Mush!

heatherfeather

JAG and I went to the restart of the Iditatrod. I hadn't done anything with the Iditarod since I was a child, so it was pretty fun to get back into it and see what it is like now days.

1. The announcer would tell the mushers they had 30 seconds and then count down from 10 for each musher. The mushers would take off amid wild cheering and wishes for good luck.

2. Joyce told me that in previous years there hasn't been nearly that many people there. We had to walk most of the way across the lake to find a spot where we could get up to the fence. And it was a hard walk too. The snow was the kind where you stay on the top layer for a second and then fall through the crust 10 inches or so.
And when we got there, this is what we saw:

The back of peoples heads.

3. So Joyce, her hubbie all the kids and I moved down even further.
What amazed me was how the dogs really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. In this photo you can see the dogs smiling... Yes they are working hard, but they are loving it.



4. These little guys were completely crashed. I asked their mom for permission to take this photo. But I was amazed- they slept for about 2 hours in the snow. Snow gear is getting really nice these days.


5. The mushers would give high fives to folks in the crowd as they passed.
My son was ecstatic because he got 3 mushers clap hands with him.


6. This dog gets the Iditarod award for longest tongue.


7. DeeDee Jonrowe is a local favorite. She used to wear a purple parka, but after she had breast cancer, she started to wear pink. As I write this, she is in 17th place. Which is no small feat. She is going 7.55mph.


8. All around us there were snowmachines... There was even a snowmachine taxi. You could hire them to take you out past the crowds. It was tempting had we had less than a party of 8.


9. Everyone had a camera... and everyone wanted "the photo". It really created a sense of excitement. One guy even brought a 10 foot step ladder. Joyce and I joked about making the kids carry one for us next year.


10. We really had a great time. The kids enjoyed their pbjs and playing in the snow... and JAG and I enjoyed playing with our cameras and talking shop.



Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of our little world.

Awais Yaqub

Enjoyed them
Thanks for taking us into the game
Great photos.

heatherfeather

Thanks Awais! It was fun!

Icebear

One day I'll be there for that. On my bucket list. Super dog shots! Thanks for whetting my appetite.

justME

Enjoyed seeing your shots. Your colors and focus are wonderful.
My sister lives in Eagle River, Ak and goes every year. I'd love to do it one of these times.

J Allen

#3 =

Laughed out loud on #3..great shots!

jeffreaux2

Is THAT what Alaskans look like?







Faves are 5 and 9.

I like your DOF and selection of focus on these. The WB and exposure looks up to snuff as well.

Good stuff....

I "hickory smoked" a pile of baby back ribs today on the grill.

Matt S

Heather that hurt!! I was all set to go. But then I broke my ankle (twice) on Friday and couldn't go!! I got to watch it from my "throne". Yes I now reside in the chair in front of the TV for the foreseeable future. Lame is an understatement. It explains the my "burst" of posting lately, I have way too much time on my hands. Ok enough of that, back to the fun stuff.

Love the shot of DD. She is always having such a great time out there. The longest tongue one was pretty funny too. I learned last year that a step stool is really a good idea. Of course like you I learned it the hard way. It was at least that crowded then too. I was almost to the end of the lake before I found a spot on the fence. Later in the day they stopped monitoring the press box by the starting line very hard and I just walked in like I belonged. That makes for some pretty great shooting. I still snagged a 5 gallon bucket to stand on, someone had left it behind.

Looks like it was a fun day, and your kids will remember it for a long time.

Signed, Jealous guy stuck in his chair.

heatherfeather

Icebear wrote:

One day I'll be there for that. On my bucket list. Super dog shots! Thanks for whetting my appetite.

Wanna see JAG's blog about it? It is a pretty good read. She is a really great writer. And her photos aren't half bad either!
http://jagcreations.smugmug.com/gallery/7561517_u8dHY/1

Jeffraux2 wrote:

Is THAT what Alaskans look like?


Faves are 5 and 9.

I like your DOF and selection of focus on these. The WB and exposure looks up to snuff as well.

Good stuff....

Why thanks Jeff... I think.

Well lets just say that is what we look like in the winter! In the summer it is the same... we just show of more of our beyond pale skin. (Except for those fake-n-bakers that go to tanning booths, lol.)

5 & 9 are my faves too.

Enjoy those ribs! Our bbq is covered with about a foot of snow......... so thanks for that little, ahem, comment. :smack

justME wrote:

Enjoyed seeing your shots. Your colors and focus are wonderful.
My sister lives in Eagle River, Ak and goes every year. I'd love to do it one of these times.

Thanks! I think I'll probably go again next year. It was so fun. The whole party atmosphere was a blast. It had a sort of big tailgater party feel. There were tons of folks with fire pits, camp stoves and grills set up and they had all kinds of crazy amenities out there on that lake. I was impressed. We could have had our OWN hickory smoked ribs. !

family guy wrote:

#3 =

Laughed out loud on #3..great shots!

