Playing Paparazzi with Sarah Palin, and the Iron Dog 2011

Yesterday, we went into downtown Fairbanks to get in on some of the Iron Dog 2011 action. Before the Grande Finale, the Tired Iron 2011 (races with antique snow machines, things for the kids to do,etc.) was doing it's thing.

Gabe was so excited to do the Kid-a-Pult. He'd been talking about doing it for a couple of weeks.


We put Sarah in a bucket, but I call her a "dud", because she didn't go very far; they didn't want to give her whiplash, so they didn't pull the band back too much.

After the kids had fun for a while, we realized that we needed to go inside for a bit to warm up (it was near zero in temp), so Phil and the kids went off to get hot chocolate while I went to a nearby favorite store to get some more hats, mittens, etc.

I'd forgotten to put some items in our "warm extras bag". Darnit, where's that matching mitten?!

When we got back to the River, I set up camp on the foot bridge to try to get pictures of the winners of the race as they came in. Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, was racing. As I was standing there, and waiting, the lady next to me started making small talk, and I asked if there had been a Sarah Palin sighting. The lady next to her then said, "I don't know where she is, but she'd better get here!", then looked at us and whispered, "I'm her Mom.". No doubt, it was because of the resemblance and the voice! We talked to her for a small while, and in conversation, after I mentioned the Kate Gosselin episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska", Mom rolled her eyes and said "What a Loon!".

Now as all this is going on, I text Phillip down below to tell him that the lady next to me was Sarah's Mom. And while we were talking (Mom, the other lady, and I), we saw Sarah's Dad and in a joint effort tried to call out to him and get his attention (for Mom, she wanted him to know where on the bridge she was). I look down a little later at Phillip, and he waves at me and points...he'd been talking to SP's Dad!

You may be thinking "What luck. What are the chances?". At this time in the day, there was a crowd, but it was still small enough. Get it? People began to trickle in as the finish got closer, which was about 1 hr-45 minutes after I first talked to Mom.

To make a long story short, I say goodbye to the two ladies (Mom and the other), and make my way to the finish line and Phillip/Sarah's Dad so that I could take better pics of the finish.

Phillip had a better perspective from where he was, so I figured that I'd get better pictures...of the winners...and of Sarah, who had by then made her appearance. While we were talking to Mom, I think she called Sarah to tell her that she'd better get out to the finish or she'd miss it (I could hear her end of the phone conversation).

So, anyway...here's a picture below of the Winners of the Iron Dog 2001 race. And a, kind of long video, of Sarah, Piper Palin, and Todd Palin's team mate's wife waiting for their team to come in 2nd.

All in all, it was quite a fun and interesting day. You can see more pictures of the day, and of course, lots of Mrs. Palin, if you go to the Alaska album in Photo Collections. Oh, and the guy standing behind me said "She's a lot hotter in person.". I have to agree, she is tiny...and quite pretty.




What you are seeing in the video is everyone waiting for the 2nd place team (Todd Palin and team mate) to arrive. We'd been out all day, and I had to take off a glove to operate my camera, so my fingers were really not feeling like normal fingers should; I needed to put my glove back on, and we all needed to get to some place warm.

Proverb.

"May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart."
- Eskimo Proverb

Have a great day everyone!

Sarah wanted to tell...

...you that her Mommy posted some more pics on the Alaska bound album.




PS. Okay, the picture doesn't exactly go with the words, but I had to post it anyway. I don't know where she gets it from. Honestly. Okay, I fib.

The great snowfall of 2011!

We got over 18 inches of snowfall in 48 hours. I think they said that records have been broken.

My neighbor called me yesterday wanting to know if we had a snow blower, because she couldn't get out of her garage. She said that she's never experienced this in all of the time that she's lived in Alaska. Luckily, we have Phil's 4x4 to use for in travel in times like this. Because I'm afraid to try to get my car out of our garage.

I'm about to go outside and get busy with a snow shovel.

Phillip's flights have been canceled for today, because they can't get the aircraft out of the hangars. And he's on Craigslist as I type, looking for a used snow blower.

We have two shovels. I'm just sayin'.

Umm...scratch that. He just bought one, and I'm darn glad for it!

I think that one of the main reasons...

...why we did Science Fair projects in school, is so that we could teach our own kids how to do it when their time came.

Maybe it's the only reason.

Well! In that case, in the words of my husband, "This vicious cycle has to end!".

The toughest sled dog race in the world...

...is the Yukon Quest. They say that the Iditarod is for sissies.

At the beginning of this week, I had the intentions of spending lots of time in downtown Fairbanks on Saturday watching the mushers come in from their 1,000 mile trek from White Horse, Yukon Territory all the way to the finish. I saw on the calendar of events that there would be an awards banquet on Saturday evening, so I figured that we could see some action at the finish on the Chena River downtown.

Boy, was I mistaken! I told you that I have a lot to learn. And that's what I get for assuming.
They don't all come in at one time, and they definitely don't wait til Saturday to finish. It takes days for them all to arrive.

On Tuesday evening at about 9 pm, I was checking Facebook status' when I noticed on the Yukon Quest's page that they were anticipating who this year's winner would be and they would know in a couple of hours.

I looked at the live tracker on the official website...then over to Phillip and the kids, and said "The first place guy just passed {a location near our house}!". Phillip then asked about the other mushers...We got that crazy look in our eyes (it was a school night)...threw our snowsuits on over our pajamas...and hauled booty over to {the location near our house}.

By the time we got there, there were a two other people waiting, and after some conversation, we learned that the area had been pretty busy earlier with lots of people wanting to see Mr. 1st Place (Dallas Seavey) pass by. We learned that if we waited, we'd see Mr. 3rd Place (Ken Anderson). It was about 11 pm when we finally saw a lone headlight come around the corner of the Chena, and so we went out onto the river (it's frozen solid) to cheer him on.

As we were waiting, the father of #4 had driven over to where we were. He'd just seen his son at the Two Rivers checkpoint. We had a nice conversation with him. He travels from Minnesota for about 3-4 month every year to support his son.

Mr. Anderson (#3) stopped long enough to adjust something on the dogs, and ask if we knew anything about how far behind Brent Sass was (#4). We were able to help him out with some information, and congratulate him on a good race.

My camera died just as I was trying to get a pic; I was only able to get him leaving. He had about 20+ miles to go before he finished.

We got home at about 11:30 PM (remember...school night). But hey, don't judge! It's reason's like this that we love being able to live in different places.

Next year, I'll be more prepared.

We took these pictures earlier today of a musher loading up to go home, and of the tear-down of the finish line.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Yukon Quest, then click on these links:
http://www.yukonquest.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon_Quest

This is what happens...

...when you throw boiling water into the air at -42 degrees! (we shot this just a few minutes ago)

Frozen landscape.

My friend, Charlaine, took this picture this morning. She was on a nearby hill, looking toward the Alaska Range. Check out the ice fog at -43 degree temps! (Click on the picture itself to get a better view.)

You can see more of her talent by clicking on Simply Charlaine on the blog roll on the right side of this page.