Snowmobile riding and xc skiing

Hello Y'all, I hope things are going well for you. I hear you are having a wonderful spring. We are in spring but we did have 7 inches of snow on Wednesday. But, we have sun up at 6 am and sunset at 9:20 pm and twilight for another hour. That means spring! School is going well. I can't believe I only have 5 more weeks of school. This year has really flown by. I will be taking a course the week after school and I will return to Memphis Memorial Day weekend. The next week David and I will ride the Harley to Chattanooga for the Bike Rally. I hope my body is ready for this adventure. Speaking of adventures, I am going to enter the Alaska Gold Nugget Triathlon on May 16. You heard correct - triathlon. In case you didn't know it but a tri includes swimming. Nope I don't know how to swim! So I have been taking swim lessons. On my third lesson I swam 500 meters - with MY FACE IN THE WATER!!! It took me about an hour but for a beginner I was so pleased I was able to do 40 laps (one direction) or 20 (there and back). My arms were very sore the next day. I didn't write much on the board! I know I can bike the 15 miles and I know I can walk fast for the 10K but the swim is the first part of the race. I hope to get my swim time lower by race day.

Here are pictures from Poli, Bruce and David's visit. We went to Whittier and Seward sunny and very snowy day. Some of you have taken cruise ships into Whittier's port. This is what it looks like in the winter. Gorgeous blue skies and snowy mountains. The first pictures are Spenard Glacier. The third picture is not a street light. It is the snow guide pole. They are so high to help guide the snowplows! The big apartment building is the only lodging (housing) in Whittier. You get to know your neighbors really well. Do you notice the snowfall amount at the front door? Aren't you glad you don't have to shovel snow? Me too. The last two pictures were taken on our way home. I think the night skies are awesome. Then we had several days of cross country skiing. Poli was a bit apprehensive because someone told her it was difficult. WRONG! David, Poli and Bruce really enjoyed the sport. Yes, you are seeing David and Bruce dressed like twins. The Sealife Rescue Center jackets were such a great price they both had to have one. Aren't they cute? The next picture is the trail maker at the S. Birchwood trails. David got so nervous, or as he said, he was turning around to see the machine and he had his first fall. He was so graceful! Then I made a mistake with which trail to take and accidentally took my friends on one of the hardest trails - Oops! My bad! But it was tricky and you can see Poli and David had both had graceful spills. In case you don't know it - when you fall xcountry skiing, you are required to laugh and smile! They do it well. I fell once but since I carried the camera you don't get to see my graceful fall. Bruce never did fall. He was such a pro! Then we went snowmobiling or up here they say - snow machining. The first picture is where David misread the trail and almost went over the edge. What was so amazing is that this is almost the exact spot where he left the trail in November! He is amazing. That is our wonderful guide - see how deep the snow fall was this particular day? That great building is our snow machine bathroom. You can see that we had to make our own path to the doors. By the way, there is no heat in these outdoor bathrooms - brrrrrr! We had a lot of fun with Poli and Bruce. They were such troopers about being adventurous. The next pictures are from David's and my snowmobile trip to Spenard Glacier. It took us over an hour to get to the glacier. I followed our guide before I realize I wouldn't make it. So you can see how I got my machine stuck on the uphill. He had to turn the machine over and over to get it upright. We had to ride over water. I have never done that before. I got the front ski caught on the ice so I had to have help getting to the other side. Oh well it was fun. The river was about 30 feet wide where we had to cross. It was fun but more fun on the way back since I crossed the river with no help. I will include a few more pictures on the next blog. I have used my photo allotment on this blog. So what am I doing besides creating lesson plans, teaching and training. I took spin fishing and fly fishing lessons. They were free. I believe in taking full advantage of all the free offerings that Anchorage has to offer. The week after the triathlon we plan to go salmon fishing. The gentlemen from Ducks Inc said I had an awesome fly fishing technique. I am sure it will improve my golf game. Anything will improve my game - I haven't golfed since last June!
We have a new pair of baby bald eagles in Eagle River. They cause quite a traffic jam when they are flying around. They are cute but their white heads don't arrive until they are more mature. I also have bad news. I didn't win the $300,000 for guessing the date of the ice melt in Nunanna. I will be much better at guessing next year. I picked April 1. How silly of my. The person at the counter didn't tell me that you can purchase tickets up until April 5th. Duh!!! So I didn't win. But I guessed too early. The TV reported that hundreds of people select April 31! Now I wasn't that stupid. You know, of course, there is NO APRIL 31! At least I selected a real date. So far the ice has not melted so no winner yet.
We have a lot of activities happening up here now that spring is sprung. We have bear and moose safety classes being offered all over town. I don't know if I told you but 40% of all the bears in Alaska live in Eagle River. Every time I see moose I have good luck. I will be taking a bear safety class at the Nature Center next week. I want to be prepared like a Girl Scout.

I will bid you good bye for now. We, our group of ladies who xc ski and exercise together and now training for triathlon, are heading to Denali (Mt. McKinley) next weekend. The National Park doesn't let people drive in the park (only a few miles and then you have to take a guided tour bus). But for these next three weeks, you can drive your car into the park (up to 30 miles) and see all the wildlife and beautiful scenery. We will be driving up to Denali (5 hour drive) and then stay in a bed and breakfast called the Mossy Moose. I hope to get some awesome photos. I bet you can guess what will be on my next blog! Have a wonderful day! I will see y'all soon.

Hugs from Sheryl the Nanuq of the North.

Iditarod XXXVIII - The Last Great Race!!!!

