...and it was.

I arrived in Alaska on Thursday, February 7th literally just in time for the Yukon Quest start banquet.  Peter and I had the same flight from Seattle to Fairbanks, so I probably don't need to mention that it was one of the more enjoyable plane rides I've had.  From the airport, we scored a taxi to the start banquet and hauled our big ol' bags into the small arena.  Northern hospitality is alive and well and we were able to stash our bags in the coat check and join the others.  Here, I met Peter's friends the Kitchen family from just outside Whitehorse.  This is the family that hosts Dave Dalton and his handler(s) every year. 

 The start banquet is when all the mushers draw numbers from a hat to decide the starting order, there were 24 in all.  As it turned out, a majority of the mushers had a lot to say and by the time we left, I'd been awake for about 24 hours.  Who knows where we would've stayed, a hotel probably.  This is where a bit of magic came into play.

Brian and Marguerite (I still do not know how to spell her name) and their two daughters had accepted an offer to stay with Ryan, a co-worker of Marguerite's second cousin Stephanie, just outside of Fairbanks.  We met Ryan and he also offered us a place to stay and we accepted. Ryan has a beautiful house up on Moose Mountain and he spent a good bit of time and effort assuring that everyone had a comfortable place to sleep and he graciously took the couch while housing seven extra people.  I think it takes a special person to give up every mattress in their home to a bunch of strangers and take the couch without a hint of seeming inconvenienced, and after getting to know him, I can say with confidence that he is.

Saturday was the start of the Yukon Quest race and we all bundled up to make it to downtown Fairbanks as temperatures remained a good 30-40 degrees below zero.  All the dogs were on the gang line when we got there and Peter, the Kitchens and myself got to lead the dogs about 100 yards to the start line.  That was pretty exciting.  After the start, we explored the festivities for a while before heading to North Pole for the first checkpoint.

 This checkpoint is more of an initial dog drop if need be than anything else.  We caught a couple of mushers coming around the bend as the sun lay at a low angle, as it does at every hour of the day that far north.  Did I mention that we were able to do this because Ryan caught a ride to work so that we could use his car?  Well, that's how we got around..  Ryan's generosity.  

That night, the mushers were required to stay at least two hours at the Chena Hot Springs checkpoint.  So, at around 9pm (1am according to my internal clock), we got back into the xterra and headed to Chena with our bathing suits and towels.  On the way there, I noticed a faint green band across the entire sky.  I was immediately filled with excitement, grabbed Peter's leg, shook it and pointed through the windshield.  It was the Aurora coming out to play.  I actually got a little choked up, full of wonder and awe at the green light that gradually got brighter and started to move.  What started as a faint green band turned to brighter green swirls on one side of the sky and a big green equalizer on the other.  By the time we got to Chena, I had to walk backwards, with my mitten in Peter's glove, head back, mouth agape trusting that he would not let me walk into any large objects.  By this time, the lights were really bright, still all green, pacing back and forth in lines across the sky.  After a bit the lights faded and I started questioning my sanity as we headed to the hot springs, knowing that I was to walk outside at 11pm and 35 degrees below zero in nothing but a bathing suit... not even flip flops.  It must've taken me 15 minutes in the dressing room to take off all of my layers.

I met Peter at the indoor pool, which I had no desire to go into, as it was very sulfur-y smelling.  We stood in front of the glass door that led outside to the hot spring, I took a deep breath and charged forward.  I opened the door and it looked like an episode of Quantum Leap.  I stepped out of a cloud of steam and walked quickly since I didn't want to slip and fall on any ice.  Transitioning from -35 to 110 was pretty intense.  The steam rising off the water wasted no time freezing in our hair and eyelashes.  
The pool was pretty enormous, but felt secluded since it's impossible to see more than 5 feet in front of your own face through all the steam.  Peter carried me around the pool and within a really short period of time, I started to feel like I was suffocating, so we quickly moved towards the ramp so that I could get out of the water a little.  I sort of started to panic since I felt like I couldn't breathe, I got nauseated and had that feeling like I was about to faint.  I fainted once when I was 14 and it's a very distinct feeling that I remember well.  I sat on the ramp for a bit, in about 6 inches of water and the only things that were cold were my ears and my nose.  This is where all the kissy pictures took place.  I probably could've stayed in the water for hours after that, but they closed at midnight, so we made our way back to the locker rooms, where a maintenance man walked in, saw me in my underwear and froze (as did I) for what felt like several minutes, until his brain registered what he was looking at, when he turned around and walked back out.  Peter wasn't so lucky, as the same guy got a load of him in all his glory..  butt nekkid.

