Eating borscht after the Ididerod

The great dog sled race, The Ididerod, runs from Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast. Each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days - over ice fields, glaciers and mountains in a vast wilderness. They arrive at the finish days apart and in the village of Nome, someone watches for the teams to arrive and rings a bell when they come into sight. Then the whole town turns out to welcome them. Day or night, the citizens of Nome stop what they are doing and flock to the finish line to cheer for every team. Just finishing this race is worth a hero's welcome. It starts today for 2007 and in 2004 I was there at the starting line.

There was amazing excitement generated by thousands of dogs barking and yelping and leaping forward in their harnesses and by men running around in the blowing snow trying to assemble their teams.

I stood in the cold, stamping my feet to keep warm huddled with the other spectators. If you scroll down you'll see a picture of one team rounding the corner on Cordova St, where I lived. There's another picture of a team leaping away from the starting line.

We bought Alaska from Russia and there is still a Russian influence there. When I finished watching the race I looked around and found a Russian Tea Room behind me. I went in and it was empty except for an elderly woman who spoke no English. I pointed and gestured and got a steaming bowl of borscht. (its a Russian soup made with beets, cabbage, potatoes, other vegetables and with sour cream) As I was eating the rest of her family came in from watching the Ididerod start up and they sat with me while I finished my soup. I returned to visit the family and eat borscht off and on for the rest of my year in Alaska.