Live from the Iditarod

 Iditarod day! It actually happened! The thrill of it all! We were up at 8:30am to get dressed and ready to head downstairs for breakfast real quick then rush out the door to the start of the race. The lounge isn't open on weekends but we do have access to the downstairs breakfast for free. We didn't quite know what we were doing though, because we just walked in but there were people in line but they were likely looking to pay and sit down for breakfast so we figured it was ok to go passed them, except we didn't know who we told we were gold members who go this for free. We figured it'd work itself out though and we were in a hurry so we threw on two bagels to toast when someone came over to verify we were her for the complimentary To-Go breakfast. We said yes and Jess went over to get the box and give her our room numbers. She apologized to her for before when we'd been standing by the desk trying to ask for help while she was helping another guest but we said of course we understood she was busy we were just confused! So all was well!

We threw our bagels and three croissants into the box, chugged a glass of cranberry juice, and blew out of there to go check out the festivities! We walked up the street and got handed a cool pair of foam husky ears each, which were fun but also free! So that's awesome already! We also got some stickers, clappers, and a cinch tie bag we chucked all out belongings in to carry around. There was also an Iditarod booth with all kinds of race merch and Jess decided she really wanted a travel mug and I was gonna think about one of the pins. They didn't really have a line to check-out, they just said every so often "Anyone ready to check out?" which worked for me because I am bold and brash and just got to jump in with YES! I am ready! So despite the crowd we were done with that in a flash! We then wandered around checking out the sights, booths, and enjoying the hubbub of every bustling to and fro! We ended up crossing the street and going down to the left but we decided we wanted to be right at the start of the race, really be part of it all! It was actually snowing a touch and it all felt so right! What says Alaskan Sled Race better than a snowfall! Positively perfect!

We actually got a spot RIGHT at the start before everyone crowded around us so that was awesome! Now, we didn't know there was gonna be people inside the fenced area on the street kinda blocking the way, but it wasn't a huge issue and we saw around. Now, before the race starts they have an aboriginal singing group come to sing some native songs and dance to wish the mushers and the dogs luck and safety. That was wonderful to watch, and it was led by the man from the Blanket Toss and he was fun yesterday so it was nice to see him again! We watched the film crews navigate around and give mini interviews, which was of course fascinating and fun! We just love being a part of all of it, you know? Then the anthem for America and Alaska were sung and the singer did a wonderful job, but everyone kept looking around to see where some weird cheering sound was coming from but Jess and I knew it was the huskies doing their yapping. Huskies are LOUD dogs who just LOVE to bark and whine and they sound so weird when they do it so it's not surprising people were confused cause they make some ugly noises!

From there an announcer appeared in the back of a truck, funny enough, and he started hosting the opening of the race! It started with the mayor of Nome coming riding in on a sled dog team, then the first contestant slide into place! Because the dogs can't be too close to each other the racers can't go off all at once, even for the Ceremonial Start, which is what was happening today, the mushers are all set off at different times. Now, for those who don't follow the Iditarod there are two starts to the race, the Ceremonial Start, and the Official Start or Restart. The race doesn't actually officially begin until the day after the Ceremonial Start where, to ensure the dogs don't end up running into each other, the teams go out one at a time every hour. Then the judges just time how long each team takes to do the race and compare the times to determine the winner. It's convoluted, but it works, and it's safest for the dogs. But, since hour long gaps for 58 contestants isn't a spectator event, there's the Ceremonial Start! This spaces the start of each musher 2 minutes apart so they're all basically backed up all the way down 4th street to be ready to move up every 2 minutes to the start line. It still takes a while, but it's obviously much faster! They go about 25 miles to Willow where they spend the night and await the official start of the race the next day.