We returned to the checkpoint area where we helped clean up the straw where the vets checked the dogs and they caught a brief nap, then we led the dogs to the truck.  Apparently this year there was not enough snow on a certain part of the trail and all of the dogs had to be driven around this area.  I think this is why several mushers were penalized two hours because they forgot to check out of the checkpoint.  Now the northern lights were back out and really strong swirling all over the sky.  At this point, the batteries to my camera died and I can't manually control the F-Stop or aperture, so I didn't even try to get a decent picture.  I just stared.  I also just realized that I didn't get a picture of the ice martini and shot glasses at the ice bar.  It was closed, but there were glasses outside on the ledge.  Cool.

I think we headed back around 1:30 (5:30am Atlanta time) for the two hour trek back to Fairbanks.  Maybe less, I can't remember.  Anyway, Peter and I had to play alphabet games to stay awake, which, even though I was exhausted, was really fun and will likely remain one of the moments I'll remember as a special one.  There are a lot of geographic locations that end in the letter A.  Dang.  We made it back without landing Ryan's truck in a snowbank and lay comfortably in bed while musing on what a full and perfect day/night that had been.  ...and it was.

Sleep eludes me, video does not.

Amateur Snow Angel.

Back Sledding

Peter's an angel.

Jan's Place in Two Rivers

Sheldon won't do it for the camera, but he looks like a bear when he stands up.

Lots of sled puppy sniffing camera lens.

Sheldon shows his softer side, just for a second.

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.

Alaska so far.

I'm in Gulliver's Books, a little bookstore & coffee shop in Fairbanks with internet access.  I had planned to write in my journal a bit, but since Peter's making itinerary updates, I thought I'd share some pictures and will write more probably upon returning after ruminating over my adventure.  So, without further ado...  all I could get to upload were these two, but they're good.

Into the Wild

Open Window Soap Works will be closed for most of February because in less than one week, I leave for my 3 week Alaskan Adventure!  I am excited, nervous, scared, optimistic.. on one hand it's like when I was a kid and it seemed like a week was forever and on the other hand I'm wondering if I didn't just get myself into something.  Here's the plan:

I leave early Thursday morning for Fairbanks where I will head directly to the start banquet for the Yukon Quest dogsled race.  This is when the mushers pick their numbers to determine the starting order.  I don't have a day by day itinerary, but at some point after that, I get to go to the Chena Hot Springs where the water is over 100F and the air temp is below zero.  I hope to get a picture like this one, only it would be me:

A week or so to relax in a cabin in Healy is going to be just what I need. Below zero nature walks, riding a snow machine (have no idea what this is, but sounds fun), mushing sled dogs - or at least learning how, watching the northern lights!!!  I'm really excited.

Then, it's off to Whitehorse in the Yukon, where the race finishes. It's about a 12 hour drive and I think we're going to try to stop at one or more race checkpoints on the way. After a day or two in Whitehorse, it's on back to Fairbanks and in what will probably seem like the blink of an eye, I'll be headed back to Atlanta on February 25th. 

I will likely have spotty cell phone reception, but I plan to send updates for the fun and excitement of my family and friends at Twitter, so bookmark it.  ..or I guess you can just look to the panel on the right..

Oh, and don't worry.  I'll be back with pictures... lots of pictures!