Happy Iditarod!

One of our intentions this year was to bring the family out to Willow to see the start of the Iditarod. We had a lovely day today driving the 60 miles or so that it was for us and being a part of it. Here are some pictures. I took lots of video too which I will post as soon as I am able. Also, here's a link to Michelle Mitchell's post about the ceremonial start of the race in Anchorage and some more information about the race itself.

Next time, we will get there earlier, bring chairs, stick the baby in her little sled (Alex let me talk him out of it and it would have been a great idea!...sorry, honey.), and bring more food. Thankfully, some generous souls were passing out hot chocolate and lollipops!

As much as this race may, in fact, be PETA's worst nightmare (I saw more gorgeous fur coats than I ever have in one place in my life!) the dogs were having such a blast. They live to run...each pair of dogs had its own volunteer handler to keep them from running like mad down the trail before their turns came. And for the record, the truck full of dogs below is full of LIVING dogs...I think there might have been some confusion about that when I sent these to the family. :) The musher below is Jeff King!