The Iditarod in Elim

I had been waiting for the Iditarod all year and finally it came! It was so exciting to have my village be a check point in the race. The mushers didn't have to stay for a certain amount of time so if you wanted to see someone in particular you had to be on it in case they didn't stay to feed their dogs. Many would stop right outside the village to rest instead.

Jack flew to Anchorage with the boy's basketball team the morning the first musher arrived! So he missed all of it!

It is the fire station and mortuary turned Iditarod headquarters.

The mushers have bags of food and supplies at checkpoints waiting for them.

Larry Daugherty was related to a friend of mine so when I was told he arrived (about 7:30am) the three kids and I hurriedly got ready in our gear to meet him! It was pretty fun.

Full snow gear to survive! It was a bitter cold sunny week.

Zax's class learned about the ice melting so they went to the ocean to do watercolors! We went along and Ila got to join in.  The paint brushes froze after 15 minutes.

Megan, the 1st grade teacher, helping Ila.

While painting, two dog sled teams were leaving Elim to the next checkpoint! This is on the ocean.