Today was the Ceremonial Start to the 50th Iditarod! We woke up early and made our way at 7:30AM to the check-in point to collect our armbands that would identify us as Dog Handlers for the event. The snow started falling in large fluffy flakes making for a picture perfect backdrop to this uniquely Alaska experience. Today we were assigned to handle dogs for #23, Aaron Burmeister (Alaskan Wildstyle Racing). Sue was assigned to take care Loki, a particularly energetic handful of husky who wasn’t content waiting around for the start. The crowds, media, vendors, mushers, and dogs all gathered, the national anthem was sung and with a countdown, the dogs were off. There were 49 teams this year, each starting 2 minutes apart so we were at the starting line about 55 minutes after the 1 team crossed the start.
