July 9, 2010 Arriving in Wasilla

I am posting a picture of a tree and the "seeds" that come off of it. It is a female Cottonwood tree. The seed things look like cotton except the fibers are real short. Inside the white things is a core that is hard. Only the female trees produce these seed pods. The do make a mess.
We got into Wasilla today and found it to be a really pretty town. It seems spread out a little but is is said to be the fastest growing town in Alaska. It has a center town area and the other stores and big box stores are spread along the highway for several miles with strip malls. It is surrounded by mountains which really adds to the view. Pictures around town tomorrow.
We drove out of town toward Knik a few miles to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters. They have a real pretty log building made out of giant logs. Inside they had a gift shop intermingled with an assortment of trophies and memorabilia. It was pretty neat. They had two old sled dogs that had been done by a taxidermist on display. One named Andy had weighted 43 pounds and was the lead dog on the winning team 4 times. He had been a lead dog since he was 8 months old. He live to the age of 16. Most sled dogs retire around 8-10 years of age. Outside they had two pups you could pet. They will be trained this year according to the musher who was there.
A guy and his son were giving rides on a sled with wheels. We got to talking to them and it turned out that the dad was the son of Joe Redington Sr. who is know as the "father of the Iditarod". He told us a lot of interesting things about the race, the dogs, and the competitors. He had a team of dogs that all except 2 of whom were veterans of the race. He said he currently has 175 sled dogs. It was great to talk with someone with the intimate knowledge he had. It is interesting that they have a ceremonial start to the race in Anchorage and come to Wasilla for the restart which is when the race actually begins.
We then went to the Dorothy Page Museum and Historical Town site. It was interesting that they had a nationally known traveling Charles Schultz display with tons of original snoopy cartoons. They had exhibits about the race, a local dentist who was the first in the area in the early 1900's, gold mining, and the town in general. Dorothy Page was the "mother of the Iditarod" and along with Joe Redington got the race off of the ground. She also did a lot for the community in Wasilla. Outside they had some restored buildings including the first school house in Wasilla.
The stairway going into the basement was painted like you were entering a mining tunnel. It was one of the wildest things I have seen. As you went down it felt just like you were entering a mining tunnel. You had to hold the hand rail to keep from getting off balance. The picture does not do it justice.
We then went to Wal-mart to do some grocery shopping. We decided to stay in Big Bear RV park and catch up on the blog and some maintenance.