Fur Rondy begins!

This past weekend was the start of Fur Rendezvous! This traditional festival celebrates the time when trappers would return to town with their furs to sell. I think it lets all of us get out and shake any cabin fever from the long winter. There are many activities during this time. You can go and enjoy a carnival, view the snow sculptures, take in exhibits at the train depot and museum, or watch any of the other many original Alaskan activities. One of these fun events is the Frostbite Footrace and Costume Run. I only caught a glimpse of the participants from the balcony. I was too lazy to travel any further!  Saturday night we did watch the fireworks.

These were probably the best Fur Rondy fireworks we've seen.

 Greg took many pictures but finally stopped and just enjoyed the displays as they lit up the sky.

Sunday was the final day for the World Championship Sled Dog races. This 3 day event has been taking place every year since 1946. Teams run a 25 mile course each day down our city streets, across trails, over bridges, and through the city's forests.

Here is this year's winner, Arleigh Reynolds, coming down the home stretch.

You can see the snowmachines right  behind him to signal the end of the race.
 Lance Mackey, a 4 time Iditarod winner, was a rookie in the race this year.

  He and his puppy patrol finished second to last in the event.

Sunday, Feb. 9th

We haven't had much snow lately.

As you can tell by these pictures,

the snow covering our nearby Chugach Mountains is a lot less than it normally is this time of year.

 There is even talk of moving the start of the Iditarod dog sled race to Fairbanks this year. Poor trail conditions and lack of snow may force the move. They are going to decide soon because the race is set to begin in three weeks. Hopefully, we will get some snow this week but I think the forecast only showed a small chance.
In this pic, you can see the moon just waiting for its turn up there in the blue sky.

It has been windy and cold. We did go out to dinner with our friends, Emily and Mindy, last night. Other than that, we have pretty much stayed indoors for the weekend.

We did manage to see a very brief but awesome display of the aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, on Friday night. We have seen it fill the sky much more than it did on Friday night.  However, we had never seen the lights dance across the night sky as they much as they did this night. In some cases, when the lights were stationary they seemed to pulse and grow as if keeping time to a musical beat. It is still amazing and breathtaking every time we are lucky enough to experience this display of nature's light show.