With that information covered, we all got hype and cheered as the countdown began for the first team and we cheered our best and loudest as he took off down the street. The dogs looked wonderful, excited, and barked so much! It was fabulous! We then stood and watched for about 10 teams take-offs before we decided to jump into the Fun Rondy HQ to warm up a little bit. I could no longer feel my fingers so I was ready to get a little warmer. We stayed there for about 10 minutes then went out to go up the left but we kept seeing people walking around with what looked like posters in Exxon Mobil bags and they looked like free swag, and you know how we feel about free swag! Intrigued we asked someone and she directed us all the way down to the right, saying there was a tent. So we turned right around and trudged through the massive crowd gathered where we had been at the very start of the race. We also had to push past the PETA protesters, also known as Idiots, but we got to see the anti-PETA protesters reminding people that PETA is trash that kills more animals than they save, which is true. The anti-PETA protesters also had the most beautiful malamute with them which was lovely to admire and pet!

Having toughed it through the crowd we finally saw an Exxon Mobil sign next to a tent and at last saw a woman basically throwing free posters to the crowd passing by! I love when people are ecstatic to give out free things, makes it so much less awkward! We grabbed our posters with glee then swung around to try and figure out how to cross the street to get back on the side of our hotel. One street way told us they would open it after 18 contestants had passed, but we kept walking up the street, looking around and enjoying ourselves, despite the cold! We made it to a street way eventually that was allowing people to cross between teams and got over to the correct side to walk back down towards our hotel. We checked out a craft faire inside one of the mall areas, but didn't see anything we liked, then headed back out to the race. There we found a mini-donut stand and decided we just NEEDED some of those warm, wonderful cinnamon donuts so we spent $7 for 13. More money, yeck, but it was worth it for the warm-up and just a nice tasty treat! From there we actually found this weird spot to continue watching the race. It was a wall of sorts right in front of the starting line but it had these large circular holes people were standing in to get a good amount of height to see right over everyone's heads! It was a perfect place to stand, eat our donuts, and watch more contestants start! We actually saw Mitch take off, a multi-time winner of the race and notorious veteran of the race take off, which was super sweet because Jess read his book a few years back! Talk about cool!

At that point we were at contestant 30 and we we're feeling cold enough that we needed a break from the cold and headed towards the hotel. On the way I formally decided I NEEDED that Iditarod pin and parted with the $8 dollars. We got back to the hotel at 11am, having been out for 2 hours in the snow, and warmed up while watching the race on the TV. I decided I really wanted to see the last contestant go, so at contestant 50 we got dressed again and set off, right back to the circle gap to see the last 3 teams take off. We got to be part of the rousing cheer for number 58 as the very last one took off, which is what I really wanted, and we got to see everyone disperse to their next activity! We were off to the carnival then for the Ferris wheel!

These set-up carnivals always cost a fortune to get tickets for rides, but all e cared about was the Ferris wheel so we parted with $5 each and got in line! The ride was AMAZING! They'd faced the wheel so you could see the mountains and they were just gorgeous! They look like a fake backdrop, how unreal and stunning they are! It was just amazing to see, and amazing to think about people living so close to such majesty! Unreal. Following the ride we had until 4pm before we were going to go see the Running of the Reindeer so we headed back to the hotel for a mid-day break where we could relax for the next about 3 1/2 hours. We made hot chocolate to drink out of our fantastic new travel mug, ate some of our snackies, and watched some Love It Or List It while we recharged for our evening agenda.

We got redressed and headed out at 3:40pm to head up the street. We figured the best spot to watch the Running of the Reindeer would be the weird circle-thing we were in before, so we headed a little up the street to check if it was still available and it was! Looks like most folks didn't even know that was an option and we got a few head nods and "Good idea!"'s from passing people! We got there just in time for the announcer to begin MC'ing for the first heat (as there are 4 because too many people sign up for there to be only one!). We were at the end of the race where we were standing which we couldn't figure out because we didn't know which was the run went but we didn't really care where what we saw of this as long as we saw something! As we stood the MC gave the mic to one of the singers at the even who sang a Run of the Reindeer rendition of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer which was great and then he started the countdown to the start!

