A girl and her dogs: I made it down the coast in 17 hours

It's calm. Clear and calm. We've been enveloped in a crazy blizzard since we arrived home from Anchorage Sunday night. The storm actually started Thursday night, we dug out Friday morning and hit the road for Iditarod start. The storm took a break Sunday and then started up again Sunday night. As much as I complain about the weather here (it's so easy) the blizzard was actually a little bit fun. Rich and I have been digging dogs out constantly, picking up their houses and setting them atop the huge drifts. Within hours, the houses would be completely buried and we head out to rescue them again. The most interesting thing about it to me, was that the dogs didn't seem to care. They were out with wagging tails, playing with each other never fazed by the gusting winds and huge drifts building up around them. Of course Roy and Bully were inside for the entirety (they also came to Anchorage with us) and we brought Capiche in as she is located at the end of the dog lot and her house was getting buried the fastest. She's good in the house unless you leave her in unsupervised and then she tries to jump on the counters/tables. She knocked the computer off the 'table' when we were outside and now we're missing the ':' key.
The Iditarod start was a lot of fun and it was nice to see friends and fellow mushers that we haven't talked to in over a year.
Last week, before we left for the big city, we were hired to help with a three-day tour hosted by Adventure Alaska based out of Hope. Because of the weather moving in and at the risk of getting stuck out at the remote lodge we were using, we made a decision to cut the tour short by a day. We were all disappointed, but the safety of clients and dogs must come first and in the end, we made a great choice. Mine and Rich's people were amazing and I think they had a great time running dogs. Actually, all seven clients were really nice and very understanding of the situation. Rich and I are looking forward to doing more multi-day trips in the future.
Anyway, I think that's all the news that isn't, so here are some photos from the past week or so.
Peace.

Digging to the outhouse...hurry! hurry!

My peeps: Larry and Jeannie from California. They drove their own teams and were fantastic!

Rich and his peeps: Diane and Bob, a very kind and generous couple also from California.

Our friend and Rich's running mate in the 2008 Iditarod, Trent Herbst is back for another 1,000-miler to Nome. Go Trent!!

High-fives all around at the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage. That's Ken and Gwen over to the far right.

The one, the only, Jeff King. King has had a great season thus far and has said this will be his last Iditarod. I think he has the momentum to pull off a fifth win. Here he is at the ceremonial start on skis with a G-pole sled. I wonder how his Iditarider felt about staring at King's butt for 11 miles...