tease; Texas

I'm sure Mother Nature is just teasing us. Our temperatures the past week have climbed into the mid-to-high 30s - above zero! It feels great, but wreaks havoc with the roads, thawing during the day and freezing at night. And it's just mid-February. There's still plenty of time for some seriously cold temperatures. However, I'm enjoying it while I can and still dreaming of Break-up and summer. And my furnace loves it!

The warmer air has given me a solid case of spring fever. I've started cleaning out closets and the spare room. As soon as it's a little warmer I will load the car and drop off lots of clothes and items I no longer use. It will be good to reclaim some of that space.

I was told last week I will be attending a conference in Texas this spring. It's at the Marriott Hill Country Resort just north of San Antonio. It's not something I'm especially excited about, as I simply don't like the hassles involved with traveling by air any more. I have not found any flights that are particularly to my liking - all of them involve at least two plane changes in airports I'm either unfamiliar with or that I simply hate (O'Hare, for example, is one of my least favorite places). The resort is about 20 minutes from San Antonio, I'm told, and there is no public transportation either from the airport or from town. Taxis are $30-45, depending on where I want to go. And I will not be authorized a rental car. However, there is no choice in the matter, so I will make the best of it.

The website says there is a bird sanctuary adjacent to the grounds and I may check that out. Also, if I'm really lucky, the spring flowers will be blooming. Another plus - I can put my socks away for a whole week! I can wear my sandals and be sockless! I also have a couple of friends attending and at least one of them will have a car and has offered me rides into town. I hope to visit the Alamo at the very least. If there's time I'd like to take one of the boats along the Riverwalk.

Although I'm not terribly excited right now, I hope that by the time my departure gets here I will be more eager. I've been to El Paso once, but we really didn't see much. We went specifically to visit a mall and a shoestore where I bought my very favorite sandals. Aside from the inside of the Houston airport, I've really not seen any other part of Texas, so this will be a new experience. I'm just hoping the conference allows us enough time to see more than the resort area. I don't golf and the water features at the Marriott don't interest me. I am interested, however, in trying to get some shots of wildflowers and birds.

I bought a little book about San Antonio & Austin and have been looking it over. DK produces a series called Eyewitness Travel - Top 10. Each covers a city or area and includes information on top places to visit, neatly categorized by places to visit, history, culture, museums, children's activities, cuisine, lodging and more. It also contains information on getting around the area by public transportation, with hints on how to do it easily and on a budget. I have several of these books and have used them extensively when I visited new cities or, in the case of Washington, DC, which I've visited several times, when I wanted easy information at my fingertips. The books are small enough to fit into my purse and very helpful. (Oops, sorry, didn't mean to sound like an advertisement - but I really like these guides.) So I've been reading this guide and have a few things in mind.

San Antonio also has the shoe store that sells my favorite shoes. SAS shoes are made in Texas and only sold in a number of stores. The one store in Fairbanks that carried them closed, so I can no longer find them. SAS does not have a catalog and they do not sell online. I hope to purchase several pairs to last me until my next visit to Texas or somewhere else where they are sold. That's really the only shopping I'm looking at.

Although I don't like the travel part, I always enjoy seeing new places and new things. Could be a good time.

Mush!

Today was the start of the Yukon Quest, the 1,000-mile dog sled race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. It starts here every other year, and I try not to miss it. It's always great fun, even when it's bitter cold. Today was relatively warm - my car thermometer said 5 degrees at the river. Compared to yesterday's near 20 below, it was great. I will admit, though, that my feet and hands got a little chilled. (I forgot my gloves.) Fortunately, the arthritis in my back didn't bother me at all and I was able to stand on the river for the entire race.

The race starts on the Chena River downtown, to North Pole, then heads out to Chena Hot Springs, Circle, Eagle and down the Yukon River to Dawson City and Whitehorse. It will take about 10 days for the leaders to make the finish line. See the route at http://www.yukonquest.com/site/yukon-quest-trail-map/.

I love talking with people while we wait for the teams and struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was also taking photos. A man standing nearby introduced himself to the gentleman, as they used to work together. It turned out I also knew the man. He and his family and my husband, daughter and I visited each other frequently years ago. I haven't seen him or his wife since my 1994 divorce. We chatted a few minutes, caught up on our families and promised to meet again. I love living in Fairbanks, where you can meet up with old friends and be up-to-date on everything in just minutes.

The sky to the east was beautiful as I was waiting for the race to start, so I had to take a couple of photos.

 It was pink and blue with just enough gray to make it interesting. As I watched the race, however, the blue disappeared and the sky was totally gray by the time I headed home.





My favorite part of the race, of course, is watching the dogs. These little guys are just trotting along, looking for all the world like there's nowhere else they'd rather be. Now and then one or two showed some interest in the crowd, though.

Check out the one on the right checking out the crowd of spectators.

Sam Deltour heads for a chat with his lead dogs while a spectator holds his sled. The dogs veered off the trail and were not heeding his calls of "gee" (meaning, "go left"). After a few minutes and some help from bystanders, he got going again. I'm hopeful he won't have any more problems on his run.

Brent Sass waves to the crowd. He stopped last year to help someone on Eagle Summit and ended up losing several places in the standing. These guys all have a great sportsmanlike attitude that sometimes overcomes the competitive spirit. He got a lot of cheers as he came through.

Lance Mackey is a local favorite. He's a 4-time Quest champion and 3-time Iditarod champion - and the only person to win both in the same year.

This one was originally an oops, but I decided this is partly what the race is all about - the dogs and their love of running. It's also about the spirit of the North, the ruggedness of the land and of the men and women who live here.




After a while on the river a woman came down and started talking with my gentleman friend and me. She is a great Brent Sass fan and wanted photos of him and of Lance Mackey. We both took some photos for her and got her e-mail address. She left, then returned with a 16-oz. mug of steaming hot chocolate. The mug warmed my hands and the chocolate (made with milk, not water!) warmed my insides.

I left the river with two new friends and reconnects with two old friends. What a great town this is.