This weekend we donned our winter apparel to attend Fur Rondy.  Fur Rondy is a winter festival that has been taking place in Anchorage for 75 years.  There are all kinds of activities, running with the reindeer, outhouse races, blanket tosses, arts and crafts displays and  lots of fur.

The festival is a way to beat the winter doldrums and have some fun.  It was planned to coincide with the time of year when the miners and trappers came to town to sell the results of their work. 

Mmmmm, maybe the legend of big foot started when someone spotted a fur wearing trapper like this one. Think about it, add some big snowshoes.....

It was rather chilly outside so we decided to focus our attention on the dog sled race.  We first visited the area where the dogs wait for the race.  You can't see it but many of them have these amazing blue eyes. 

The track is made by bringing the snow the city has been plowing off the streets in downtown Anchorage and putting it back onto the street.  It goes right down the middle of the street.  One dog team left the snow track and ran in the road.  The race volunteers were running behind him yelling "Get on the track".  You can't see it in the pictures but the cross traffic is still moving.  The time between each dog teams release the traffic continues across the  track. 

They are released from the slowest team first to the fastest team last based on their performance from the race the day before. They count down 3, 2, 1, before each team is released.  

We also decided to go visit the snow sculptures.   They had to be finished by noon on Sunday.  We don't think everyone is going to make it.

This is what each group started with for carving.

We decided to  visit Ship Creek.  It is full of ice this time of year. 

We also decided to go to Cook Inlet.

It is low tide in this picture.  I love this view of the mountains and the inlet.

We watched some cargo being loaded.  What a cool truck.

We drove by the area where all the fireworks were being set up for the fireworks display in the evening.  Eric was most excited by this.  He loves fireworks. 

Next week is the Iditarod.  We missed the start last year but plan to attend this year.  There is so much to do this time of year.