Nome adventures, part 3

At long last, the conclusion. On Sunday our only plans were to attend the Iditarod awards banquet, but that wouldn't start until late afternoon. It seemed that we would have all morning and afternoon to kill after we checked out of the hotel. But serendipity struck when we ran into a former clerk at the coffee shop. Karlin clerked on the supreme court a couple years ago, and now he lives in Nome and operates his own kennel. He asked if we wanted to go mushing, and we jumped at the chance.

We drove 10 miles outside of Nome, past Wyatt Earp's old cabin, to Karlin's home. The dogs were ready to run the moment we arrived.



Karlin gave us a very brief lesson on mushing -- "hold here, stand here, hang on" -- and then picked out five dogs to run. Karlin would ride ahead of the team on a snowmachine to provide direction and help out in case of a spill. I was nervous; I wasn't sure how much control the musher had over the speed or direction of the team, I didn't know how difficult it would be to hang on, I didn't know what the sled would feel like under my feet.

I was the fifth of our little group to go, and each person who went before me said it was an exhilirating experience. Most had at least one wipeout along the way, but reported no injuries or catastrophes. By the time it was my turn, Karlin wanted to switch some of the dogs around... both to give rest to tired dogs and to "experiment" with other dogs. Apparently only certain dogs have the physical and mental skills required to be a lead dog (they have to be fast, so other dogs don't pass them, and they have be able to run without following another dog). Karlin wasn't sure how some of his dogs would do, but was eager to try them out.

The first lead dog, Ox, was relieved of duties, but as we would find out, he wasn't ready to quit. Karlin hooked Falcon up as my lead dog, and when we started off, Ox came along to.


(Photo by t-dawg, who was riding with Karlin on the snowmachine.)

Ox is the blonde dog in front, not tethered to the rest of the group. By the time this picture was taken, we had already switched Falcon out of the lead spot (she wasn't quite as fast as she needed to be) in favor of Otter. Otter had never led before, Karlin said, but he was a gunner. He was a great leader, chasing Ox and the snowmachine the whole way. That is, until the snowmachine turned right, and Ox kept going straight. Otter decided to follow Ox... right across a frozen ice patch.


(Photo by t-dawg.)

At first I was okay on the ice, but I was worried that excess speed would make the sled unstable on the slippery surface. The sled's brake was located between to the runners, and so to slow the team down you have to pick up a foot from the runner and press down in the middle. I picked up my right foot just as the sled slid a bit to the left. I was off-balance, and we started to tip to the left in slow motion. I knew it was too late to correct, so I bailed out gloriously, doing a Pete Rose-style head-first slide across the ice. The team continued running straight ahead until a safety hook stopped them once they got off the ice. I experienced the humbling feeling of having to pick myself up and jog after the sled.


(Photo by t-dawg.)

But soon I was back at it.


(Photo by t-dawg.)

I have newfound respect for what dogmushers do. It's hard work to stay on the sled; I was sore for several days from holding on so tight for my 10-minute ride. And this was only a five-dog team, whereas Iditarod teams can have as many as 16 dogs. Many mushers scratched from the race this year after suffering injuries caused by a fall. I can't imagine spending 9 to 15 days on one of these things, like they do in the race.

It was an awesome experience. We were incredibly grateful to Karlin for giving us this indelible memory of our trip to Nome. It was an amazing end to a great trip. There's really no place like Nome!

Pogonotrophy

No time tonight for the third installment of the chronicles of Nome, but we do have time for a beard update!


Photo by t-dawg.

Hey, going strong! Ugly is on the march!

Adventures in Nome, Part 2

A couple more tidbits about Nome. It originated as a gold mining town in 1898, and was home to Alaska's biggest gold rush. At one time it was Alaska's most populous city, with more than 20,000 residents. It also boasted more than 1,000 salloons, most of which lined Front Street, where the Iditarod now finishes. Wyatt Earp moved here from Arizona during the gold rush, and operated a popular salloon, The Dexter. The Nome museum reports that upon entering The Dexter you might find yourself sharing the bar with Jack London and Herbert Hoover. (There's a seat open at the poker table with Wyatt Earp, Jack London, and Herbert Hoover... you sitting down?) The Dexter is in operation still today, and is the only bar in Nome to stay open till 5 a.m. during the summer.

