Last day in Alaska

Tomorrow will be our last day in Alaksa. So this might be our last post during this trip. We are already back in Anchorage, only some minor plans for tomorrow.

Alaska is truly a great state. We'll be back !

Wedding day...

Yesterday, on 17th of Feb. 2015 we married at Fairbanks, Alaska.

Eva, holding the rings at the ceremony.  

Our new friends and mushers Jen and Eric signing as witness of marriage.

Having a very tasty dinner !

Northern lights that evening at Jen and Eric home

ISO 4000, 2 sec, additional light from a phone, no photoshop !
Together with Eric, Jen and Matt.

Eva standing still for 10 sec, led painting from behind

Yukon Quest day

This day the winner of the famous dog sled race, the Yukon Quest arrived in Fairbanks...The quest runs over 1000 miles allmost allways far away from civilisation.

Two Rivers is the last checkpoint before the finish...

Brent and Alan at the end of their mandatory 8 h break at two rivers.
What makes the race rely hard is that the mushers are not allowed to get any help from outside. Only very very few assistance from the dog handlers is allowed. If you have a chance go through the quest rules and mushers ethic ... it's worth reading it!

Also the veterinarian are international. And need special training for sled dogs under these conditions.

after more than 900 of 1000 miles, the both are only 2 minutes (!) away from each other.
And another 9h to go...

water for the dogs...

Brent starts for the last 70 miles 2 min. after Alan.

Since their arrival will take some time...hot springs and iron dog riding meanwhile :-)

Another sunset on the way back to Fairbanks to see the finish of the Yukon Quest

Yukon Quest finish 2015

Brent winning the Yukon Quest ... congratulations Brent :-))
Even just arriving at the finish line of one of the hardest races in the world is an amazing job! that's truly one of the toughest sports you can do.

Only midnight yet. So we proceed to the "Murphy's Dome", a god spot outside of Fairbank's city lights to see the Aurora.

Murphy's Law on "Murphy's Road"...

After seeing incredible northern lights, we got stuck in the snow while heading home. On a mountain, at 2 am. However, we were lucky as only after half an hour other cars passed by. Although helped by 2 young Alaskan guys to dig out the car, we had to leave  the car behind. The snow is so powdry that we had no chance to give the tires sth to grab for. uWe got back the next morning to have the car towed.

dog sledging part2

training Eva :-)

lessons on iron dog technology

how to check and massage a sled dog

ready.....

steady....

go !...

on a frozen lake...

in the forest....

feeding the dogs after being out. with frozen (!) fish.

musher have their own trail maps....

BBQ with Alaskan Salomon !!

going to bed in a Mongolian style round house...

dog sledging , part 1

So this post (and most likely the next one) is about dogs. If you don'the like them a all, this won't be for you ;-)

At what does Eva stare at -15 'C ?

A sled dog to be...

The older ones just arrive outside...

And Eva, wanna try this ?

Chena Hot Springs Ice Museum

About an hour east of Fairbanks we visited Chena Hot Springs.

It is also only 5 miles away from the Yukon Quest checkpoint Milepost 101.

The first mushers are expected in approx. 1-2 days.

But today we came for the ice.

A lot of Asian tourists visit Chena. For the northern lights and more.
There are even tours in Japanese language...

Incredible ice art. The horses and knights are life-sized !

The sculptures change color every few seconds...

Another piece of art in life size...

They have also a bar...

...providing tasty cocktails in "glasses" made from ice.

They have rooms equipped with beds made from ice. They planned to
have people staying here during the night. But it didn'the work out...

 These are the two artists who create and maintain all oft this:

Creating the cocktail glasses....

Together the two world champions in ice art own 26 gold medals...

The ice come from the river nearby And is taken from there every spring.
The two layers are called Diamond (clear, from the river's water) and Marble(White, from the snow).