The Red Lantern Award, signifying the end of the race, and given to the final finisher, rode on our plane to Nome from Anchorage
Chugach Mountains
Alaska Range
Near Denali
Yukon River
Another river - Kuskokwim?
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Other interesting 'sights' in Nome
"The heck with pulling a sled, I'd rather drive this pick-up"
"And I'll arrest you if you don't drive it right"
Santa Paul, a Nome resident, wears these duds he made himself to the Berring Strait Golf Tournement
The boots he designed and had made
You are seeing right, they golfed on the sea ice. Quite a sight
"Moose", "Santa Paul", Moose's DH, Conrad, and "FlDogFan"
Jeff King and his awsome parka
Volunteers and visitors gather at the 'Mini' to rest and visit
Everyone was thrilled with the first Jamacain dog musher, Newton Marshall
A large crowd, including Lance and Tonya Mackey await Newton's arrival
Jamaican music played and fans waited with their country's flag and 'Rootin' for Newton' buttons and t-shirts
And here he comes!
carrying the Jamaican flag himself
smiling ear to ear
happy to have made it to Nome, thus completing both the Iditarod and the Quest in consecutive years
He was known on the trail for his sense of humor and bubbly personality.
Volunteering in the Dog Lot gave me lots of good shots
My friend, Marcia Cleason, wrote a beautiful parody from Edgar Allen Poe's well known poem. This is a good place for it, "Emm"
The Dogs
See the start gate with the dogs,
Eager dogs,
With the fans decked out in parkas from their Lands End catalogs.
See the waiting sled dogs jump
And their wagging tails thump
On the icy Willow Lake.
You can tell they’re really pumped,
As their harnesses they shake.
How they tug, tug, tug,
While the musher gives a hug
To each friend and family member
With advice and dialogs.
Oh, the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
Oh, the barking and the yipping of the dogs.
See the happy, running dogs,
Racing dogs,
Bounding over ice and tundra,
Through the blizzards and the fogs,
And the cold Alaska night.
How they bark out their delight.
Oh, the lovely howling sound,
All in tune,
While the wind blows all around
To the moon,
And the rippling Northern Lights,
A breathtaking Arctic sight,
As they run, run, run,
You can tell they’re having fun,
While the musher poles and jogs.
Oh, the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
Oh, the running and the pulling of the dogs
See the fans who follow dogs,
Husky dogs,
While they doublecheck the tracker
And the many mushing blogs,
As they click, click, click,
Checking out their top ten picks,
And their eyelids start to droop
After chatting with the group.
There’s the Anchorage Daily News
And the awesome Mushing Loon,
Sled Dog Central and the Nome cam and Backstage Iditarod,
Iditarod Insider and of course Iditablog.
But the BSSD Forum is the best website of all.
Oh, the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
Oh, the rooting and the cheering for the dogs.
See Nome city with the dogs,
Winning dogs,
As they start to run down Front Street while the musher gees and haws.
Ah, the cheering of the crowd
Makes the winning musher proud.
Hear them bark, bark, bark
Underneath the burled arch.
Panting tongues and icy noses.
They just ran across Alaska.
No one did it any faster.
So the happy musher poses,
As they wear the wreath of roses,
Giving love and fond affection to their dogs.
Oh, the dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs,
Dogs, dogs, dogs,
So amazing, so inspiring,
Oh, the dogs.
OK, not in the dog lot, but a 'wannabe' with her young owner 'dreaming' under the arch between arrivals
More from 2010 Iditarod
Favorite, Dee Dee Jonrowe mushes her team into Nome
DeeDee Jonrowe in her signature native kuspik under the arch.
Beautiful white husky rests at the completion of 1000 miles
Wattie McDonald of Scotland drives his large healthy team toward the dog lot in Nome
Wattie gives some local children a thrilling ride
Wattie poses with one of his athletes for BSSD Iditabud, Tanglefoot.
Musher Pat Moon, who had to scratch after he was injured on the trail, came to Nome to help, spreading his cheerful attitude to all who met him. Here, he assists Wattie in bedding down his team in the dog lot.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Night Life in Nome (Q-X rated for quaintly obnoxious)
Nome has a lot of bars and churches. Read into that what you may. During the Iditarod, more visitors decend on this little town than the rest of the year, all together. There are not many places to 'gather' at night, and a lot of the mushing teams come in at night, so the bars are always full, and bar hopping is almost a 'sport'. I'll try to give a little glimpse of what that is like. Sorry, no pics. I have a few, but I don't wanna get sued.
