A day in Anchorage

Well on Monday, our fourth full day in Alaska, we started our day out in an exciting manner. Jim called from his morning walk on a nearby trial, to tell us he was standing there with a cow and calf moose. So we threw on our shoes and headed his way.

After visiting with Mrs and Baby Moose we headed to Anchorage for the day. We had lunch at M.A.'s Gourmet Hot Dog stand. M.A.'s Gourmet Hot Dogs (the M.A. stands for Michael Andrews) offers 7 different types of dogs. Kosher Beef, Polish, Reindeer dogs, Louisiana Hot Links, Bratwurst, Italian Sausage and Chicken Linguisa. He was also voted one of the top ten stands in the country by USA Today newspaper. Also featured on the PBS show "A Hot Dog Program" June 30, 1999. I especially enjoyed the carmalized onions that he serves on all the dogs.

After lunch we headed to the Wildride Sled Dog Show put on by the Seavey family. The Seavey's are three generations of top-20 Iditarod racers and fourteen generations of champion sled dogs. Dan Seavey Sr. (from Deerwood Minnesota) founded their racing program in 1965 and competed in the first two Iditarods in 1973 and '74. Dan's eldest son, Mitch Seavey, took over the racing in 1982 and has since completed twelve Iditarods. They now have five Iditarod veterans in the family and Mitch won the race in 2004.

The show was high energy and fun. At one point they hooked up 16 sled dogs and they pulled a one ton Dodge pickup. It took them a little while to get it rolling but once it got going it was off. They had to jump in and put on the brakes to slow it down.

Their show included Flapjack from the movie Eight Below. Flapjack, an Alaskan native, is a true working endurance sled dog who has continued to do his job in the frozen wilds following the film. Flapjack also holds the distinction of being the biggest dog on the movie, weighing in at over 120 pounds. Dino and Flapjack performed both the acting and sledding for Buck.
http://www.ididaride.com/tours/anchorage/wildride.htm

After the show they let us hold some puppies.

Brad got a new hairdo in town and I got a trim in Jim's garage....redneck style.

After our day in Anchorage we ended the night with a big fat crab dinner.