ceremonial start then headed back to the hotel to get our car and head towards Willow, AK- home of the official start of the race to take place at 2:00 p.m. Sunday.   Driving through Alaska is like driving through .... I dunno... HEAVEN.  Its so beautiful.  I love mountains, I love trees, I love snow and I love mountains and trees covered in snow.  CHECK!

We met our guides at Eagle Quest Lodge in Willow and packed up our sleds.  We had repacked our clothes and other necessities into duffel bags that could be packed in dry bags to be pulled on a trailer attached to one of the guides snow machines.  After a couple hours of packing up the sleds and dressing ourselves in (many) layers of clothes it was snow machine time !! We hopped on our sleds and took off down the trail along the side of the road.  The trail quickly turned into the trees and we were officially off !! It took a few minutes to get used to riding a snow machine again but not long after we had taken off I felt once again at home on my snow beast.  We rode about thirty miles before stopping for dinner at a "restaurant" off the trail called "Luces."  This part of the trail was over a frozen river so there are lodges along it, mostly aimed at fisherman in the warmer months. 

We pulled up and popped inside.  Dad I and ordered cheeseburgers and our guide ordered Chili.  While we waited I went used the facilities, aka and outhouse aka, the nicest outhouse in Alaska.  Its heated, well lit and well taken care off.  Fully stocked with toilet paper and wood shavings to drop down the hole when you've taken care of business to help calm the stanky.  There was even hand sanitizer.  Its basically the Ritz Carlton of backcountry outhouses. 

Our guide, Andy, got his chili and dad and I still waited for our burgers.  After about an hour of waiting we realized they had definitely forgotten our order.   Since Andy was done eating, Dad was exxhhaausted (it was now circa de 8 p.m.) and we still had two hours of riding left ... we decided to peace out ! We each ate a granola bar and we back on the trail.

Riding at night seems really scary at first but then you get used to it.  Snow machines have headlights just like cars and work pretty well.  Its basically a big game of follow the leader.  And believe me, when it's 10 degrees outside and you're in the middle of a frozen river in Alaska... in the dark- you're going to follow the leader !

We pulled off the trail around 10 and followed the "road" up to Northwoods Lodge, our home for the evening.  We were met outside when we pulled up by the owner's son who showed us to our cabin.  It was so clean and spacious.  The bunk beds were clearly calling out to me.  There were outhouses not far from the cabin, or I could go into the lodge for toilets with running water.  After we dropped our things in the cabin we headed over to the lodge.  We met the owners and walked around.  There was a beautiful gameroom upstairs with a pool table, poker table and incredible built in bar.  The bathroom though is what took my breath away.  Marble countertops, a flushable toilet and most of all a hot shower .  Truly a sight for sore eyes. (note: i had been away from "civilization" for approximately 6 hours at this point.  How quickly we miss our toilets ).  It didn't take much time until I was upstairs in the hot shower scrubbing my stinky self !

Then it was time for sleep!! Big day ahead- 90 miles !!

Northwoods Lodge by morning !