Andy had to stay home to deal with the cable man, which turned out to be a bigger job than expected because the house had NEVER had cable. I took Ripley with me to get him out of the house and let him explore a little. I did NOT let him watch the race, though. Other people brought their dogs to the race and it just distracted the racers and freaked the people's dogs out.
Since he'd be sitting in the car for a little bit, I took him to the park by my office to play a little frisbee to wear him out. All he wanted to do was use his head like a shovel and dig.
As we walked back to the car, we ran into an old friend - Anchorage's very own reindeer mascot - STAR! I'm pretty sure she remembered me from last weekend.
Star lives in a pen attached to her owner's house at the corner of 10th and I downtown. Also, she really is super famous in Anchorage. I don't know why Andy didn't remember her. According to the internet she's actually the 6th Star that's lived at this house. One of the former Stars was murdered back in the 80s, which is why she's got such a protective house. People suck.
The sign on her pen invites you to become her friend on Facebook. Yes, she has a Facebook page.
After Ripley barked a bunch at Star, I put him in the car and drove over to my office parking lot and let him nap. Off to the race!
The weather was not great downtown this morning. It's beautiful and sunny at our house, but it was very foggy downtown. Also there were approximately four billion people lined up to watch the race, which starts at the same spot where we watched dog races last weekend for Fur Rondy. FYI, this is only the ceremonial start. The "real" start is tomorrow in Willow, which is about 50 miles from Anchorage. Maybe next year we'll go watch that.
See the flags on the sign? They represent all of the countries that are participating in the Iditarod this year. Yes, that's right, there's a Jamaican dog sledder. Coming soon to a theater near you - Cool Runnings 2! (In Andy's dreams) And I guess Alaska is its own country.
In the picture above, the blue building on the right is where Andy and I stood to watch last week's races. When I walked by there today, the crowd was about 10 people deep. There's no way I was going to stand there and see anything.
My coworkers told me that the best place to watch from was the 4th avenue parking garage, so I headed that direction. Other people also got the memo.
By the time I walked up to the 3rd floor, I couldn't really see much because of the fog. Time to move.
I ended up getting a spot across the street from David Green, Master Furrier. This is one of 2 David Green stores on 4th Avenue in Anchorage, in case you can't handle walking a few blocks to pick up a fox pelt.
By the time the snowmachine police came, everyone crowded into the parking garage.
The first racer is always a ceremonial starter. This year's ceremonial starter was the winner of the Junior Iditarod last weekend. It's a 75 mile race for 14-17 year olds, it covers two days, and the racers have to do it alone. Alaska kids are super hard core!
Then the racers were off! Since this was a ceremonial start, a lot of them had friends and family riding in the sled with them, and some even throw candy. Kind of like a dog sled parade. They basically loop through town for about 11 miles and then rest up for the start of the big race tomorrow.
Unlike the dogs from the sprint races last weekend, these dogs were mostly husky mixes. Also, they didn't go as fast down the track as the dogs from last weekend. It makes sense, because these guys have to go over 1,000 miles!
After I watched a couple of teams take off, I headed toward the crowd and went to see if I could photograph any of the VIPs. Apparently all of Alaska's congressional delegation (and some congressmen from other states) were present for the race. Also the governor, the mayor, and some celebrities, too. I didn't see any of them, so I settled on going to see the dogs getting ready to run.
All of the teams have a whole group of volunteers to help with the dogs. Each dog has one person to hold it back, which they need because they are so ready to go! When I walked past one team, one of the dogs took his handler out. Poor lady. It was super nice of me to put this embarrassing photo of her on the internet, too.
These dogs seem to be matched by color:
When I walked by the teams, most of the dogs were just waiting patiently by their trucks. Several were kind enough to pose for pictures.
Many of the dogs were trying to figure out how to get under their trucks and away from the people.
Since I made the rookie mistake of crossing the road when they would let me (they close the crosswalks when the races start), I had to walk ALL the way back down 4th Ave. before I could get across the street to where my car was. Whoops. Oh well, I got to see a lot of dogs!
This one was my favorite. Look at those eyes!
I think this was the mellowest dog I saw. Many of the other ones in the trucks were totally spazzing.
Look at this one in the back. He is SCREAMING at the team.
Here's another angle. So upset!
Once they started to move a little, he stopped freaking out.
After I walked about 30 blocks, I got back to Ripley and the car. I think next year we might have to strap him to a sled!
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