Open North American Championships

I went into Fairbanks one Saturday in March to watch the Open NA Championships, the premiere sled dog sprint race in the world.  It's also the oldest continuously run dog race, having its first run in 1946.  It's a three day event with the longest mileage on the third day.  It starts on 2nd Avenue in downtown Fairbanks and quickly drops down on the Chena River, then takes the slough and circles around Creamers Field and heads back to 2nd Ave.

 We watched the first of the mushers take off from the starting line.  These dogs travel 20 mph so it's a quick race!

 These two women are having way too much fun!  Silly girls! :)

 Then we walked down to the Chena River to watch the second half come through.

 Diane and I were also celebrating our birthdays!  She crowned me queen for the day and I wore the tiara around town all day.  Then at the end of the day I crowned her queen for the following day which was her birthday :)

Winter Visitors

We had wonderful visit with Andrew's parents when they came up in March!  Something I highly recommend to everyone!

We went for a stroll in the park.  Gorgeous weather while they were here!

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We went dog sledding and snowmachining out in the Stampede area.  Thank you Ted for capturing these great photos!!!

Going across Eight-mile Lake.

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Then we went out for an evening ride to catch the alpenglow.

We bumped into a flock of ptarmigan riding up to Epic Ridge.  Hard to see since they're white in the winter.

Halfway to the ridge.

A fabulous evening!

Ted captured a beautiful night photo of their cabin!

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We checked out the Ice Art Festival in Fairbanks.  Twice actually, once during daylight hours then we went back after dark.

Fire in the ice!

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We attended a sprint sled dog race.  Both the sleds and the dogs are super light weight!

Excited dogs :)

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Such a fun visit!!!  Thanks for sharing your Spring Break with us! :)

My Dog Team

When I was done working with Dave for the season he gave me four dogs!  I offered to take two dogs that didn't make his Quest team, Mary (7 yrs old) and Squiggy (5 yrs old).  In order to make room in his yard for the new puppies he needed to find homes for a few dogs.  Then, he decided to retire his training leaders, Tear and Torn (both 10 yrs old).  So I took them too!

Andrew was able to take scrap material from his construction job and build beautiful dog houses for them. 

Going clockwise starting with bottom left... Squiggy, Mary, Tear and Torn

Toklat was very intrigued by the new dogs but knew how to keep his distance.  Naughty kitty!  Causing quite a ruckus many days.

With no dog truck or traveling boxes like other mushers have, they just rode in the Rav4 with me.  I strapped my sled to the top.  Some friends down the road gave me this sled!!!  He built it for her years ago when she ran dogs! It's a perfect sled for me....sturdy and light enough for me to load myself! She made the sled bag too.

We had a blast the last 6 weeks of winter!  Even though the trail conditions were not the best.  All of our snow melted in January (because the whole month was above freezing) and we barely got any after that.  But it was enough! :)

Tear always takes advantage of his breaks and Torn always wants to keep going.

Some days we saw up to 30 caribou while out on the Stampede Trail.

Andrew walking on ice from a small creek.  This was madness crossing with the dogs! They seemed to do OK but the sled had no traction and I couldn't slow them down.

Then in May when I came back from Tennessee, I took this little girl from Dave.  She was the runt of the litter and would not match the rest of the teams pace.  I named her Winnie, as in Winnie the Pooh.  Her mother's name was Panda, so I tried to stick with the bear theme.