Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

The Yukon Quest is a 1,000 mile (1,600 km) race between Whitehorse, Yukon and Fairbanks, Alaska. The Yukon Quest Race Start alternates annually between these host cities, and this year it started here in Fairbanks.  The starting line is on the Chena River near the Cushman Street Bridge.  Before the mushers and teams go to the line, they assemble in an area near the Fairbanks North Star Borough building.

In past years, spectators could visit with the mushers and teams while they were preparing for the race. My plan was to go to the staging area first, where I planned to take some photos of the dogs being hooked up and the sleds being loaded with supplies.  But that didn’t work out. It seems you need a special pass to get into that area now. Without a pass, you are only permitted to wander around the perimeter of the staging area. While you can see much of what is going on from the perimeter, it’s not the same. I was very disappointed and came away from that area with only a couple of photos.

I met up with a fellow photographer downtown and we found a place standing along the chain link fence that edges the first 50 yards or so of the starting chute.  It was tough to get photos, as you’re bound to have someone get in your way. It’s just the nature of the sport - especially at the start.

I usually stay in town to see Lance Mackey go off the line. He’s a favorite, and gets quite the cheer when he appears at the start. However, he pulled bib 16 (out of 24), which meant that if I hung around to watch him start, I’d miss a lot of the action further down the river - where photo ops are much more desirable. So I only stayed until the 12th musher left the chute, and then drove onto Fort Wainwright, where I set up on the river near the golf course.

While there’s no discounting the excitement of being down on the river, surrounded by cheering fans, I really prefer being a little further down the river where it’s much more quiet and has nature as a backdrop. A couple of friends and I went out on the frozen water, just past the one lane bridge. It didn’t take long before Dave Dalton (#4) came into view. From then on, it was a steady parade of mushers and teams.

In the photo below of the race start (taken from the pedestrian bridge), you can also see the Cushman Street Bridge, the Mariott Springhill Suites Hotel, the Yukon Quest Headquarters (log cabin in front of the hotel) and the Key Bank building (brown). A little history about the Key Bank building: It was completed in 1982, but the history of the bank on this lot goes back to the early 1900’s. It was here that “Square Sam” Bonnifield, a miner turned gambler turned banker, built the First National Bank of Fairbanks in 1905. Bought by E.T. Barnette (Fairbanks’ founding father) in 1909 and subsequently run by his partner R.C. Wood, the First National Bank of Fairbanks survived the 1911 banking fiasco that caused Barnette to flee from Fairbanks in the middle of the night. It was the oldest national bank in the state before becoming Key Bank of Alaska in 1989. (Some people claim it’s haunted, as the building was a hospital during the 1918 flu epidemic, and there are claims of hearing voices and crying)

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I am so happy to see January be over. It was a very cold month, and I do hope that February is much warmer. Today we reached temps above zero, and I am thrilled! Raven even went out to play frisbee with Steve this afternoon - something she hasn’t been able to do for some time.

I haven’t been out and about shooting this week. I had three portrait shoots this past weekend, and I’ve been working on the photos from those sessions to get them done in time for Valentines Day. All three beautiful ladies are military wives, and their soldiers are in Afghanistan right now.

I can only share one photo at this time, but hopefully once I get their proofs to them, they’ll allow me to share some more. Although all three were Boudoir sessions, the gals opted to wear sports jerseys, and their husbands’ uniform tops, in addition to more traditional boudoir attire. It was great fun, and I’m sure the ladies (and their husbands!) will be quite pleased with what I captured.

This is Terri, wearing an Alabama jersey and a Crimson Tide houndstooth hat. Isn’t she adorable?!

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Saturday starts the Yukon Quest! The teams will start here in Fairbanks this year, which is fabulous. I’ll be going downtown to photograph the mushers and their dogs before the race, and then after I get some shots of some of the teams coming out of the chute, I’ll be looking for a place along the river to get photos of the teams in a more natural setting. Downtown, there will be the usual cheering and excitement - which is always fun to capture with my camera - but on the river, away from the start, it’s entirely different. The peacefulness and solitude allow you to hear the quiet shush of sled rails, and the panting of the dogs. I just hope the weather is agreeable. PLEASE NO MORE 50 BELOW!!

