Friday, March 09, 2007

Ice Classic



Its March, spring is in the air, time for Winter Carnivals. If you want to experience some arctic fun then March is the time of year to come. The Fur Rondy is in Anchorage, Winter Carnival/Dog Days/International Ice Carving Festival in Fairbanks, the Iditarod, & the Nenana Ice Classic. I was at the later last weekend to bellydance. The Ice Classic is also called the Tripod Festival because they put this large tripod on the iced Tanana River. Then they run a line to a clock on the shore. When break-up happens, the tripod falls into the river, snaps the line & stops the clock. You buy tickets that have a date & time that you think the tripod will fall in. Whoever guesses the closest gets the kitty. I think that its been a warm winter, so I'm guessing April 27th.


The Tundra Caravan was hired to dance at the indoor part of the festival. So we drove down to Nenana for two shows. The first time we preformed after the "Crusty Carthart Competetion". Yuck!! After that we went to lunch. There's two restaurants in Nenana, the Rosewood Cafe & The Two-Choice Cafe.....if you're interested the two choices are pizza or hot dogs.


Here's a picture of Jessica, Liz & myself outside the hall. Its -28 degrees with a -61 degree windchill. Christ that's cold!


I took some amusing pictures of Nenana. They have a district court there....which is also the hair salon. Here's a picture of the snow cat repair shop/woodshop.
Update on the Vespa: Now that I don't have to spend every waking moment in the office, I have some time to work on the scooty. So I popped into the Alaska Fun Center for some gear oil. They sell snowmobies, atvs & such so I thought it might be a good chance. They didn't have non-detergent oil. Oh well- but then the clerk asked if there was anything else that I was looking for. Jokingly I asked if they had any Vespa parts. The guy went into the back & brought out two boxes of Vespa parts! They used to be a Vespa dealer 40 years ago. They stocked parts until the last owner left town. The two boxes were the last of the dealership....they sold to me for $20!

Miss you more than runaway Blitzen,
V