Yesterday, the ADMA - Alaska Dog Mushers Association - held the first Challenge Series Race of the season (calling it race #2). If things would have gone as planned, and we had enough snow and warmer temperatures, the racing would have started back in December. I've been waiting patiently for the racing to start, so I could go out and get photos, and I was so happy to wake to -19F - which meant the races were a go!

We didn't get out to the race grounds until 11:30am - just in time to see the first teams cross the finish line. I got myself situated along the fence to watch a few teams set up and get ready to leave the starting line. I had my little camera with me and decided to shoot some video footage as well as still photos.

Thank goodness for Steve. He is by far the best photography assistant in the world! My darling husband graciously wears my huge (and heavy) camera backpack and accompanies me to these exciting events. It's so much easier to swap out lenses and batteries while he's wearing the backpack, rather than taking it off my own back and rooting through it. I am so fortunate to be married to a man who understands my passion, and makes it easier for me to enjoy it.

Here are photographs from the race:

A stop for coffee first!	Musher and Team	In the Snowy Fields	At the Starting Line
Big Happy Dog Smiles!	RUN!	Off the Starting Line	Waiting for the Next Start
Huskies Waiting	Running Musher and Team	Musher and Team	Frosty Beard
Into the Sun	Sunrise and Musher	Race Grounds	Sundog pillars
Finish Line and Sunrise	Finish Line	Finish Line	Packing up to go Home

Steve has been off this week (normal off days) and we've been talking a lot about upcoming travel. We already booked our lodging in Homer this March - for our now annual trip to see the eagles. But most exciting of all is that we booked our trip to Katmai to see the bears in July! I just hope we don't get weathered out this year. Last year we tried to go twice and were weathered out both times. The year before, Steve was deployed. We haven't been to Katmai since July 2005 and we're both excited about having another opportunity.

Steve's already checking out the fishing reports, because our destinations this summer (throughout Alaska of course), will totally be decided by where the fish are. I'm sure we'll spend time down on the Kenai Peninsula and Valdez; they're a mandatory summer destination. But we're also planning to go back to Kennicott/McCarthy to see the old copper mine. Another planned trip (if Steve can get some extra days off around his normal off days), is to drive down to Glennallen, and then take the Tok cutoff back to Tok, and then home to North Pole. We've never driven that road and haven't been to Tok since stopping there to camp on our way to Fairbanks in 2003. We love exploring new territory! What we're not looking forward to is paying $3.50 - $4.00 a gallon for fuel this summer, since that's what the predictions are. The truck only gets 10-12 mpg pulling the camper, so road trips are going to be a lot costlier this summer.

All this took of summer traveling is what keeps us sane when the temperature dips to -40F and the sun is only up for 6 hours. It's so nice to daydream.