The first heat was HILARIOUS! I have never seen anything like this! The first two heats have 'leaders' of sorts and if you pass them you get $20, but the lead for the first heat was a dude wearing only his underwear and it was ridiculous! He was followed by a ton of people in funky costumes from pizza's to tutus to reindeer onsies and a man wearing a rabbit fur thong. These folks are being chased, and inevitably passed, by about a dozen reindeer. I can't imagine running, only to turn around and see a fully antlered reindeer approaching from the rear, that's a no from me. But these folks were down with it and they looked like they were having a fabulous time! Now, some people were't AS into it as others, and you ended up seeing a slew of people near the end of the run who just gave up and were walking. It's not a long run, only 2 blocks, but I feel like a lot of people were just in it for the novelty and I get that.

The second heat was just as funny with more wild costumes, including my favourite, a reindeer onesie with a a bikini on top, and more rampaging reindeer! The third heat had the most participants, so many in fact that the reindeer struggled to even get through the crowd and many folks got to where we were and just stopped to wait for the reindeer. Musta been about a hundred people in that heat, so it took forever to get them all to the end (cause a lot gave up and just walked, as usual), and then to get them funneled out of the street so they could walk the reindeer back. So, after each heat the handlers have to take the reindeer and walk them the whole length of the way back to reset. It takes a while, but in this time the MC, that same guy from the Blanket Toss (who sounds so much like Jim Belushi), took some time to talk with some of the runners. He talked to some of the non-American runners during one heat and was very excited to meet a woman who came all the way from Australia to follow the whole of the race. He also gave the woman and man singer a chance to sing some funny songs, including a fantastically funny rendition of Let It Go. The woman sang more then, but the man played a silly country song each time the race got going which just added to the humor of the whole thing.

We stayed for all 4 heats, cheering loudly and proudly all of the way from our hole in the wall. After that we walked back to Grizzly Gifts to see about any more souvenirs and had a swell chat with a cashier who remembered us from last time. We discussed how easy it is to get away with stuff when you just pretend to be a silly girl cause all people, men and women, just buy it and let things slide. It gives you a reputation for being stupid, but it sure does work! From there were decided to finally spend the $6.50 on a reindeer dog. It actually end up costing $7 flat because he didn't offer my 50 cents back but I didn't care to ask for it, figuring it counted as a little tip. We got the dog in mild, threw some mustard on it, and headed back to the hotel. As we ate we went to the 5th floor to check out the hot tub situation. The pool was down for some reason but the hot tub was open and ready to go so we hopped on back to the room, threw on our bathing suits, grabbed a soda and pack of M&M's, and headed up! It was funny though, we saw a family leaving the pool deck the first time we showed up and even though they said the pool was out of order they were definitely swimming in it so we laughed about that as we made our return. There was a woman in the hot tub when we got back but we just chilled until she got out, then we popped open our drink and started being our usual idiot.

So, the heat from the hot tub literally filled the pool area with so much steam that the ceiling was dripping with condensation, but a light fixture by the hot tub was also just, like, leaking water from it. So... that looked safe. We still got in though, cause we're not ninnys afraid of a little thing like Electrical Fires or whatever. We talked about this with a man and what looked like his son who got in about 20 minutes after we did. I initially made a comment about how you're probably not supposed to drink around the hot tub but people pee in these pools so honestly Sierra Mist isn't gonna hurt it worse and the dad was just like "We could've all gone our whole life not thinking about that" so we had a laugh then and another one when I said the leak might be coming from a bathroom upstairs and he went "Is there a psychological reason that's where your mind keeps going?" The pair commended us for making the 9+ hour flight just for the start of the Iditarod because, yeah, that is a little crazy but also adventuresome!

They left after only about 10 minutes, you know, a respectable time to be in a hot tub, but we stayed and hung out until we'd been in it 45 minutes, leaving at 6:30pm. We would've stayed longer but the steam was filled with chlorine and it was making our eyes water pretty bad. Back at the room we both took showers, watched some Home Town and other HGTV nonsense, and settled back in for the night. We decided we were actually gonna go for it around 8pm and ordered room service! To our room! We just got the $12 nachos, but the guy on the phone was...confused about the whole thing. He was like "What kind of nachos?" to which I had to respond "Uh, the ones on the menu?" Like, there's only one listed? But we eventually sorted it out and got to enjoy a wonderful tray of nachos delivered right to our door! How luxurious and excessive! A perfect end to a perfect day!