Alaska Review! Day 2--Anchorage to Talkeetna (Part 2)

After our stop at the Eklutna Spirit Houses, we continued on to what I figured would be Imp's favorite part of this trip.  It's unfortunate that it fell on Day 2, but so be it.  He's still talking about it, so I was correct in that it would be a hit.

What is this magical place?

Why, the Iditarod Headquarters, of course.

Imp doesn't really care about the history of the Iditarod, but he is a HUGE dog lover, and this place didn't disappoint. 

Inside the building, there is a lot of memorabilia and information about the Iditarod.  There is also a movie which we arrived for just in time.  The movie ran about 30 minutes, which was a little long for the kids, although Chretien and I found it very interesting. 

No more time for memorabilia photos when there are real dogs to see...

 We got to play with three 15 day old puppies.  They were so small, and so cute.  

The visit to the museum is free.  If you want to have a very quick (e.g. 2 minute) ride in a sled, it's $10 per person.  We sent the kids on their way, and they had a lot of fun.

Probably not the same as being pulled on the snow, but the kids still loved it.  😉

After the ride, the boys were allowed to get a little bit closer to one of the dogs, while some of the others rested until the next passengers.

We spent about 2 hours at the Iditarod Headquarters, and that included a short time for eating our lunch in the minivan.

Alas, it was time to move along...

The fog was really starting to pick up as we made our way to the next stop.

Along the way, we stopped for a few photos by the Little Susitna River:

 

We couldn't really see the top, but the fog gave it a bit of a mystical aura.

 Nope, the binoculars don't help, Imp.

 But since there were rocks, they needed to be climbed upon.

By the time we reached Independence Mine, we could not see anything beyond the gate where you pay your entrance fee. 

This was our view.  Or not.  😞

We decided to skip the mine, since it didn't seem like we'd get to see very much of the lovely views I'd been admiring online. 

We drove back down the way we came and continued along to Talkeetna.  As we moved away from the Independence Mine area, the fog lifted a bit.

The Milepost told us that Denali would be seen on a clear day.   Earnest tried to find him, but no luck!  We'll take have to take its word for it.  😲  We still liked the view, though.

Onward to Talkeetna, which I'll continue in the next post.