Iditarod: The Last Great Race

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I went to the Ceremonial Start of the Iditarod this morning.  Fantastic!  And yet another example of Alaska doing it's thing, aka being awesome.  Here's the run-down, mostly in pictures:

All of the dog teams were transported in these back-of-truck carriers.

Sleds.

A team getting ready to go.  Sled dogs are fairly lanky.  Think distance runners, rather than sprinters.  If you're interested, there's an Iditarod documentary on Netflix instant that will tell you all of this . . . and more!

 I suspect this isn't a racing dog, but isn't she pretty?

A fellow Texan?  If not, he's certainly crazy enough to be: I MUST PROTECT MY COWBOY HAT.

Some folks had the good idea to watch from the parking lot.

Not a great shot, but the best one I have of the dogs running.

Me, being cheery!

Six Months

It's been six months.  Half the year.  Half of my time here in Alaska.  Every time part of life passes by like this, I can't help thinking that this is how life passes in its entirety: quickly.  I still have a very vivid memory of my first day of college, and yet here I am, almost ten years later. Seeing bald eagles out my window (just sayin'.)

What I'm getting at is this: there are things that drive me crazy about this place.  Terrible roads.  Minimal dining options.  12-hour flights to see the people I miss.  Always having to brush snow off of my car.  But there will come a time when I will wish like heck that I could be back here.  Because there are things about this place that I love.  My new friends.  Seeing Denali from my office window.  Being young.  Learning to be a lawyer.  Learning to ski.  Moose in my backyard (just sayin'.).

Perhaps I sound overly earnest, but I don't care (OK I care a little bit, but not enough to prevent me from posting this).  There are few things in life about which I'm often overly earnest, but this is one of them: we only get one shot, so we need to make the most of it.