July 4, 2009 – Seward and Mount Marathon Race

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

 

 And let us thank all those who have kept us independent and free.

Lots of festivities here in Seward so this morning we checked some of it out. 

First a stop at the Iditarod Marker.  The Iditarod Trail was a major mail trail in Alaska and it started here in Seward.   Note – this is not to be confused with the Iditarod Race.

Today was the Mount Marathon race.  “It started out as a bar bet about 90 years ago, according to local lore, and has become one of Alaska's oldest foot races and North America's toughest endurance marathon.  The first race was run in 1908 on an informal bet between a local bartender and a geologist. The bartender's challenge was to run from that spot, to the top of — what was then Mount Isabelle — and back, in under an hour. His finishing time of 62 minutes didn't win him the compass and map he'd wagered for, but they carved his name on the wall and challenged anyone in town to beat him.

The race begins downtown, on Fourth and Jefferson, in front of the First National Bank, and ends a block south of where it began, on Fourth and Adams. The halfway point is a stone marker atop Mount Marathon, 3022 feet above sea level, and a mile and a half from the finish line. The total race course distance is about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers). Leading racers will typically reach the peak from the starting line in 33–40 minutes, and reach the finish line from the peak in 10–15 minutes. Average speed uphill is 2 mph. Average speed downhill is 12 mph.”

And it is impressive to watch.  Here is the mountain:

If you look real close, you can see people in the center of the photo right at the tree line:

I hung around town and waited for the first few women to make it to the finish line – WOW!  How courageous and fit.   And on my way back found Andy checking them out with the binoculars – LOL!!

 

The men’s race was held in the afternoon and we watched that from our space in front of the MH.  In the picture below you can see all the dust from the individuals coming down the mountain – they were booking!!!

We went to the Legion for supper and had RIBS – MMMMMM.   And enjoyed another campfire with our neighbors, Howard and Marlys.

Hope you all had a great holiday.

June 4-5, 2009 – Riverboat Discovery and New Friends

On Thursday morning we met with Alexis, Melissa, and Mark on various questions we had plus about the Sunday event “Wild Arts Walk” and what some of our duties will be (Sat/Sun will be long days for us).

This afternoon we took a tour on the Discovery Boat (thanks to Bob again for the tickets).

We went early and first went thru the museum.  There is an area dedicated to Susan Butcher who was a four time winner of the Iditarod.   Susan was born in 1954 and moved to Alaska in 1975 to “live the simple life”.  In 1977 she started training for the Race and won in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990 as well as taking place in the top 10 many other times.  She was diagnosed with cancer in 2005 and died in 2006 leaving two young daughters and husband David Monson (who won the Yukon Quest in 1988).  In 2007, her husband and 11 year daughter Tekla ran 700 miles of the Iditarod in Susan’s honor.

I am standing by Susan’s actual finishing sled in the 1988 race.

From there we boarded the Discovery 3, a stern wheel riverboat:

We took off down the Chena River and our first stop was to see a demonstration of a bush pilot in action:

In many places of Alaska today, the river barges and planes are used to bring supplies to the villages.  The planes are used year round landing on the ground, in the rivers, in ponds, on ice, or snow.

From there, we cruised to the kennels of David Monson and Susan Butcher.  Dave is on the left.  Susan’s daughter is in the green shirt.  Dave told us a lot about the dogs, how they are raised and trained and handled.

 

In the summer, here is some of their training – AND THERE OFF:

AND THEIR BACK:

It was really interesting to see and watch.  In Alaska, this is the mode of transportation for many.

Our next stop was at the “wedding of the two rivers” – the intersection of the Chena and the Tanana.  This area of Alaska actually has desert conditions.  Rainfall is less than 11” per year.  However, there is a lot of melting of the glaciers.  The Chena is spring fed and the Tanana is glacial fed.  Spring fed rivers are clear and glacial fed rivers are “milky” due to the amount of sand/silt in the glaciers.  When those waters meet, this is what it looks like:

  

You can see the sand bars in the above picture.  They are in the Tanana River and are changing all the time.

Our last stop was a guided tour of a Athabascan Indian Village.  We made three stops in this village and our tour guides were Athabascan Indians who told us of life in their village – their lives, traditions, hunting, fishing – how interesting.  Some of the buildings were authentic and some were replicas. 

This is their fishing village:

 

The Trading Post:

The Post Office:

This is a statue of Susan and David’s lead dog – Granite.  They wrote a children’s book about him since he was a sickly pup and became a great dog leader.  We did get a copy and had David sign it for our great granddaughter, Bailey.

And one of the homemade coats:

Isn’t that beautiful.  There were also examples and explanations of the various types of beading.  The girls explained the different meanings on the different parts of the coat.  They told us that if a woman wore this into another village, they would know what village they came from and various things about their family.  WOW!

And look at this little fellow:

On this trip, we met another Escapee couple, Pennie and David.  They will be staying in Fairbanks for another 2 weeks and hopefully we will meet up for dinner.

We then went to Boston’s and had dinner with Charlene and Ken.  We had been communicating by email and on the Escapees forum and met last week.  So it was great to spend the evening with them and we hope to meet up again when we get to the Kenai.  (I just love being part of the Escapees – we have met so many wonderful people.)

On Friday, 5th, we just hung out.  It rained part of the day and I did our bills/budget.  We have also discussed what we will be touring over the next few weeks so stay tuned.