Nome is justifiably proud of its gold mining heritage and the story of The Three Lucky Swedes. Gold mining is still going on today, though not so much during the winter months.
In March the big stories are high school basketball tournaments and the Iditarod.
My job, helping out with the basketball broadcasts, started shortly after I arrived. Then a couple weeks later, one Tuesday morning, Nate, Wesley and I headed south to watch for the leading dogsled team.
Just a few miles out of town the road ended in drifts of blowing snow. So we waited.
Pretty soon we were joined by a line of cars, all waiting for the first glimpse.
Eventually the front leader, Ryan Redington, came into view.
We got a good look at the winning team, hard at work.
We drove on ahead to watch Ryan and his team as they reached the Burled Arch, the end of the trail, on Nome’s Front Street. It was a special moment because Ryan is the grandson of Iditarod Race co-founder Joe Redington. The family has been involved in the Iditarod since the beginning, but this was their first win. Ryan’s time was 8 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes, and 58 seconds.
More mushers were not far behind.
It’s all about the dogs, the athletes of the Iditarod.
There’s a lot more going on in Nome during the Iditarod Week. The National Park Service sponsored a snowshoe hike to a gold mining dredge out on the tundra.
Not my first time on snowshoes, great fun.
Back at the Burled Arch, KICY continued to cover each of the finishers as they arrived.
Between the 8th and 12th days of the race, the rest of the mushers arrived. The 51st running featured a field of 33 teams.
Lots of love between mushers and their dogs.
Didn’t see a lot of animals while in Alaska: a lot of dogs, one moose in the far distance, and one snowshoe rabbit.
Another National Historic Trail hiked (at least partially) to go with the Appalachian Trail and Ice Age Trail.
Last weekend in Nome, snow machine adventure across Norton Sound ice and then up Anvil Mountain.
Atop Anvil Mountain: “Four towering structures… the last remaining tropospheric antennas from the White Alice Communications (WACs) system, installed by the U.S. military in the mid-1950s.”
Down below: my last look at the city of Nome.
Alaska Airlines, take me home.
RADIOSCRIBE 
Wow what a great opportunity it was to see the finish of the Iditarod. I doubt there are many that can say they have.