I’m sure I will have a lot of photos to share next week. Until then, I need to get back to photo editing!

Mother Nature can stop with the deep freeze. It’s getting mighty old. I won’t leave the house when it’s this cold. This is what the temperature was this morning, according to Weather Underground:

And this is our thermometer reading 50 Below when I got up (it’s a little warmer under our porch eaves).

Steve and I had eye doctor appointments on Friday. While Steve was in seeing the doctor, I drove to the PO to drop off a package, and then stopped to take a few photos on the way back.

These cabins are at Rivers Edge Resort, located along the Chena River. It’s seasonal lodging, from what I understand, so the *resort* is deserted during the winter months. I like the little cottages they have available. The are much more quaint than your typical hotel room.

After my eye appointment, Steve and I picked out some movies at Blockbuster and headed home. (We rented “Super 8“, “Sarah’s Key“, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes“, “Contagion“, “The Help“, and “The Lincoln Lawyer“. I loved “The Help” and “Super 8″ was pretty good too. “Lincoln Lawyer” wasn’t bad. “Contagion” wasn’t half as good as the old “Outbreak”. Not sure about “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” as I didn’t really pay attention. “Sarah’s Key” was tragic and emotional and I enjoyed it, despite it’s sad plot. It’s subtitled, so you have to pay attention.)

On the way home, I snapped a few photos from the truck window. We have a tax service here called Liberty Tax Services. At tax time, they have someone stand out front dressed as the Statue of Liberty, trying to entice people into their business. At 50 Below, I can’t believe this guy/gal was out there waving this banner flag. I hope they were being paid more than minimum wage for this gig!

The ice fog has been terrible all over town. Ice fog is a type of fog consisting of fine ice crystals suspended in the air. It can happen only in cold areas of the world since water can remain liquid down to -40 °C (-40 °F). In this photo, it’s not as bad as it is in other places. At times, visibility is only a matter of yards. Very scary for driving!

About two months ago, in early December, this bus and trailer showed up at a local gas station. They set up camp in a corner of the parking lot. Sometimes, when we’d drive by, there would be smoke billowing from what appears to be a stove pipe sticking out the right side window. About a month ago, Steve was in the gas station quick stop and asked the clerk what the story was regarding the bus. He learned that a family had driven to AK from the Lower 48, in search of work. I guess times were pretty tough for them down there, so they packed up some belongings and headed north.

At first they were doing OK parked in their little corner. There are trees which shelter the bus on one side, and when our temps were only in the -10F range, I’m sure the stove was adequate enough to keep them warm. The clerk told Steve that people would bring by wood and food for the family once they learned they were down on their luck.

And then the temperature plummeted. And the family had to move out of their bus, as it was no longer adequate shelter. The store clerk doesn’t know where they went. I sure hope they’re in a warm place. In the meantime, their bus is frozen solid with frosted windows. It’s a real shame that the economy is so dismal all over our country, that these folks felt their only option was to flee to Alaska in the middle of winter. I sure hope we see them back at the bus when things warm up around here. I’d like to find out their story, if they’re willing to share it.

We are now gaining 6 1/2 minutes of light a day. Length of day is officially 6 1/2 hours, but length of visible light is two hours more. I am so happy for the return of light! From where I sit on the loveseat, I can see the sun moving around the house. It’s still fairly low on the horizon, but high enough to shine in the window and blind me. I really don’t mind at all. This was the view from my seat yesterday:

With the extreme cold, comes hungry birds. The redpolls can drain my feeder tubes in less than two hours. Despite the fact that they are costing me an arm and a leg to keep in seed, I can’t let them starve. Especially in these temps. Besides, they’re great entertainment for not only me, but for the furkids too. A downy woodpecker takes advantage of the suet I put out, while redpoles converge on the feeder:

I just had to videotape them to show you just how many of them are hanging around my yard. It’s amazing!

Today, I had a portrait shoot on my schedule, and because it was so very cold, Steve drove me to my client’s house and then picked me up when I was done. I am so very thankful that he was home today, because my car would not have done well sitting outside for several hours in this cold - plugged in or not!

I can’t help daydreaming about warm(er) weather. Heck, even 10 below would be a treat. Zero would feel tropical. I sure hope this cold spell passes quickly.

Until next time…

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