Rookie of the year!!!!

It was not a sure thing but the dogs came in good and he held on to the best time of the rookies!!! The day was sunny but cooler for everybody because there was a brisk wind - Tim MacDonald took movies of the start and finish so you will be able to see those later! I was just happy to see him coming up the hill and knowing that he hadn't fallen back!! The dogs are a little stiff today but all in good spirits! Last nite Tim MacDonald came and picked us up and took us up to their house for showers before the awards banquet - the banquet was at the Westmark (the Rodenhouse's have been there, eh guys?!!) and we had prime rib and halibut - Randy got the Rookie of the Year award and trophy and is having a Carhart jacket embroidered with his name - Randy was wonderful as always in his speech and said he was humbled by the experience- doing something he had always dreamed of doing and then being able to be rookie of the year - he also was in extremely good form to mention that his wife is supportive and worked to help him even on their anniversary!

Last nite we spent the nite in the parking lot of the Westmark (pretty noisy with lots of traffic) and then went to the Ice sculpture exhibition - after I looked at the pictures we decided not to do the entire tour and just got the pictures you see - then shopping for some needed Alaskan souveniers and then to the "meet and greet the mushers" meeting at the GCI office(one of the primary sponsors of the race); while we were there Rock Wright told Randy that for next year he needed to "slam some 20's and 30's on them in December" and that the "dogs really look good"; Helen and Egil brought in a couple of the dogs that he ran for people to pet - then more fuel to run the generator and then to the "junk yard" to drop off our garbage with 3 people scoping out the "spoils"!! Not much tonite except talking to you and feeding dogs and then to bed (Randy is still really tired from the 3 days of racing and being sick). Tommorow nite another dinner with Tim and Shirley (today for breakfast and dinner was leftovers they sent with us of the chowder and halibut/crab dish!!)