All photos and video ©Tara Opsteen-Van Dyke
Journal
What a day we had! We began by walking down to the Hilton Hotel where we met up with the rest of the teachers attending the Iditarod Teachers' Conference. From there, we boarded a bus and drove to Wasilla, where the race headquarters are. Today is vet check day. All the mushers must have their dogs checked out by vets to make sure they are healthy for the race. It was so much fun walking around and seeing the vets working with these amazing athletes. We were able to pet and interact with the dogs--they just loved the attention. We talked with Lance Mackey and pet some of his dogs. We also had the chance to finally meet Jodi Bailey and her husband Dan Kaduce--what nice people! Of course, we already knew that because of the things she sent us for our classroom, but meeting her was really nice. We also talked with Dick Mackey, Lance's dad. Does anybody remember how many seconds Dick beat Rick Swenson by in 1978?
After mingling with the mushers and petting the dogs, we went into the headquarters building and saw all the race trophies, pictures of the winners, old sleds, the stuffed Togo and lots of cool stuff to buy. Remember when I said I was going to use the money you all gave me for Christmas to buy souvenirs at the Iditarod? I spent it all plus more! I even bought a small item for each of you.
Outside of headquarters, we saw the Joe Redington,Sr. statue. Who was he, and what did he do? There was also a statue of Balto and THE IDITAROD SIGN. It was so amazing to actually be standing by these monuments that I have seen pictures of for so long.
After we left Headquarters, we got back on the bus and went to Settler's Bay Lounge for lunch. It was included in our tour, and boy was it yummy! But even better was the amazing view of the mountains out the window as we ate. We had the chance to talk to some other teachers, including one from near Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
Once we were stuffed, we headed to Martin Buser's Happy Trails Kennel. His kennel is located in Big Lake, Alaska. Martin is a four-time Iditarod Champ and has quite an operation. He shared with us how he breeds such amazing athletes. We saw his puppies free running (check out the video) and were able to pet his dogs. He has around 100 of them in his kennel, and I was able to get some doggy kisses from some of the dogs who are going to be running in his Iditarod team. He took us into his trophy room, and it was quite impressive. He said he is most proud of the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian awards he has won--more than any other musher. This award is given to the musher who shows the best dog care on the trail. Martin completed the tour by putting on all of his gear, hooking up his final Iditarod team, and taking off for his final training run before the big race. It was pretty exciting to see something like that from a potential winner just days before the race starts!
On the way back to Anchorage, we finally saw moose! Emmaline counted 14. My life is now complete.
Stay tuned--Thursday is a big day. We'll spend most of it walking around downtown Anchorage, checking out the city. It is a pretty cool place to visit, and I'm really enjoying being downtown. But tomorrow night is the musher banquet! We'll be getting in late, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get up on the website, but I'll for sure get a few pictures up. I can always add a lot more on Friday. Don't forget to check out the other tabs on this website: Emmaline's blog with questions and answers and the Flat 2nd Grade Musher photo gallery.
Hope things are going well in Wisconsin! Alaska and this whole experience...simply amazing!
After mingling with the mushers and petting the dogs, we went into the headquarters building and saw all the race trophies, pictures of the winners, old sleds, the stuffed Togo and lots of cool stuff to buy. Remember when I said I was going to use the money you all gave me for Christmas to buy souvenirs at the Iditarod? I spent it all plus more! I even bought a small item for each of you.
Outside of headquarters, we saw the Joe Redington,Sr. statue. Who was he, and what did he do? There was also a statue of Balto and THE IDITAROD SIGN. It was so amazing to actually be standing by these monuments that I have seen pictures of for so long.
After we left Headquarters, we got back on the bus and went to Settler's Bay Lounge for lunch. It was included in our tour, and boy was it yummy! But even better was the amazing view of the mountains out the window as we ate. We had the chance to talk to some other teachers, including one from near Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
Once we were stuffed, we headed to Martin Buser's Happy Trails Kennel. His kennel is located in Big Lake, Alaska. Martin is a four-time Iditarod Champ and has quite an operation. He shared with us how he breeds such amazing athletes. We saw his puppies free running (check out the video) and were able to pet his dogs. He has around 100 of them in his kennel, and I was able to get some doggy kisses from some of the dogs who are going to be running in his Iditarod team. He took us into his trophy room, and it was quite impressive. He said he is most proud of the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian awards he has won--more than any other musher. This award is given to the musher who shows the best dog care on the trail. Martin completed the tour by putting on all of his gear, hooking up his final Iditarod team, and taking off for his final training run before the big race. It was pretty exciting to see something like that from a potential winner just days before the race starts!
On the way back to Anchorage, we finally saw moose! Emmaline counted 14. My life is now complete.
Stay tuned--Thursday is a big day. We'll spend most of it walking around downtown Anchorage, checking out the city. It is a pretty cool place to visit, and I'm really enjoying being downtown. But tomorrow night is the musher banquet! We'll be getting in late, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get up on the website, but I'll for sure get a few pictures up. I can always add a lot more on Friday. Don't forget to check out the other tabs on this website: Emmaline's blog with questions and answers and the Flat 2nd Grade Musher photo gallery.
Hope things are going well in Wisconsin! Alaska and this whole experience...simply amazing!