Got up at 8:00.
Put our bags out at 9:00.
Ate a protein bar and drank tea in the room at 9:05.
Checked out at 10:00.
Drove all of five minutes to Glitter Gulch, a cute little afterthought of a roadside strip mall offering a last chance to grab souvenirs, groceries, gas, and lunch before venturing into the wilderness.

Then it was off to the Denali Visitors Center, an impressive operation with the usual gift shop but also wonderful movies, displays, and explanations of the park, its wildlife, and surroundings. We watched a movie about Denali’s sled dog kennel and the park service personnel who are in charge of its success. It’s the only one of its kind in the country.

The train headed further north stopped for us around 3:45 and the rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the magnificent scenery. The changing colors, rivers, cloud formations, and mountains combined to create one picture postcard scene after another. We passed the humble railway station in Nevana where President Harding dedicated the railroad 100 years ago this year. Dinner was in the cute dining car; three of us opted for reindeer ravioli and the others went lower-48 again.

Once in Fairbanks we checked into Sophie’s Station Suites for our last two nights. Each suite is actually a small apartment with a full kitchen, bedroom, living space, and huge closets, so there’s loads of space to get organized for our trip home.

We all headed to be bed concerned about Ronnie who is not feeling well.

… The Iditarod …

The race was started to commemorate the Serum Run of 1925
when diphtheria serum was rushed by dog sled over the Iditarod trail from Anchorage to Nome.
Today most people have forgotten the mushers who pulled off this feat, but they remember Balto, the mutt who was in front for the final leg of the race. Press had a field day covering this momentous race resulting in Balto getting a life-sized statue in Manhattan’s Central Park.

The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March.
The race always ends in Nome and usually starts in Anchorage.
The three years that snow conditions in Anchorage did not allow it, the race began in Fairbanks.

Mushers, each with a team of between 12 and 14 dogs, cover roughly 1,000 miles in 8–15 days or more. 

There are two routes: the Northern Route is used in even-numbered years,
and the Southern Route in odd-numbered years.

In 1985 Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the race.

Susan Butcher won in 1986, became the second four-time winner in 1990,
and the first to win four out of five sequential years.
She is commemorated in Alaska by Susan Butcher Day.

This year’s race marked the 51st anniversary of the race.