I just love their expressions- very human, huh. Obviously those dogs hate what they do.

heatherfeather

Matt S wrote:

Heather that hurt!! I was all set to go. But then I broke my ankle (twice) on Friday and couldn't go!! I got to watch it from my "throne". Yes I now reside in the chair in front of the TV for the foreseeable future. Lame is an understatement. It explains the my "burst" of posting lately, I have way too much time on my hands. Ok enough of that, back to the fun stuff.

Love the shot of DD. She is always having such a great time out there. The longest tongue one was pretty funny too. I learned last year that a step stool is really a good idea. Of course like you I learned it the hard way. It was at least that crowded then too. I was almost to the end of the lake before I found a spot on the fence. Later in the day they stopped monitoring the press box by the starting line very hard and I just walked in like I belonged. That makes for some pretty great shooting. I still snagged a 5 gallon bucket to stand on, someone had left it behind.

Looks like it was a fun day, and your kids will remember it for a long time.

Signed, Jealous guy stuck in his chair.

Oh man that stinks for you! But at least you got to go last year. How long are you going to be laid up? And what are you going to do for that wedding you have in a couple weeks? Hopefully you can get all better by then. Pretty sneaky about the press box... I'll have to try that next year .

Matt S

heatherfeather wrote:

Oh man that stinks for you! But at least you got to go last year. How long are you going to be laid up? And what are you going to do for that wedding you have in a couple weeks? Hopefully you can get all better by then. Pretty sneaky about the press box... I'll have to try that next year .

Well the wedding is a little over a month out. I should be walking by then, but might be sporting a very fashionable "boot".

I find out Monday about surgery. Yikes, cross your fingers. Either way they said 6 weeks in the boot. boo!

heatherfeather

Matt S wrote:

Well the wedding is a little over a month out. I should be walking by then, but might be sporting a very fashionable "boot".

I find out Monday about surgery. Yikes, cross your fingers. Either way they said 6 weeks in the boot. boo!

Perhaps that is why one leg looks bigger than the other in your photo on your avi... Now THAT is planning ahead.

Hopefully you hear good news on Monday!

Scott_Quier

Wonderful series - it's really easy to get a sense of the excitment. My favorites have to be 4 (kids sleeping) and 5. The long tongue is good to.

As for breaking though the snow crust - I thought all Alaskans were issued a set of snowshoes at birth?

heatherfeather

Scott_Quier wrote:

Wonderful series - it's really easy to get a sense of the excitement. My favorites have to be 4 (kids sleeping) and 5. The long tongue is good to.

As for breaking though the snow crust - I thought all Alaskans were issued a set of snowshoes at birth?

Oh the poor mom, giving birth to a baby with snowshoes...
I don't actually know anyone that has any. And come to think of it, I don't own snowpants and JAG didn't either. Crazy how that works out.

Thanks for your comment ScottQ.:D

WingsOfLovePhoto

Love the doggy tongue shot and those of the kids! Thanks also for making it feel very warm in my neck of the woods today. Almost 60 here! Woo hoo!.

coldclimb

Great shots! I was motivated by the cover photo of Alaska Magazine this month, a simple typical shot of a dog team with the bright orange containment netting bold in the background. I figured I could get something like that. I chose church over the restart though, but I figured you guys might be there! Glad you had fun and shared pics!

heatherfeather

coldclimb wrote:

Great shots! I was motivated by the cover photo of Alaska Magazine this month, a simple typical shot of a dog team with the bright orange containment netting bold in the background. I figured I could get something like that. I chose church over the restart though, but I figured you guys might be there! Glad you had fun and shared pics!

I know! Wasn't that an awesome shot on the mag!?
You could have made it! The bus we went on didn't leave until 12:30. I forgot to ask JAG if she had to skip out on her pastors final words, but she was planning on it.

JAG

heatherfeather wrote:

I know! Wasn't that an awesome shot on the mag!?
You could have made it! The bus we went on didn't leave until 12:30. I forgot to ask JAG if she had to skip out on her pastors final words, but she was planning on it.

Ha! Yup we did. But we let him know ahead of time we were leaving early...so he let everyone know at the beginning saying that "...so if you see them get up and leave its not because of what I say!!"...lol.

Great set Heather and thanks for the plug to my set too. That was really fun and we should make it an annual pilgramige. Maybe even get all these other dgrin AK'ers out there and we have our own tailgate party! We would have to send our hubbies out early that morning with some snow machines and haul out the camp gear and stuff so we can have hot coacoa and smoked raindeer sausage!

Agnieszka

:ginger haha, looks like a FUN event!!