Iditarod Begins

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Friday night we could hear the dump trucks unloading the snow on our street. They were getting the street ready for the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Saturday morning. The ceremonial start begins in downtown Anchorage and ends eleven miles later in South Anchorage. We managed to get up and take a few pictures. The crowd seemed larger than last year despite the cold and snowy morning. Greg managed to get tons of photos with his new Canon Rebel T3! Unfortunately, the heavy snow interfered with shots of many of the well-known mushers. Here is last year's last winner- John Baker. He was the first Native Alaskan to win since 1976. These photos are of crowd-pleaser DeeDee Jonrowe. She holds the fastest time for any woman finishing the Iditarod. Maybe this year she will get her first victory. Two women have won the Iditarod- Susan Butcher won 4 times! DeeDee is a fierce competitor and true inspiration having survived a battle with breast cancer and being able to tackle such a harsh physical challenge. Here's the crowd favorite and probably most well-known musher, Lance Mackey. He is also a cancer survivor and has won 4 out of the last 5 years.

It has continued to snow and we now have 123.7 inches of snow for the season. This puts us in 3rd place for all-time snowiest on record for Anchorage. We are now 9.1 inches from breaking the record.