Lauren In Alaska: Iditarod

Last Sunday was the official re-start for the Iditarod - the Last Great Race. Every year, mushers from all over the country - and the world - head out with their team of dogs to make the 1,000 mile trek through the frozen Alaskan wilderness from Willow to Nome. I went to the restart last year, and it was really fun to be able to experience such an Alaskan event! But this year gave me even more reason to be excited about being there.

My friend, Mary Helwig, has been living in Unalakleet this past year working as a dog handler at Siku Kennels. This means that she was at the start, helping Pat Moon (Siku Kennel's Iditarod musher) with everything that goes into getting a dog team ready for such a big race! Despite crazy traffic and parking difficulties, my friend Robyn and I got to the chute just in time to see Mary running the dogs up to the start. So exciting - and awesome to see my friend living her dream! It's pretty fun to track the different mushers as they make their way to Nome. You can follow the action here: http://iditarod.com/ Enjoy a few pics!