<p>My Alaska daughter stayed up all night baking cinnamon rolls and cereal bars to hand out to the first mushers and volunteers who arrived at her hometown at 3 this morning. The Iditarod’s passing through is the sign that spring is arriving soon.</p>
<p>That’s very cool!</p>
<p>What is your daughter doing in Alaska??</p>
<p>That is cool! I bet that’s something she will remember doing forever. I have family in Alaska and really hope I get to visit someday.</p>
<p>She teaches high school math in a high school that currently has 17 students, The big news in town is that the boys’ basketball team, in its first year of existence (have enough boys for a change) is heading to states next week. </p>
<p>Her husband coaches wrestling, and one of the team members went to states and was invited to go to a wrestling camp in Europe this summer. Not bad for a kid who has to do his weight training the old fashioned way. Since they have no weight room, J takes the kids down to the Bering Strait at the edge of town and they select driftwood to bench press!</p>
<p>Sounds like your D and SIL are enjoying their life in Alaska. Do they intend to make their permanent home there?</p>
<p>Did she see any of the cyclists? I notice that this year’s cyclist winner did the 1000 miles in ten days, breaking the old cyclist record by a WEEK. </p>
<p>That’s exciting! We once rode a sled pulled by huskies retired from the race.</p>
<p>S also lives in AK, but didn’t bother to go to the start of the race (his roommate did).</p>
<p>This is soooo awesome! Such a tight-knit community. :)</p>
<p>The cyclists had an advantage this year because of the weather. No fresh snow to worry about, so they were on packed snow/ice and even bare ground in some places. They live in one of the checkstops for the race so everyone has a brief stopover.</p>