Alaska in February: Part 2

If you remember, Sam and I met a local musher named Dario at The Grind on Saturday afternoon.  We got to talking, and found out he owns a kennel in Girdwood.  We asked if he needed an extra set of hands or two to help out. He asked if we were good with shovels... :-)

Sunday morning we were up and at 'em pretty early. Sam and I packed for Talkeetna and then headed over to Moose Meadows (a big playing field near the resort) to meet up with Dario. Dario picked us up and started taking us on something of a tour. Both of us got a little nervous thinking, hey the plan was for us to help you, not to get a tour- was there some miscommunication?! No, there wasn't, he was just showing us around, exercising his dogs! Very, very cool.  The sled he uses for tours has a place for one rider to sit in a net/hammock type seat, a place for a 2nd rider to sit on a box behind the first rider or to stand, and then a place for the musher.  Dario took us for a long ride, long enough for Sam and I to sit/stand in both seats.

I must say, it is a great way to get around!! 

Pretending to mush ... :-)

Dario is a great guy-- loves his dogs, loves Alaska --and very fun to be around. We stopped often so that the dogs could cool off! Ha! It was like 30 degrees!! That's still below freezing, in case you forgot. Apparently the optimal temperature for running the dogs is 20 below... Unreal! He said that running in 30 degree weather is like running in 90 degree weather for us. After what seemed like a very long, very fun tour (one that we felt we should have paid for!) we made it over to his kennel.  Dario showed us how to unharness the pups and where to put them. Dario told us about his day-to-day schedule taking care of the dogs: feed, water, scoop; take team(s) out for exercise/tours/etc.; feed, water, scoop; take other team(s) out for exercise/tours/etc.; feed, water, scoop. I can't imagine what it would look like if he didn't take such good care of them all!! All the dogs were super happy with incredibly friendly demeanors.

a puppy!

After shoveling (heehee) and cleaning up the kennel area, it was about time for us to head back to the condo. We were planning on leaving that afternoon for Talkeetna.  We were so grateful for the afternoon we had we Dario and being at the kennel.  We started the short walk back to the condos and it was so cool to see them from a distance... 

Can you find the 3-story condos? Hahahaha... they look so small!

our walk back took us by the local airport... isn't it amazing?

Scott and Jenn's friend Jimmy owns a beautiful cabin in Talkeetna, and invited all of us out to stay a couple of nights.  After cleaning up and getting the cards loaded, we were off... It was going to take a couple hours to get there, and I sure didn't want to be too warm in the car, so you know, I just had jeans and a pullover on... Besides, it was like 30 degrees, and I was getting pretty used to 30 degrees being kind of warm. Big mistake. When we got there it was already after dark and we were both definitely way underdressed for the (short) walk up to the cabin. This was the coldest I think I've ever been! Within less than a minute of being outside the car my fingers were hurting and every inch of me felt so, so cold! I pulled my ski bibs over everything I was already wearing, put on two coats, gloves, hat... and hoped the walk to the cabin would be short! Jimmy had spent the afternoon there preparing the cabin for us, and a fire was already going when we came in. It was amazing to walk into and so inviting!  My fingers hurt so bad... it was unreal. Everyone kept telling me to put them closer to the fire but as they warmed up, they hurt! After a couple minutes they returned to normal, not that I was worried or anything, haha. Jimmy had prepared a stew and bread for us, so we sat down to eat pretty quickly.

Jimmy's cabin

The cabin had 2 rooms downstairs: a bedroom (currently unfinished & we didn't use it) and a "great room". The great room had a folding table and chairs, a bench, a chest of drawers, a long table (for a counter top holding our water containers and shallow buckets for a sink), a gas stove, a wood burning heater thing, camping chairs for lounging and a sofa, among other storage containers. Upstairs there was one room plus a loft, and 6 surprisingly comfortable cots. It was easily 15 degrees warmer upstairs than down... Both nights the outside temps were around ten below... The first night Jimmy manned the fire and apparently it was getting too much air... the heater unit started glowing and was above 900 degrees! Upstairs the thermometer showed us it was like -10 outside, 90 degrees inside ... Going out in 10 below weather was actually not too terrible after being a toasty 90 degrees inside.  Why would we go out in it?  That would be to use the outhouse... Ha.  Sam said you knew you had to go when you were willing to brave the cold...

Jenn at the "Loose Moose"

Jimmy had the brilliant idea to keep the toilet seat inside... to avoid "poopsicles" ... So we had to take it out with us whenever we went...  

Monday morning we got up, had breakfast, and headed into Talkeetna. It's a small, eclectic town, and it is referred to as the Gateway to Denali. Most people climbing Denali will fly out of Talkeetna. On our way into town, we stopped at one overlook. The weather was just gorgeous, and we were able to see Denali so clearly from so far away! Here's me and Jenn, with Denali in the middle. I know it doesn't look that big... just remember the summit is at 20,320 ft. Even in June, you can expect the temps at Denali's summit to be -40. Just saying.

Sam and me & Scott and Jenn

After lunch and a little shopping in Talkeetna, we headed back to the cabin and did some more cross country skiing. I still was not very good, but I really enjoyed it. It will definitely be a hobby I pursue further!

another gorgeous Alaskan sunset

After skiing, we all warmed up inside, Jimmy headed home to Anchorage, and the rest of us hung out until we were too tired to talk anymore before going on to bed. Tuesday we got up late (meant to be up at 7, really got up at 8) and packed up quickly to be out of there by 9. We grabbed breakfast on the road and met up with Nicolas Petit in Chugiak.

blocks of meat on the left, band saw on the right... Nic showing Sam and Scott how to break up the meat after it had been cut.

Scott and Sam took huge blocks of raw, frozen ground meat and cut them into about 1/3-inch strips which had to be broken up into bite-sized chunks for easy defrosting at checkpoints. For those who don't know, the Iditarod has certain checkpoints, and all the musher's supplies need to be ready to go by next week. Nic has his work cut out for him, so we were more than happy to help. Jenn and I left the guys to mess with the meat (I SOOOOOO could NOT handle it!) and we grabbed the shovels. This kennel had about 46 dogs... and the kennel only gets scooped twice a day... and I'm sure we shoveled at least 2-3 per pup. After scooping we got to "water" them. This was sooooo much more than putting water in their bowls. What they get is only about 1/2 water, the other 1/2 oil that kinda smells like fast food, and chunks of meat. The dogs, of course, love this. That grub ended up getting all over us, of course... We smelled bad. Nevermind the not having a shower for 2 days... Between the guys dealing with the meat, and us dealing with the "water" ... we were a smelly, smelly bunch. I may have gagged once...

May and me

After the dogs were all given some TLC, poop-free spaces, and "water" ... they were pretty much set. So, Jenn and I helped the guys. I tried so hard to be okay with it but it REALLY grossed me out. I ended up duct taping the gallon size ziploc bags full of the raw, chunky frozen meat. These are what will go to the checkpoints to feed the pups during the race. It is a cool feeling to be a part of it, though it really is so much more work than I had ever imagined. We spent about 4-5 hours there and barely put a dent in the things that can and need to be done!

After dumping all external layers into a big sack, we piled into the car and headed to dinner. We ate pizza at Moose's Tooth (an awesome restaurant in Anchorage) and then did a little grocery shopping before getting back to Girdwood. Tomorrow we head to the mountain for snow skiing/boarding...!!!