Tuesday night was the 'Men's Wet Buns Contest' at the Polaris Bar. First there is an auction for Iditarod memorabilia, and odd and ridiculous items as well, including spray bottles filled with water. Women bid huge amounts of money for the bottles, thus enabling them to sit up front and spray the 'Chippendale Wannabes', as they come out to dance. One of the dancers works in a local bank, and had to face his co-workers the next day, after being eliminated in the early rounds. In early rounds, the guys have on most of their clothes, and as they dance, the women spray 'passionately', wetting down lower portions thoroughly. There is a huge crowd, DJ music, and people start yelling for their favorites. In each 'round' of dancing, as alcohol is increased and clothing decreased, several more are eliminated. In final rounds, the men dance solo, and take off as much as they are willing........only rule is no frontal nudity........but not much was left to the imagination. It was almost as much fun watching the women watch the men as it was watching the men, who were mostly locals or tourists who wouldn't be caught dead doing this at home. The 2nd place went to a guy who looked quite nerdy at the start, in jeans and a t-shirt, but boy, could he swivel those hips. As he took off clothes, an excellent work-out ethic was revealed, and he began to move like he'd been doing this all his life. The crowd went wild. But the winner, OMG, he called himself 'Humpy', and he was dressed as a firefighter, hat and firemen's pants, and a big fire extinguisher with a long hose that he swung around luudly. At times, the would sling it and squirt streams of water on the crowd. He also had a lot of 'moves' that drove the young females crazy. The top three got winnings from money raised at the auction, and all contestants received $100 for entering. I think the winner got $1600. Not bad for a night's 'play'.
The next night was Women's Wet T-Shirt Contest. I understand Tonya Mackey entered last year. Sorry, but I missed that one. Instead, that night we went to the Anchor Bar, and very small, 'skinniest bar I ever saw' bar. But, they had the cleanest rest rooms in town. The Anchor is kind of like a drinking, visiting, bingo game. Each time you buy a drink, you get a couple of tickets. Every 5 minutes or so, Woody, the owner, calls out a number, you check your tickets, and yell when you win, run up and get your t-shirt, mardi-gras beads, or whatever. The main waitress there, Marie, is like the energizer bunny on meth. She is laughing and moving and mixing and checking tickets, and cheering the winners constantly. Of course, the more you drink, the more tickets you have, and the harder it is to check them. Hmmmmmm.
Thursday night was 'Make Your Own Bikini' night at the Polar Bar. Contestants must use materials other than fabric to fashion their bikini. In the men's competition, we had 'News Boy' who carried a paper carrier and wore a well-made bikini with the local newspaper's name, the Nome Nugget, stategically placed. He was second. 'Old fart' was a 60-something guy with a soiled diaper and IV-drip, and the winner was 'Coconut Man' with two artifical coconuts and a banana covering the essentials. My friend, Pam (Gatekeeper) was a judge, along with Lance and Tonya Mackey and Judy Lane, a local singer. Pam said winners were judged by creativity and presentation rather than by 'wardrobe malfunction'. The womens contest featured 'Miss Hot Denali" wearing a pizza box bikini designed by Donna Gates, Jeff King's wife. We heard Donna chickened out of wearing it hereself. Anyway, Becky, who did wear it, was chagrinned that she was eliminated for 'wearing too many clothes 'cause she had on a real bikini underneath. One very shapely young girl wore only glued on marshmallow Easter 'peeps'.......and yes, there was a wardrobe malfunction there! (a 'peep'show - teehee). A crowd favorite was a native woman (I hear she won last year) with a beautiful face and smile, the cutest dimples in her cheeks (and dimples at many other places in her quite cushioned body) who was 'Miss Slam Dunk'. She had 2 basketballs cut in half, 2 halves top front, 2 haves bottom back, and a very sufficiently covering basketball goal in the front. She got 2nd. The winner, a very creative "Cleaning Lady" who had rubber gloves glued to her shoulders, with the hands forming bra cups. Various other cleaning supplies made up the rest of her costume. The awards, again, came from an auction before the contest.
By the night of the Bikini contest, most of the mushers are in, and them and families are around and participating, along with locals and volunteers, and visitors. By the second night, you tend to develop an entrauge, and send out 'scouts' to decide where to go next. It's all mostly very clean fun, and I've made a lot of friends through the week.
