I recently read an article about the Iditarod sled dog race. That got me thinking about my visit to Alaska where I visited the home of Jeff King, the winner of the Iditarod. I visited there about eight years ago. His place was on the first leg of our journey. I was absolutely thrilled to be able to visit his facility.

I remember that they had some little pups that his daughter brought out for us “socialize.” I had my picture taken while I was holding one of them. I liked it so much that I purchased a copy to bring home as a souvenir. I also bought two copies of his book, “Cold Hands, Warm Heart.” The autographed copy was for me, the other was a birthday present for my son.

Reading the book I learned a lot about the man that drove the sled. To say he was determined is an understatement. He actually wintered one year with just a stash of supplies that he retrieved from a camp in the area. He spent the entire time training his dogs while he slept in a tent.

For those of you who do not know about the Iditarod it is a race with teams of sled dogs that begins in Anchorage and ends in Nome. The course has 22 checkpoints over treacherous, narrow mining and trading trails. It is slightly over 1000 miles in all.

Jeff’s wife was the illustrator for his book. I was disappointed that he was out of town attending another event when we visited. His daughter told us that he was a self-taught musher. His first sled was made from an old pair of downhill skis. She showed us around the facility noting the various pieces of equipment that he used. She described what she could of the race.

His wife was behind his efforts. She had a print made from one of her paintings that she titled “Iditarod Dream.” The proceeds from the artwork paid for the training for the Iditarod. In all, Jeff won the race four times with his first win coming in 1995.

When I was in Alaska it was warmer there than home. We were in Ketchikan taking one of our layers of clothes off to be comfortable. I planted some tomato plants before I left because they were getting gangly. When I called home that day my son told me that they had frost that day and my plants froze. Oh well, no grape tomatoes that year.

Mitch Seavey won his third Iditarod Trail Sled Race, the 2017 edition. With this win he became the fastest and oldest champion to date. At 57 years old his time was eight days, 3 hours, 40 minutes, and 13 seconds. He beat his son’s record from last year and that was fast.

After the race, the article said he greeted his wife, then he greeted each of his dogs on his team thanking each one with a frozen snack. Seavey said the dogs know only one thing — to run between 91/2 to 10 miles per hour. His win netted him $75,000 and the keys to a new truck. His family has participated in the Iditarod since its inception in 1973 when his father mushed in the race.

My trip to Alaska was one of my favorites. It was filled with great experiences. On one of the first excursions I met an ice carver who I knew was a friend of the Firth family that has carved in Fairbanks for many years. How ironic that Steve Brice was at the Ice Castle when we visited. He was repairing some of his work there. His name surfaced again this year. He lent some of his equipment to the two young Firths during this year’s single block competition. We at this end were all pleased that they took a fourth place in the abstract division of the competition — out of 18 entries.

I will always remember seeing the pod of dolphins swimming along side of the ship while we were in Glacier Bay. It was absolutely breathtaking to watch them swim and dive. I loved everything about that trip. We were treated to spectacular animal sightings as well beautiful landscape views.

I made a scrapbook of the photos that I took on that trip while the material was still fresh in my mind. We had some wonderful seafood dinners as well. I recall a large pile of shells on our table the day we had the fresh crab legs. Another event we attended was a salmon roast. A friend told me she did not care for salmon so she did not take any. When she smelled mine and took a taste she went back and got some. They had an orange glaze on it. I worked a bit when I got home and came up with a good recipe. My family and I have enjoyed ever since.

Since it is Lent and many people are eating fish I will share my recipe with you. Salmon is a healthy protein.

Baked Orange Salmon

2 T. olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

™ c. orange juice

salt and pepper to taste

orange zest

4 salmon steaks

Mix olive oil, orange juice, orange zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Put salmon into marinade. If you are just setting it for an hour leave it on the counter. If it will be longer than that put it into the refrigerator. Do not let it marinade more than three hours. Allow to marinate for at least one hour, turning once. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Place salmon in an ovenproof glass dish. Pour marinade over it. Bake uncovered 5 – 7 minutes until it flakes easily.