We spent the morning on the trails perfecting our Snowshoe and Cross Country Skiing skills. Still need a bit more practice on the skis. Lots of animal tracks in the snow.

Our lodge was co-located with the Bettles Airfield. During our stay we saw some interesting aircraft, both civilian and military visit. Besides the Cesena 208B aircraft we flew to/from Bettles in, we were also visited by a 1942 C-46 (Dumbo), a military Chinook Helicopter, as well as a Blackhawk Helicopter. The airfield is also home […]

We spent Thursday snowmobiling from Bettles, AK to Evansville AK and back. It was a perfect clear, beautiful, and cold Arctic day. As it had snowed for several days prior, the trails were deep, soft and powdery. Straying from the marked path, especially over the frozen Koyukuk river meant that you were instantly buried (ask […]

One of the reasons we came to Bettles Alaska, 35 miles above the Arctic Circle, was to experience the Aurora, and experience it we did. Each night we bundled up against the sub-zero temperatures and stood outside just after midnight to watch the lights dance and swirl across the sky. As usual, pictures do not […]

On Wednesday morning we suited up for a cold, snowing Dog Sledding day in Bettles. Our guide was 4 time Iditarod musher Sven Haltmann who put our enthusiastic team of 7 dogs through their paces. We can now check Dog Sledding in the Arctic off our bucket list..

We’re flying from Fairbanks to the Bettles Lodge in Bettles, Alaska today on a Wrights Air Cesena in search for the Aroura Borealis. The plan is to play in the snow by day and search for the lights at night. We will be 35 miles North of the Arctic Circle right in the heart of […]

We flew from Anchorage to Fairbanks today with a 1 day layover before flying North to Bettles. We spent the evening at the World Ice Championship. This is a winter wonderland playground made of ice. While the Sculptures are the main attraction, we also enjoyed sledding, ice hockey and other exhibits. Photo Slideshow:

The Restart is over, all 49 teams are on their way to Nome (~1,000 miles)…. A few random photos from today, Dan was dog handler for #16 Lev Shvarts.

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 […]

Sue and I certified as Iditarod Dog Handlers in 2018, but as luck would have it we forgot to bring our credentials with us on this trip so we had to “recertify” for 2022. We Uber’d over to the Lakefront Hotel early in the morning. Since we were entering the Iditarod Covid Bubble we had […]

We decided to skip the organized bus tour to the Alyeska Ski Resort and take the opportunity walk down the icy hill toward the Alaska Railroad Station to view the Alaska State Snow Sculpture Championship Exhibit. While today was icy and well below freezing, the recent wave of unseasonably warm weather had melted away some […]

We had a blast at Martin Buser’s Happy Trails Kennel on Wednesday! The day began with an early morning 1.5 hour bus ride to Big Lake, Alaska where Martin maintains his kennel and training site for his sled dog team. There were several other current and former Iditarod mushers there today working their teams, including […]

Ah, the 1st day of March. Today started with an icy walk to one of our favorite downtown Anchorage coffee shops, Dark Horse Coffee. We indulged in a bagel and breakfast burrito washed down with dark roast coffee. We followed-up with shopping for “cold weather/snow gear” at the local outlet shop and more exploring of […]

Our day started out with breakfast at our traditional Anchorage breakfast spot: Snow City Café. Their portions are huge and the food is good (Biscuits and Gravy for Sue, Cluck Norris for Dan) . Thankfully calories don’t count on vacation :-). After breakfast we had our traditional stroll along the waterfront to Resolution Park and […]

Absolutely gorgeous approach and landing at Anchorage Airport. The fun is just beginning!

Made it to Seattle. The second half of the quick 1 hour 40 minute flight was very bumpy. We were on an Embraer ERJ 175, cute small plane. We now have a 4 hour layover in Seattle before flight to Anchorage (we used frequent flyer points and saved quite a few points having a longer […]

All checked in. 1st flight leaves at 7am. Let the adventure begin!

Even though we had 5:10 pm and 5:20 pm appointments for C-19 PCR testing tonight at local CVS drive through for our upcoming trip, we got there 10 minutes early and long line . Mr. Scotty went with us and got a nice walk while we waited..

Tuesday night happenings: Knee deep in Alaska travel planning and Iditarod C-19 testing requirements to be volunteer dog handlers for ceremonial start and real race restart the next day. We will proactively PCR test this Thursday evening before flying out early Sunday morning then we have to to do another PCR test in Anchorage 72 […]