Alaska

Last week, Christina and Steve made a huge leap - we left the girls in the care of their Nana Rose and Grammie Ellen, and went on a work trip to Anchorage, Alaska.

Although we really did do a lot of work, we got some fun in, too. In the picture above, we are at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod. It was great - cold, but great! This is how the dogs travel when they're not racing:

Here are two dogs we called Clara and Elena (we might have missed those girls, just a LOT). They looked kind of like we thought sled dogs would look.

These dogs did not. They were from the team out of Scotland. It turns out that Huskies are rarely used for sled racing, and that dogs are bred as mixed breeds for qualities to help them in the race.

The prevailing outfits at the Iditarod were Patagonia, North Face, and many variations on fleece and ski jackets. But, we also did find many people who were using fur to great effect (more on this in a minute).

Steve takes a break from watching the dogs (there were 71 teams taking off, at two-minute intervals - it took hours!) to cuddle up with a friendly local. That guy might have been after Steve's coffee:

Another team, heading out of town!

The Iditarod is just part of the Fur Rondy - it started almost 90 years ago as a time for people to come together to trade as well as to engage in winter sports competition (including the traditional Blanket Toss). A big part of the weekend was (and is) the fur auction.

People were SERIOUS about their furs. These were not "odd men out" we were taking pictures of - these were people serious about headgear, and there were many of them.

You've got to see the back of them for full effect, though.

Something about all of that fur was contagious, we have to say. We went in there staunch in our combined opinion that we were not people who supported the fur trade. And after 15 minutes were were about to bid on a silver fox pelt. We held back, but truly did question our nearly automatic aversion to fur, when we do in fact eat meat and wear leather. And in Alaska, it was clear that the fur was only one way in which the entire animal was used. Still, in the end, we decided to focus on eating versus wearing, and ate a tremendous amount of yummy seafood. Christina had crab every single day, and Steve sometimes joined, and sometimes went for halibut or salmon or chowder - we'll leave you with an image of one meal among the many, many delicious ones we shared:

Great seafood, an amazing dogsled race, adult company and conversation for days on end, samplings of fantastic beers (one especially good one called Beam Boch that gets aged in a cask for Jim Beam!), professional involvement and satisfaction - and not all of that combined compared to our joy at the little voices that when we arrived home proclaimed "I missed you, so much!" We missed you, too, Clara and Elena!