My adventures in Nome started on Thursday with some pizza (what else?), and then a couple salloons. On Friday we were able to watch some dog teams finish the race, and congratulate the pups. We then walked down to the "dog lot," or as I call it, the dog ghetto. This is where the dogs go to rest for a few days, before they're flown back home. It's surprisingly quiet, as the dogs are mostly only sleeping and eating. They look happy.



We spent the afternoon playing on the frozen Bering Sea and in the Nome National Forest, and later for dinner we headed to the VFW for a chili cookoff. What a scene. It was mostly locals inside, as everyone seemed to know everyone else's name. The people in Nome are those who really enjoy the quiet and isolation of a small town. We shared a table with a gentleman who had moved to Montana many years ago to get away from the crowds, but he moved to Alaska because even Montana was getting too populated for his tastes these days. That's not to say they're not social -- they really enjoy each other's company and they have tons of social events planned throughout the year. But they like their space.

The chili cookoff -- featuring musk ox meat! -- was followed by an auction. It was perhaps the greatest auction I have ever seen. It started with your traditional dessert fare -- cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. -- but then it became uniquely Alaskan. Items up for bid included a tow strap (a popular item), 40 gallons of fuel/oil (on the cheap!), and 300 lbs of freight. The fellow who won the freight admitted that he "ain't got nothin' to ship nowhere, but [was] biddin' under the influence of chili." Let that be a lesson to the kids out there.

Saturday featured a pair of interesting events. One was the "Businessman's Race," a sled dog race for amateurs, and one of my co-clerks won third place. She had never mushed before. Amazing. The second was the Bering Sea Ice Golf Classic, where participants play six par-3 holes set up on the Bering Sea. I didn't play -- I don't know how -- but I went along as the media guy to snap some photos.

It was a full weekend, and we thought Sunday, our last day, would be boring. But no, it was the best day of them all. But that's a story for another post. Here's a hint:


Photo by t-dawg.

There's no place like Nome

That's what they say, and I have to agree it's true. There's really no place like Nome. Some quick facts: it's only 190 miles from Siberia, it is considerably farther west than Hawaii, and no roads lead to Nome.

No, you can't drive to Nome. You can fly, sail, snowmachine (or as you lower-48ers say, snowmobile), or dog-mush. There are some roads in and around Nome, but that's it. If you wanted to get a car to Nome, you can fly it there for several thousand dollars, or you can put it on a barge out of Anchorage... and $4,000 and six weeks later, it arrives. This means that any car already in Nome, no matter how old and crappy it may be, is worth at least $4,000. Gotta love the free market. Oh, and gasoline costs $3.96/gallon.

Nome is also a great place to go if you like pizza and Chinese food. And the best part is that you can get them in the same restaurant. Nome has no less than three restaurants -- out of a total of about six restaurants -- that serve both Chinese food and pizza. Two great tastes that go great together, I always say.

Nome is on the south side of the Seward Peninsula, which is one of the remaining land masses from the land bridge that connected North America and Asia. It's tundra. Rolling snow-covered hills, small shrubs and plants, frozen lakes and rivers. Permafrost, dude.

And of course, the Bering Sea.



Which is also home to the Nome National Forest -- a.k.a., where Nomans (Nomeans? Nomers? Nomads?) plant their Christmas trees:



It's also home to some gorgeous sunsets, as we found out the first night:



But of course we weren't there just for the geography and Chinese food/pizza. We went to witness the end of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. And it was awesome. But there's too much to say for just one post, so I'll be back in a day or so with more fun... involving golf, chili, and lots of dogs. Meanwhile, the pics are already up.

Bong Hits 4 Jesus

Everybody loves saying it. I do too.

All the big media are covering this Supreme Court case, and since I know next to nothing about freedom of speech issues I won't add to the clutter. I'll just point to Dahlia's report on the oral argument.

I'll also mention that it's a big story up here, because it was a brilliant Juneau youth who unfurled the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at the 2002 Olympic torch relay, and we are so proud of our young students whose nonsense gets them before the Supreme Court. And we Anchorage lawyers are proud to know the Alaska ACLU attorneys who took the case there. (And, I should mention, we're jealous of them too.)

Okay, that was nice.

