Long Awaited Iditarod Post

I have been procrastinating on this post because of the amount of pictures...so I decided to leave them as they are...straight out of the camera.  It makes it much faster to load.

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We told ourselves last year that we would go to the official start this year.  

It would have been so easy to talk ourselves out of going.  It can be hard traveling and doing things with 4 kids. But we would regret it if we hadn't.  When are we ever going to be this close to such an amazing thing again...live life now! 

So we loaded up the van and headed north...to Willow, AK.

It wasn't all fun and games in the beginning.  We had to find parking.  We parked at what I thought was a little restaurant...I was sorely disappointed when I found out it was a school.  I needed to go to the bathroom!

Tears were shed....seriously....by me!  4 full term pregnancies and my bladder doesn't hold like it use to.

Thankfully, there were port-a-potties nearish by.

So, I felt better.  Smooth sailing!

Not smooth sailing!

Do you see that hole?  Underneath about a foot of soft snow is about 3 feet of ice.  Have you ever walked on soft snow?  You sink.  Especially when you are weighted down by a 2 year old.  

I can't explain the sense of panic that would come over me every time I stepped off the packed snow onto the soft snow.  My foot would hit the ice, and I was certain I would step in the one spot on the ENTIRE lake were the ice was thin, and I would fall through taking my kids with me.

Oh how panic just came over me writing this!

It didn't happen.  I was fine.

But at one point...watching my husband walk way in front (he couldn't hear me), I had 3 crying kids, me falling 2 times and I was done....DONE! 

I got a few weird looks.  It is ok.  I am use to weird looks.

We finally made it to the trail.  It had plenty of packed down snow.  No falling through the ice fears for me at this point.  I sat down Sutton, and she was all smiles, and I was relieved.

We brought along "Flat Stanley".  He came all the way from Georgia.  

These dogs love this!  It is amazing to watch them.  And they are surprisingly pretty small.

They are very well taken care of.  The mushers love their animals and really care for them.  There is a ton of barking at the start...these dogs are so excited.  You can almost see it in their faces.

Yes, the ice is that thick that you can build and keep a fire on the ice.  Crazy...I know!

We came away with a souvenir...it is beaver.

It is warm.

And you can't hear a thing with the ear flaps down.

I have a Christmas card idea running around in my head.  This beaver will make it's appearance.  

All in all, it was a glorious day (despite my melt down in the beginning).

We don't get to see these mountains from Anchorage, so it is nice to see them on such a clear day.

I was told when I got here that I would get use to these views.  I haven't yet.  The landscape changes from day to day and step by step.

Please, enjoy our ride home...we did!