3-23-04

This past weekend we flew up to Fairbanks to view the World Champion Ice Art Sculptures. We had seen them last year and were just amazed at what these artists were able to create out of a block of ice. Each artist, who come from all over the world for this event, is given a 3 X 5 X 8 ft. block of ice. He or she then has three days to make a sculpture out of it. The results are astonishing, and the photos below don’t come near doing them justice. We visited both during the day, and again at night when the sculptures were lit with colored lights.

As an added bonus, we were treated to another sled dog race. Driving to our hotel we found some of the streets we needed to take were closed off. On our arrival, we found out that the North American Sled Dog Championships were being held in Fairbanks, and the start/finish line was right below our window in the hotel! This is a sprint race of 20 miles, which the winning team did in just under an hour. That speed is over twice as fast as what’s seen in the “marathon” Iditarod.

It continues to get warmer here with the past few days in the 30’s and 40’s. We’re up to 12 ½ hours of sunlight a day now, and still gaining more at the rate of almost 6 minutes a day. Breakup (as spring is called here) can’t be too far away!