I'll go ahead an write my post-mortem now, even though there's still 16 minutes left in Stanford's brutal beat-down loss to Louisville. Just a complete travesty, an embarrassing performance. I've been listening to the student broadcaster on KZSU, and he is just in despair. It's kinda funny, actually.

But I'm just gonna say it: it's time to bring Monty back. Especially since he's doing nothing with himself these days... just lingering around Stanford home games. If we don't make a move on him this off-season, he'll get a job with Santa Clara or wherever, and that'll be that. It's a raw deal for Trent Johnson, but he's had three years now, and no NCAA tournament wins. He's had no lack of talent, either. So even though I think Trent is an admirable guy, I'm firmly in the bring-back-Monty camp. Enough's enough.

"He was proud to follow in his father's footsteps and joked about being thankful his father was a musher and not a lawyer."

Some of us aren't so lucky, Lance.

Congrats on winning the Iditarod!

"The Stanford band won't be there because it has been suspended from postseason events."

Booooooo.

Just because they vandalized their own Band Shak, violated alcohol rules, and insulted every major religion? This aggression will not stand, man.

But that's just one piece of bad news in the Chronicle's cheery preview of the game on Thursday. There's also the travel, the time-zone change, the early start time, the constructive home game in Lexington for Louisville... oh, and that Louisville is really good. They have another Padgett, just like Kentucky did when it beat Stanford in the '98 Final Four. I hated that guy, and I now hate his little brother.

To all of that, I say... bah. Whatever. There are much bigger concerns. Like how will the Stanford guards handle the pressure defense? Mitch Johnson has the tendency to simply hand the ball to the defender sometimes; beyond him, there is no true point guard. It's the team's biggest weakness, by far. We commit way too many stupid-ass turnovers. The next concern is our outside shooting; if Goods and Hill aren't hitting, we're cooked.

But if we do manage to handle the ball and make an occasional outside shot, it should be a good game.

It starts at 8:40am here. Sports bars don't open that early. Am I going to have to depend on CBS to show me the right game? Oh no.

CORRECTION: The Peanut Farm opens at 6am! Rejoice!

Woohoo!

We made it!

But curse that stupid CBS tournament bracket unveiling show. They took 45 minutes to announce the whole thing, going as slowly as they possibly could and squeezing as many commercials in as possible.

Stanford was the 65th and final team announced. What a rollercoaster of emotions. One moment I was sure we'd make it -- when five Pac-10 teams were in the first three brackets, I thought it was a good shot for a sixth team to be in the last bracket -- but when we got down to the last couple pairings, I was convinced we were out. I had a pillow in my hand, ready to chuck it against the wall and scare the crap out of the cat, when Stanford's name popped up in the last spot. Euphoria!

So now it's the Cardinal vs. the Cardinals. Stanford vs. Louisville. Prepare for Lopez domination.

"You have to keep a smart-ass attitude about it because it is miserable as hell, absolutely miserable."

And that's coming from a guy who lives in Fairbanks, Lance Mackey. (Fairbanks, in case you're not familiar, has the most extreme weather in the world... the biggest swing between winter low and summer high temperatures. People in Fairbanks think those of us in Anchorage are wimps. It's damn cold there.)

Lance and the other leaders in the Iditarod are down the home stretch, only a couple days away from Nome. But in the mean time they are facing brutally cold winds as they head north on the Yukon River. And it will only get worse; soon they'll reach the Norton Sound, just off the Bering Sea. The wind there is fierce, even on good weather days.

This means having to rotate your lead dogs: "Larry's had his time. Hobo's been up there. Battel's been up there. Rev's been up there, " says Mackey. "It was Fudge's turn to step up a bit. She did fine. She brought me in here real sharp." Good job, Fudge.

Already 19 teams have scratched, which is near a record. I'm not sure why a person would want to take part in this race. I'm going to Nome in a few days to see the end of the race, maybe I'll ask one of them.

Ski days

As I mentioned, it finally snowed here after a few weeks of clear, cold days. I had no choice but to skip work on Friday and head to Alyeska for some pristine skiing conditions -- fresh snow, with smooth groomed trails and powdery off-piste runs, sunny skies, warm temperatures (~24 degrees), and no lift lines. It was awesome. We skied from opening (10:30am) to close (9:30pm). Just an amazing day.

