Iditarod: Day 3

Iditarod: Day 3

3/6/26

Anchorage

Sled Doggos Pet: 1

Woke up at 4am on my own but this time with a seriously weepy eye. Wtf.

Two room coffees, some yoga and a call to Jake later and it was finally a reasonable enough time to venture out into the darkness of Anchorage. I was starting to feel like I was on set for 30 Days of Night.

This time I ventured around the corner to the next place on my recommended list, Snow City Cafe. They served Kaladi Bros coffee which made me very happy (Bardo watch out). I had read some reviews last night while drifting off and was very excited to try their highly rated King Crab eggs benny. It was glorious. I almost licked the plate. Jake would have loved this place, the “vibes” were on point.

I had a few hours prior to my volunteer obligations so I headed back to the hotel for a warm compress on my eye and a snooze. Seriously, what is up with my eye?!

Since one of my ceremonial start obligations was “dog handler” I needed to complete “dog handler training”. So I took a bus to the training class location which was closer to the airport. A volunteer from the banquet the previous night got on the bus to head to training too so she sat next to me. While riding I realized I had made a goof in an email to the dog handler coordinator, so I was quickly attempting to re-email the coordinator and missed the stop for the training. Not the end of the world, but it definitely led to a bit of a walk to the hotel where the training was held. A long enough walk to regret not adding more layers on.

There was “classroom” training followed by "practical" training. The classroom portion was basically telling us to not step on the dogs, not to step on the expensive lines, not to get run over by the sled. Oh, and dress in layers. The practical session was started by reinforcing us to not get run over by the sled. Apparently it hurts, a lot. Point taken. If we fall, we must roll out of the way. Prior to this trip, falling flat on my face was a very real source of anxiety for me.

Note: the dog I am supposed to lead is in fact, in front of me..

Spoiler: I did not fall flat on my face. Yes, there was ice. Yes, several persons fell. No, none of those persons were me. The “running” was more of a light jog. Was I always behind the dog I was supposed to be leading, yes but honestly, details schmetails. I could do this, and my official looking card said I could.

Well, I missed my bus back downtown by a few seconds (technically a few yards but I’m not salty) so I waited in the hotel lobby for the second bus. It was definitely not because I was giving head scritches to a particular sled doggo who didn’t pull so hard I fell…. With the afternoon free, I wanted to check out the Anchorage Museum. It was terrific! There was large exhibit on dogs, especially on the history of sled dogs. There were art displays and a great exhibit on the history of Alaska. Highly recommend.

I stopped at Glacial Brewhouse (on the recommended list) en route back to the hotel in the midst of a heavy snowfall. It was rather bougie pricing, but the blonde house beer was so good. The amber that followed was solid. I elected a cheaper option of soup (seafood chowder) and spent grain bread, which hit the spot on a snowy evening. Eyeballing other people’s food, it looked as if it deserved the price tag but couldn’t taste verify.

The snow was falling even harder as I left the restaurant. It was like the weather knew the race started tomorrow and was attempting to give good snow cover. I worked on some postcards prior to crawling into bed. Tomorrow is the big day.