Happy April to all of you! I am sure you will notice that I posted Day 2 of the Iditard last week and this week I am posting Day 1 of Iditarod! Does this scatterbrain oops really surprise many of you? I bet not! On March 6, 2010 was the start of the 38th Iditarod in Anchorage. This is now considered the ceremonial start. The reason the start was then moved to Willow was because Anchorage got too big and too much traffic to have the sleds go through town. But this ceremonial start was exciting. We got to meet so many people from all over the world at this event. One lady from Wisconsin has been coming to Anchorage to volunteer for the Iditarod for 30 years. Another couple from Australia have made 10 Iditarod races, one man was brought to Anchorage for his 85th birthday to fulfill a bucket-list wish to watch the Iditarod. I had a chance to talk with several groups of teachers from the "Bush" schools in Alaska. They shared their teaching experiences and proudly showed off their Native winter clothing. We started the day at the snow sculptures (first pictures) which were melting fast since it had been in the upper 30's and sunny for two weeks. Poli and I thought the "Buddha" was a perfect backdrop. There were "fur" people everywhere and so gracious to let me take pictures of each of them. Don't you love the fox hat? As we walked down the street I noticed this tall man wearing a very long tailed fur hat. He explained that it was made from a "teenage" fox and he had a baseball hat put inside so it held the shape. Then he asked if I wanted to wear it. You bettcha! (another Alaska word) I wouldn't own one but trying one on was a blast! The tail touched the ground when I wore this enormous fox hat. Notice his wife's mukluks also made from Fox. You will notice that the streets of Anchorage's downtown were stuffed with snow. Remember I told you how warm it was in Anchorage, every night the road department would haul snow from the mountains and pile it about 3 feet deep on the streets for the sleds to ride. Another reason this Iditarod race is ceremonial is because each musher has a paid rider that will go from Anchorage start line to Campbell Air Strip (25 miles). I have started to save all my school stipends so I can bid to be an Iditarod Rider next year. It costs $7500 to be a rider with one of the top 10 mushers. I hope to raise a couple of hundred dollars and ride with a rookie or unknown. Wouldn't that be neat? Next picture is the favorite Jamaican musher and his rider, then Jeff King and his rider. You will notice that Jeff is on skis in front of his sled while being pulled by his dog team. The Scottish musher, I forgot his name, drove in his kilt and tossed out dog booties with his tartan colors and a key chain - a great souvenir. Musher #7, in red, has a seat pulled behind his sled. Think about standing on a sled for 1,050 miles in treacherous weather. I think this seat is pretty neat. I was surprised that not all the mushers have these seats. I guess when you think of them standing for 10 days on a snow trail perhaps we shouldn't complain about standing on our feet all day!

The old fashion wooden sled was in the Exxon warming tent. They provided delicious treats for breakfast, coffee, hot chocolast and delicious cookies and they handed out free posters. The city sign post is from our Tourist Center in downtown Anchorage. They put all sorts of cities on this pole. I think that they add or change an arrow depending on which company is having their conference in downtown. As you can guess, I am mezmerized with Alaska parkies or kuspuks. This little girl was barely walking and her mom was proud of how cute she looked in her kuspuk. Dee Dee's parkie had the beautiful fur collar and all pink because she is cancer survivor. Poli and I couldn't get enough of these wonderful four-legged athletes. These sled dogs were so friendly and not fat. I was under the impression they would be big and fat to get them through a 1,000 mile race. But they are not. And then you see more people dressed up in costume - Cat in the Hat. Anchorage dresses up for almost every event. I started talking to the Grandma and her granddaughter in their very unique parkys while the rest of our crew went to get reindeer dogs. Are those parkies amazing? The theme that Grandma made them was based on cards. I guess card games are a big social event in the bush. I also took a picture of a spectator wearing flip flops on this cool and very breezy day. He must have been crazy or full of a beverage to keep his feet warm. Downtown Anchorage is a bronze statue of "Balto" the original sled dog. Poli, Bruce, David and myself had such a grand time at this two day festival.
You will notice in the next picture the snow pile at the end of the street was great for spectators. Oh, look, there is Poli and Bruce taking in the mushers and sled dogs as they come down 4th street every two minutes. Then there is another picture of these wonderful dogs wearing their "Booties". Underneath these booties is the pink ointment that I helped make in February. And finally, here is Sam D. our musher from Thanksgiving. He told us at Thanksgiving he does the race to have fun and hang with the "guys" at the back of the pack. I guess he knows himslef well.

So now back to what's news in Anchorage. You will be so jealous to hear about my daylingt. The sun rises about 6:55 am and the sun sets about 9:15 p.m. Then we expereince nautical or civil twilight for another hour. We are headed towards our 24 hours of daylight and it is so energizing. David and I still talk about how weird it is that it stays light so much longer in the evening and how slowly it takes to get light in the morning. Sometimes I drive home from school (4 pm) and the sun is about 12 noon high and the moon is coming over the mountains at the same time. I think I have found a great plan for parents of teenagers who insists on sleeping the entire morning away. Move to Alaska - you can't sleep through all this bright sunshine!!! It is funny hearing kids playing outside until 9 pm because there is so much light.

And I have to let you all know I have taken on a new challenge. I am going to participate in the Gold Nuget Triathalon in May. It is swim 20 laps, bike 15 miles and run/walk a 5K. I am so psyched! Oh, did I forget to tell you - I don't know how to swim!!! I begin swim lessons next week. I did request the shallow end of the pool for the triathalon. The good news is that I will not be doing this alone. They take 1500 ladies for this athletic event. All spots were filled within 3 hours of the open post. I was so glad that my regular xc ski group also got registered. We feel this will be in place of our weekly ski time. I can tell you that I am very sore after our first week of workouts. So I hope this gets several of you psyched for the G'town marathon or the Nashville marathon. You go girls!!!

Enjoy the week. I will post again next weekend. Hugs from the North.

Sheryl the Nanuq