We just finished up parent teacher conferences. It’s a balmy 42 degrees, with lots of sunshine. I didn’t need to wear a coat and drove home with my window wide open. The snow is melting into a dark brown sludge. I think spring has descended on Anchorage…however it may snow this weekend. I reckon I need to keep the snow tires on my car for a little while longer.
Since moving to Anchorage, I’ve been looking forward to two events: Fur Rondy (Alaska-speak for Fur Rendez-Vous) and Iditarod. Fur Rondy takes place the week before Iditarod. It started as a venue for fur trappers to sell their pelts and an excuse for Anchoragites to shake off cabin fever. Trappers do still rent stalls where they sell pelts, hats, earmuffs, and other furry oddities. However, “Rondy Central” is mainly one of those portable carnivals. The Rondy schedule includes things like ice bowling, snow shoe softball, and the running of the reindeer. That last is exactly what it sounds like, but with the unexpected addition of costumes. Alaska being a kind of chilly place, it’s only natural that droves of hairy-backed men wearing grass skirts and coconut bras ran with reindeer. Chris and I had a hard time seeing the reindeer because of the crowds. We actually got to the event early (I was very excited about it all), but the race location listed in the newspaper and on the Rondy website was actually about 5 blocks away from where any actual running took place. By the time we realized our mistake, we couldn’t find a good spot. We consoled ourselves with shots of Jagermeister…it has a deer on the label.
The following weekend was the start of the Iditarod, and also the start of my spring break. Iditarod more or less consumed my attention for the duration. The official start of the “Last Great Race” is in downtown Anchorage. They announced each musher as they passed the start line at timed intervals. Chris and I got there towards the end…breakfast and finding parking were big obstacles. However we got there just in time to see Lance Mackey, who has won the past three Iditarods and was looking for a “four-peat.” As if I didn’t already have Lance-Fever…that sealed the deal.
The thing that struck me was how long the sled teams were. Each team had up to 20 dogs. Each pair was spaced about 8 feet apart. Then there was the sled itself. Many mushers had passengers…this is something that is auctioned off. So these mushers had a second sled for their equipment and required gear (which includes a packet of mail…a homage to mail carriers of yesteryear). So from lead dog to musher could be close to 100 feet. Crazy! How do you steer that thing?
The next day was the Re-Start, which takes place in Willow, about 45 min outside of Anchorage. I had expected that to be more like a marathon where everyone is lined up and when they say go, everyone starts racing…I mean it started on a frozen lake. But it was much like the start in Anchorage…one at a time…but was based on who got to Eagle River first rather than a drawing. Because the Re-Start does take place on a frozen lake, there were a lot of snow machiners (aka snow mobilers in the lower 48). The whole scene reminded me a lot of Foxfield, but with snow machines and tents.
The race was covered on the local news, of course. I also checked the Iditarod website frequently (like 3 or 4 times a day) for updates. It was quite exciting to see what was going on in both first and last place. Obviously, traveling roughly 1,100 miles by dog sled is tough. I don’t generally follow sports, but it was great fun to track who got into certain check points first and how long they were there and how many dogs were still in their team. While Iditarod was going on I read My Lead Dog Was a Lesbian, which was written by a rookie musher and gave me great insight into the race. For awhile Lance Mackey and Jeff King (another legendary musher) were neck and neck. Lance got his four-peat. The footage of him happily and exuberantly getting into Nome is super-cool. FYI, Lance traveled from Anchorage to Nome in 9 days (really one minute short of that). The red lantern (last place) got there in about 13 ½ days. Out of 71 people that started the race, 16 dropped out at some point. It’s a crazy race! Harsh.
I’m so happy to have made it through the winter. It was a mild winter by Anchorage standards. There were a few sub-zero days, but mostly it was in the teens. The many hours of darkness were not as dreadful as I thought it would be. Now that we are past the spring equinox, we have over 12 hours a day of daylight and gain 6 min. each day. Summer in the land of the midnight sun is just around the corner.
Folks have asked how long I’ll be in AK. I know I’ll be in the same school next year. I’ve toyed with the idea of teaching in the bush for a year or two, although I’m not sure if that will happen. I’m guessing that I’ll be here for 4-5 years, but totally love it here and may stay longer. It’s too soon to know if this nomad has found a home.
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