Alaska Trip March 14, 2006--Day 11

Today will be a hard one to beat in terms of fun and panoramic views. Before we arrived in Nome, Aunt Bonnie had bid upon (and won) a helicopter flight at an auction- a 30 minute ride in a million dollar helicopter. The helicopter is normally used for mail flights between mainland Alaska and Little Diomede island.

We had to plan our flight based on the fact that the copter can fly at about 2 miles a minute, and that we had a 1/2 hour of fly time. We decided to head out into the country near the Dexter cabin, land on top of Bear Mountain, and then land on top of "Peak 2712," one of the highest in the immediate area. After that, we flew to Aunt Bonnie's Cape Nome house, and then headed back into Nome. We saw some spectacular mountains and had 360 degree views of the countryside. There was no wind and the weather was crystal clear, which made for a great ride.

The copter crew (L to R): "Cruddy" Bob Dunbar, Moi, Marci M.D., Sandy Mazen

Top of Bear Mountain with the Kigluiak (Sawtooth) Range in the background:

Marci on top of Peak 2712:

Cape Nome House from the air:


Following our day of flight and sightseeing, we went and helped cousin Pat with some set design for a local play on the life of Helen Keller, and then had dinner at Pat and Sue's. We played Quiddler until about 12 AM, when we heard on the radio that Jeff King had been spotted outside of Nome by the radio station's spotter vehicle.
We walked downtown and watched Jeff make his way down Front Street with his team, which was highlighted by his lead dog carrying a red light. From my viewpoint it looked like Rudolph leading Santa's team of reindeer towards the finish line.

The vicinity of the burled arch finish was a total zoo, moreso than usual, probably because it was an Alaskan champion this year...I'm glad Jeff won, because he's a nice guy and a great innovator...he also happens to be Iditarod's oldest champion!

Today/tonight the mushers continue to trickle in. As I write this, the 14th musher, Aliy Zirkle, has just completed the race. We expect to see Martin in this evening after his mandatory 8-hour layover in White Mountain. Until next time!

Alaska Trip, March 10-13, 2006--Days 7-10

We've been in Nome a few days now, and it has been really relaxing. I wanted to wait to post until I had enough to report, because I figured watching movies and checking the race on the Internet didn't rank up there with moose sightings and fighting shower stalls...

So, we started Day 7 in Homer by waking up at the (butt) crack of dawn and getting down to the airport for our flight to Anchorage. We left Homer at 5:15 AM, and then flew to Anchorage to change planes for our flight to Nome. The guy at the Homer terminal had told me that without my ID, the wait in security might be about 15 minutes longer. Here's what happened....nothing. I told the lady in security that my ID had been mailed to me and was waiting for me in Nome, and she let me through, no questions asked (no other probing or prodding, either).

The flight was tiring and uneventful, and when we arrived in Nome, Auntie Bonnie let us know that she had planned a sled dog ride for us in the country (out near the old family cabin in Dexter). At 3:30, we were met in town by Conner Thomas, a two-time Iditarod veteran, and we followed him out to his house in the Dexter area. He put together a team of about 12 dogs....

Marci was the first to ride. The dogs were going crazy and tugging at the harnesses from moment one. I tried to record some audio to include on here, but I didn't have the camera set up right I guess. Anyway, when Connor pulled up anchor on the dog sled, the team rocketed out of the yard at about 30-40 mph (or so it seemed). Marci must have gotten some mild whiplash at the beginning. We tried to follow on the snowmachine and sled with Connor's wife, but ended up having an equipment malfunction on the trail. Dad and I had to use bailing wire to jury rig the spark plug wire back on so that we could limp back to Connor's house. By that time, Marci had gotten a heck of a sled ride with the team, and it was my turn. We started out by going straight up a hill...I was surprised how much weight the team could pull up such an incline. They sure are powerful animals. My ride was probably only a few miles, but it was really nice...

Days 8 and 9 in Nome were pretty much lounging around, walking downtown, shopping, and watching movies from Bonnie's movie library. Dad and I took a 2 mile hike in the wind down to the Swanberg dredge and back. Last nite, we were on Safety Patrol for Nome, which involved driving around downtown for about a 3 hour shift, looking for drunks and suspect activity. Bonnie volunteers for this activity every year, and this year we actually got some pretty cool hats for helping out. We didn't get to sleep until about 3:30 AM, and then woke up really late in the AM today.

I will blog again about our scheduled helicopter trip...we get 1/2 hour air time, anywhere we want to fly...we may actually get to see some of the mushers coming into Nome! Until then...