The Iditarod Must Go On...and Lauren Comes to Visit!!

Last weekend Lauren came up for a visit! It was so fun to entertain a visitor in the winter (hint hint, family!)...even though we haven't really had a winter this year! We got really excited right before Lauren came in because they predicted a big snowstorm for the weekend.  Unfortunately, it only hit the mountains, but at least we were able to drive up to Flattop and show Lauren some real winter weather! 

Olive doesn't quite know what to think of the snow...she hasn't seen much in her short life!

Andy and I both took Friday off so we could spend more time with Lauren.  We took her to one of our favorite spots, the Spenard Roadhouse for some yummy food.  Olive had her first restaurant experience in a high chair and she loved it (I didn't get a picture of it! Boo!).

She's learning young...

We also went shopping a little and by the end of the day, little miss was tuckered!

Check out the new pants we bought her.  Aren't they ADORABLE?!

...the best part...

When Lauren first decided to come up, we realized it would be the weekend of Iditarod.  I then spent the next few months telling her how cold and snowy it was going to be since the past few years had been downright frigid (in fact, last year, it was so cold, Andy and I decided to skip the ceremonial start).  Unfortunately, we've had a record low amount of snow in Anchorage - so little snow that they ended up moving the official start of the race up to Fairbanks.  The ceremonial start was pretty sad, weather-wise...

We all bundled up and headed downtown.  

Andy started the day with a 9am reindeer sausage.  Perfect Alaskan breakfast! And of course, we got the dog from MA's, the best cart in town, known locally as the "soup nazi" of reindeer sausage.  Do not even try talking on your phone in line, he will refuse you!

Just look at all the snow on the ground!! uh...

We wandered a bit and saw some of the dogs.  They were all resting up for the race!

We finally found a good spot to watch the start.  The weather was so sad (rainy and in the upper 30s...warm for Alaska in March, but pretty cold for just standing around in) that the crowd was pretty slim.

Our spot was right behind the press.  Not too shabby!

Olive was not impressed...

We had a pretty nice view of all the dogs zipping by.

Check out that track.  I don't even know where they FOUND snow, it was so sloppy and rainy out.  I am also surprised it lasted the day.

After we watched a few of the mushers start, we wandered around to keep our legs from freezing.

Apparently, it's known to be good luck to rub this bear's belly.
I had never seen this statue before and I've walked in front of it hundreds of times in the past three years.

We walked into one of the tourist shops and caught some interesting signage.  The quotation marks seem a little ill-placed...

As we walked around, the dogs kept lining up for their chance to race around town.

Then it was time for us to his up MA's and get sausage of our own.  So delicious!

We had a great time minus the weird weather and total lack of snow.  And to sum all that up, I'll leave you with a message from one of our fellow spectators at the race: