Sunday, April 01, 2007

The Nenana Ice Classic

I am not sure of the gambling laws in this state…there is bingo but as far as I can tell, no casinos or other games. Each year though, the entire state has the opportunity to join in on giant pot guessing when breakup officially occurs. Of course – we’re all over that!

For the last 91 years, a giant tripod has been placed in the middle of the Tanana River with a clock and when the tripod falls over (due to ice breakup and not an earthquake) the date and time is registered. This is called the Nenana Ice Classic. Residents can go to a local grocery store, liquor store or other participating restaurants, bars and vendors and purchase a ticket. If you are the closest to breakup, you share the $$ in the state wide pool. We now have 4 tickets. Last year the winners shared $270,000. That would be a nice Spring gift.

Speaking of breakup, I have been wound for sound this week. Energetic, “honery”, ready to go, you name it. I believe it all has to do with the sunshine (it is getting light at 6am now and is not dark until 9:30pm), the warmer temperatures (mid 30s during the day, 15 at night), and the melting snow. I truly believe break up has arrived. We will have 2-3 weeks of sloppy, black, gravelly, muddy mess where I have to clean the headlights each night after getting home but Spring is coming! The car needs washing every 2 hours but breakup is here and parts of the yard are showing dormant grass! Squirt’s feet actually touched concrete on our walk yesterday. That hasn’t happened since November!

BTW – if you watched any of the US downhill skiing championships this weekend, that is where I learned to ski. Alyeska hosted them this year. Just in case you are curios – I didn’t go that high or that fast.

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