Mo' Pictures.

Peter and I went to Healy on Thursday to stay in the cabin of one of the mushers racing in the Yukon Quest (currently in 3rd place) Dave Dalton.  I have to say that I had some reservations about staying in a place with no running water..  and by that I mean an outhouse.  I adapted pretty quickly and ended up having some of the best days so far, bonding with sled dogs and admiring the evergreens that swayed elegantly above the moon-lit Alaskan snow.  Last night's shower was one of the best I've had, however.

  

I'm now back in Fairbanks until Friday when we leave for Whitehorse in the Yukon where the race finishes.  Pretty much the whole time we've been in Fairbanks, Peter and I have been staying with our new friend Ryan, whom we met at the start banquet.  It turns out that he is not only extremely hospitable and generous by sharing his home, vehicle and pretty much everything else he has with us, but he's also really F'n cool.  The three of us share similar interests and the conversation has always been interesting.  He's also got amazing taste in music and an insatiable thirst to find new stuff.  Now I know that at least one Paste subscription has reached Alaska.  Their office is across the way from my neighborhood bar!  But I digress. There's a story he shared with us about a red ball from his childhood and I think it's the closest I've come to peeing my pants in several years.  He's a friend and co-worker of Stephanie, who is the second cousin of Margarite who is part of the family that hosts Dave Dalton in Whitehorse - the musher that Peter handled for last year.  So, as you can see, things have been sort of magically working out up here.  Now, on with mo' pictures..

 

Peter and I touring the Fort Knox Gold Mine where Ryan is an environmental engineer. (Peter is not that much taller than me, I'm just in deeper snow.)

Musher coming into the North Pole checkpoint, the first of nine.

The Yukon 300 start in Fairbanks, a 300 mile race instead of 1,000.  Kids and novices tend to do this race.  It's still no joke.

At the Chena Hot Springs, air temp -30F at 11pm.  I saw the Northern Lights before this and then walked 100 feet in my bikini in that temperature.. twice.

One of the puppies.

Hoona.

Me and Meli.

I have a lot of junk in my pockets.  I feel like Homer that time he gained weight so he could go on disability and wear a mumu.