Oh! This was one of those weekends that makes you wish that Monday (or in this case, Tuesday) would never come. So much fun packed into just a few days...so many laughs and smiles! I wish I could find the words to tell you how great these weekend retreats are...how refreshing and rejuvenating. That feeling when you can just BE. You can just relax and enjoy. It is wonderful!
The drive up was beautiful. We noticed how much lighter it was than it was when we went in January. We are gaining daylight fast! Later that night the aurora were out. Not real bright or multicolored, but I woke up the girls to go see. Their reaction (after begging me to wake them!): "Neat Mom. Can we go back to bed?"
Saturday we took a snow machine ride up the road a bit and found the perfect picnic spot!
I mean really...does it get any better than that? We met some folks who were setting up for their annual boys weekend golf tournament on the ice. Sounds like fun! After lunch we kept right on soaking up that warm sunshine...
Then we were treated to a beautiful sunset...
Sunday was the official Iditarod start. Last year we went to the ceremonial start in Anchorage and loved it. This year we went to the restart in Willow. What fun! A lot less crowded, warmer, and these folks are actually ON THE TRAIL! They are really racing at this point!!
The restart starts at 2pm and mushers leave every 10 minutes. With 69 mushers, it goes on for awhile! We didn't mind one bit. It was so fun to watch and it was so warm and sunny that we didn't mind one bit! The girls played...
And the adults people watched and visited. These folks across from us brought out their couch?!?!?
They had set up on an outhouse on the ice, too. Some friends of ours flew up to meet us...
That was one of the things that struck me about the whole day. We saw 69 dog sled teams, planes and helicopters buzzed overhead all day. The edge of the lake was lined with small planes! Snow machines buzzed up and down the lake, and folks were cross country skiing around as well. There were quads moving folks here and there and plenty of sleds. No cars though!
We returned to the cabin that night and watched the moon reflect off the lake. Beautiful.
The next day we returned to our picnic spot and enjoyed one last hot dog roast before loading up and heading home. We said bye-bye to our fun weekend with this silly family selfie...
...and returned to real life. Real life is pretty awesome too, but mini-vacations? That's where it's at!!
The drive up was beautiful. We noticed how much lighter it was than it was when we went in January. We are gaining daylight fast! Later that night the aurora were out. Not real bright or multicolored, but I woke up the girls to go see. Their reaction (after begging me to wake them!): "Neat Mom. Can we go back to bed?"
Saturday we took a snow machine ride up the road a bit and found the perfect picnic spot!
I mean really...does it get any better than that? We met some folks who were setting up for their annual boys weekend golf tournament on the ice. Sounds like fun! After lunch we kept right on soaking up that warm sunshine...
Then we were treated to a beautiful sunset...
Sunday was the official Iditarod start. Last year we went to the ceremonial start in Anchorage and loved it. This year we went to the restart in Willow. What fun! A lot less crowded, warmer, and these folks are actually ON THE TRAIL! They are really racing at this point!!
 |
| Aliy Zirkle--a favorite at our house! |
 |
| Nicolas Petit--a hometown favorite from Girdwood |
 |
| Justin Savidis whom we met this summer at Seavey's Iditiaride |
The restart starts at 2pm and mushers leave every 10 minutes. With 69 mushers, it goes on for awhile! We didn't mind one bit. It was so fun to watch and it was so warm and sunny that we didn't mind one bit! The girls played...
And the adults people watched and visited. These folks across from us brought out their couch?!?!?
They had set up on an outhouse on the ice, too. Some friends of ours flew up to meet us...
That was one of the things that struck me about the whole day. We saw 69 dog sled teams, planes and helicopters buzzed overhead all day. The edge of the lake was lined with small planes! Snow machines buzzed up and down the lake, and folks were cross country skiing around as well. There were quads moving folks here and there and plenty of sleds. No cars though!
We returned to the cabin that night and watched the moon reflect off the lake. Beautiful.
The next day we returned to our picnic spot and enjoyed one last hot dog roast before loading up and heading home. We said bye-bye to our fun weekend with this silly family selfie...
...and returned to real life. Real life is pretty awesome too, but mini-vacations? That's where it's at!!
Love everything about this post!
ReplyDelete