I also had no choice but to go back again the next day, Saturday. It had snowed Friday night and it was still snowing Saturday morning. We were the first skiers on the mountain, and we left the first tracks in the fresh powder. After an hour the skies opened up and it was brilliantly sunny the rest of the day. There were more people there than the day before, but the lines here are never too long. All this just 45 minutes from my apartment. Just an awesome two days.

Odds and ends

Just a few unconnected items:

* Lots of goings-on in the Iditarod already. I am only now learning how crazy and fascinating this race is. It's just brutal. A four-time champion had to withdraw because he suffered broken ribs and a dislocated thumb in a big wreck. This is the same guy who had to withdraw a couple years ago because he suffered frostbite to his corneas. Apparently he took off his goggles because he couldn't see, and he got frostbite from the -90 wind chill. -90! This year they're already facing crazy winds and a blizzard.

* I. Scooter Libby... don't lie. You seem like a decent guy, and you're totally taking the fall for your bosses, but don't lie. Our entire system of justice falls apart when people lie, and this is the price you pay when we catch you doing it. Of course, he'll be pardoned, so maybe there is no price.

* The US Supreme Court continues to do nothing meaningful about gerrymandering, this time letting a Democratic-slanted redistricting plan go because of standing issues. I get the feeling there will never be a satisfying answer to this problem, which is a huge flaw in our system of government. The only people that could do something about it are in the legislature, but they're too self-serving to ever actually fix it. So we'll continue letting our representatives select their constituents -- instead of the other way around -- until people realize they're getting screwed. But that will never happen either, because they have to vote for American Idol and there's no time for anything else.

* Spring training is here! A time when even Mariners and Royals fans have hope. (All the Tigers did last year was give fans of every other team unreasonable expectations.) I don't know what to think of the Mariners. The manager is maybe the worst in baseball. The GM makes indefensible trades. The first baseman hits .220 for the first 3 months of 2006, then hits well once the team falls out of contention, then tells reporters that this was his best year because he still got his numbers. I set myself on fire. But some players are good -- Felix, Ichiro, Yuny. You never know.

* I watched that controversial Discovery Channel documentary about the finding of the "Lost Tomb of Jesus." You know, about how apparently they found the ossuaries for Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, etc. I'm no theologian, but the part that interests me is the relationship between faith and science. Not the differences, but the similarities. There's a lot of overlap in that venn diagram.

* I'm stewing a little bit, as a Seahawks fan, when I see mediocre offensive lineman sign contracts for the same price that we wouldn't pay for Steve Hutchinson last year. Then we lose out on Kris Dielman, who only used the Seattle visit to gain bargaining leverage with the Chargers. Savvy move, but I don't want him on my team anyway. He's afraid of rain. I like the Patrick Kerney signing, as long as he stays healthy.

* We haven't had any snow here for three weeks. It's been clear and cold every day. It's finally snowing a little bit tonight, and it's supposed to snow again on Thursday and Friday. This is great because all the snow here is icy and/or brown. We need some better stuff to ski on.

* I'm confident that Stanford will make the NCAA tournament. They have enough good wins, and they finished above .500 in the Pac-10, so they should get a bid. I'll be right pissed if they don't. If Anthony Goods comes back healthy, they'll be tough to beat in the first couple rounds.

* TV pick: have you been watching "Friday Night Lights"? You should. All episodes are online.

* Beard: going strong!

Beard update

Let's see how the ugly is progressing:



Hmm, very well, I'd say. Yes, quite ugly. Even the moose can't bear to look at me.
(Photo hat tip to T-dawg.)

And they're off!

The Iditarod started Saturday with the ceremonial Anchorage loop, and started for real today in Willow. People here are really psyched about it -- mushers are celebrities up here. Thousands of people were lining the streets here and in Willow this weekend to see the teams leave the starting gates, as they commence the 1100-mile trek to Nome. They'll encounter two mountain ranges, many frozen lakes and rivers, and probably a storm or two. Tough going. Pics from Saturday are on Flickr.

Pup in a box: all the dogs are transported here in trucks like this, stuffed in tiny kennels.



They aren't huge huskies like you might think. They're mostly smaller dogs.



Some teams are of all the same breed:



Some are of different breeds. But they all love to run!



Where are they now? Look here. I'll be in Nome in a couple weeks to witness the finish. It turns into a big party town... it's like Alaskan Mardi Gras. And this year it's on St. Patrick's Day weekend. Look out.