Tuesday night was the 'Men's Wet Buns Contest' at the Polaris Bar. First there is an auction for Iditarod memorabilia, and odd and ridiculous items as well, including spray bottles filled with water. Women bid huge amounts of money for the bottles, thus enabling them to sit up front and spray the 'Chippendale Wannabes', as they come out to dance. One of the dancers works in a local bank, and had to face his co-workers the next day, after being eliminated in the early rounds. In early rounds, the guys have on most of their clothes, and as they dance, the women spray 'passionately', wetting down lower portions thoroughly. There is a huge crowd, DJ music, and people start yelling for their favorites. In each 'round' of dancing, as alcohol is increased and clothing decreased, several more are eliminated. In final rounds, the men dance solo, and take off as much as they are willing........only rule is no frontal nudity........but not much was left to the imagination. It was almost as much fun watching the women watch the men as it was watching the men, who were mostly locals or tourists who wouldn't be caught dead doing this at home. The 2nd place went to a guy who looked quite nerdy at the start, in jeans and a t-shirt, but boy, could he swivel those hips. As he took off clothes, an excellent work-out ethic was revealed, and he began to move like he'd been doing this all his life. The crowd went wild. But the winner, OMG, he called himself 'Humpy', and he was dressed as a firefighter, hat and firemen's pants, and a big fire extinguisher with a long hose that he swung around luudly. At times, the would sling it and squirt streams of water on the crowd. He also had a lot of 'moves' that drove the young females crazy. The top three got winnings from money raised at the auction, and all contestants received $100 for entering. I think the winner got $1600. Not bad for a night's 'play'.
The next night was Women's Wet T-Shirt Contest. I understand Tonya Mackey entered last year. Sorry, but I missed that one. Instead, that night we went to the Anchor Bar, and very small, 'skinniest bar I ever saw' bar. But, they had the cleanest rest rooms in town. The Anchor is kind of like a drinking, visiting, bingo game. Each time you buy a drink, you get a couple of tickets. Every 5 minutes or so, Woody, the owner, calls out a number, you check your tickets, and yell when you win, run up and get your t-shirt, mardi-gras beads, or whatever. The main waitress there, Marie, is like the energizer bunny on meth. She is laughing and moving and mixing and checking tickets, and cheering the winners constantly. Of course, the more you drink, the more tickets you have, and the harder it is to check them. Hmmmmmm.
Thursday night was 'Make Your Own Bikini' night at the Polar Bar. Contestants must use materials other than fabric to fashion their bikini. In the men's competition, we had 'News Boy' who carried a paper carrier and wore a well-made bikini with the local newspaper's name, the Nome Nugget, stategically placed. He was second. 'Old fart' was a 60-something guy with a soiled diaper and IV-drip, and the winner was 'Coconut Man' with two artifical coconuts and a banana covering the essentials. My friend, Pam (Gatekeeper) was a judge, along with Lance and Tonya Mackey and Judy Lane, a local singer. Pam said winners were judged by creativity and presentation rather than by 'wardrobe malfunction'. The womens contest featured 'Miss Hot Denali" wearing a pizza box bikini designed by Donna Gates, Jeff King's wife. We heard Donna chickened out of wearing it hereself. Anyway, Becky, who did wear it, was chagrinned that she was eliminated for 'wearing too many clothes 'cause she had on a real bikini underneath. One very shapely young girl wore only glued on marshmallow Easter 'peeps'.......and yes, there was a wardrobe malfunction there! (a 'peep'show - teehee). A crowd favorite was a native woman (I hear she won last year) with a beautiful face and smile, the cutest dimples in her cheeks (and dimples at many other places in her quite cushioned body) who was 'Miss Slam Dunk'. She had 2 basketballs cut in half, 2 halves top front, 2 haves bottom back, and a very sufficiently covering basketball goal in the front. She got 2nd. The winner, a very creative "Cleaning Lady" who had rubber gloves glued to her shoulders, with the hands forming bra cups. Various other cleaning supplies made up the rest of her costume. The awards, again, came from an auction before the contest.
By the night of the Bikini contest, most of the mushers are in, and them and families are around and participating, along with locals and volunteers, and visitors. By the second night, you tend to develop an entrauge, and send out 'scouts' to decide where to go next. It's all mostly very clean fun, and I've made a lot of friends through the week.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Jeff King, John Baker, Hugh Neff and Martin Buser
Jeff King's team arrived just a loping along with tails up and ready to keep running.
Dave Little loves on one of Hugh's finishers.
John Baker's team comes in at dark
John Baker at finish line
Hugh Neff carried a 'Cat in the Hat' book for a fourth grade class in his sled, along with a 'Flat Hugh' the children drew, to support their "Read Across Alaska" project.
Hugh's sled shows his support for the program
Iditarod Champion and fan favorite - Martin Buser
Martin's dogs are so well trained that he lets them run loose at the finish line. Here he thanks one of them while sipping on a cup of coffee.
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