I'm BACK to BLOGGING!!! We finally have internet again as of about a month ago. It was just recently my Birthday so I decided that as a Birthday present to myself I should take the time to do something I love but haven't found the time to do. What a better way to start blogging again, than to blog about two things I LOVE...The Iditarod and Grammy Cakes!
It has been 2 weeks since the Iditarod and it has taken this long for me to sit down and give myself this Birthday present but oh well here it goes...
Ross' Mom, flew up from Montana to Unalakleet to visit Ross' brother and then over to us here in Galena, just in time to experience the Iditarod!
The first musher arrived into Galena about 10 hours earlier than usual! The girls, Ross, Grammy Cakes, and I woke up at 6 in the morning but missed Aliy Zirkle pulling into Galena with her team by about 10 minutes. We were so excited that Aliy was in the lead once again. Our hopes were for her to win this year after getting 2nd for the last two years. Aliy is always so friendly and quite the musher!
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| The girls woke up at 6:00 A.M. to see Aliy Zirkle. She was the first to arrive into Galena! |
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| The Sunrise over the Yukon River as we wait for the 2nd musher and his team to arrive into Galena. |
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| The girls playing in the snow on the banks of the Yukon with the sunrise in the distance. |
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| Martin Buser arrives 2nd into Galena, as the sun rises. |
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| Mackenzie watching Martin Buser (4 time Iditarod Champ) as he talks to his dogs and feeds them. |
The Alaska Daily News reporter, Casey Grove, wrote up an article about the girls' fundraising efforts for Lance Mackey. It was in the ADN news. Here is the article! Click here...Alaska Daily News
Here is another article by The Alaska Dispatch about Galena during the Iditarod. The girls and I are quoted in here as well, although I didn't say we weren't in our house till December, but that we basically were camping in our house till December. A good article about how Galena is handling things after the flood. Click here...Alaska Dispatch
After we watched the first few mushers come in, we raced back to our house to eat breakfast and get the maple bars ready. Then spent the rest of the day down at the checkpoint.
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| Grammy Cakes making frosting for the yummy maple bars we made for a Lance Mackey medical fund raiser |
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| The girls raised money this year at the Galena checkpoint for Lance Mackey's medical funds. He is one of their favorite mushers and a 4 time Iditarod champ. The girls were able to visit his kennel and get a personal tour by him two summers ago. You can read about their experience HERE |
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| Handing out maple bars for a donation towards Lance Mackey's medical fund |
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| A team coming down the hill onto Alexander Lake where the dogs rest at the checkpoint |
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| Jeff King, 4 Time Iditarod champ. It looked like he would win again this year until he was blown into drift wood on the coast during a terrible wind storm shortly before the last checkpoint of the Iditarod trail. He ended up having to scratch. |
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| Mitch Seavey, Iditarod winner last year and Dad of this year's winner, Dallas Seavey |
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| Aliy Zirkle taking off out of Galena. |
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| Go Aliy Go!!! We wish you would have won but 2nd by 2 minutes is pretty good! And 2nd for 3 years in a row is really good. Hopefully next year you will be number 1! |
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| Mackenzie goofing off by the Yukon River. |
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| Thumbs up! I'm cool! Literally! |
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| A team slowing down as their musher checks into the Galena checkpoint |
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| A musher waving hello as his team passes by |
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| Wait who is that masked rider? Bet you will never guess! |
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| Hey that masked rider was Grammy Cakes! |
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| Grammy Cakes, enjoying some time down river with Ross |
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| Photographer, Keith Ramos and Ross getting close to the trail in order to get some cool pictures |
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| Heading away from Galena, down river |
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| A cool picture Ross took of a team passing by and the dog sled with a sunset in background |
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| Sorting through musher's dropped bags. Working together makes it fun! |
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| Grammy Cakes helping sort through bags |
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| Our big pile of frozen food for the dogs. A lot is left behind but the mushers never know just what their dogs will need or be hungry for at the time. This frozen meat is divided up between the 2 kennels left in town. |
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| Hugs from Grammy Cakes! |
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| Pretending to eat a dog meat steak! |
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| A team taking off out of Galena |
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| Aubrey and a friend, helping to stuff used straw into bags. The straw that was used by the dogs is passed out to local gardeners, chicken owners, and dog owners for further use. We don't waist things around here! |
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| Aubrey and friends stuffing straw into sacks |
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| What a hard working volunteer! Raking the straw up after a team leaves from the checkpoint |
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| Aubrey and her friend dropping of a bale of straw and the mushers bags right after the musher arrives. |
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| Aubrey with Jason Mackey, Lance Mackey's brother, on his sled. |
Two years ago, when the Iditarod came through Galena, Mackenzie picked the Berington twins to follow. When the first Berington twin pulled into Galena, Mackenzie was so excited and came running down the hill to see her with a huge smile. Kristy was so nice and remembered here immediately. She even remembered what dog Mackenzie had spent time with and enjoyed petting. That dog wasn't in her team this year, so Kristy let her pet his sister instead.
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| Kristy Berington and her team |
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| The girls waited for two years to see the Berington twins come through Galena again. They are so sweet. Kristy remembered the girls right away and let them pet her dogs! |
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| Talking with Kristy about her dogs. |
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| Mackenzie loved spending time with Kristy's dogs, but soon they had to eat so she had to let them rest without disturbing them. |
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| Kristy's identical twin, Anna Berington checking into Galena checkpoint |
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Seeing double? Identical twins, Kristy and Anna. Our girls admire these ladies and they are so kind!
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| Cute! |
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| A tired dog, hitching a ride in the sled |
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| I wanted to take this beautiful dog home! |
We greatly enjoyed having Grammy Cakes visit and it was a bonus she got to visit while the Iditarod came through. It was quite a race this year with Mushers being afraid for their lives. It included a crazy twist to the finish. If you haven't read about it you should! You can find several articles online about this year's exciting race!