IDITAROD TOUR

2008 winner Lance Mackey


Featuring a Private Breakfast with Lance Mackey, 2007 & 2008 Iditarod Champion


5 Days - Anchorage

March 4 to March 8, 2009


Your Exclusive Knightly Tours Iditarod Tour includes:


4 Nights Captain Cook Hotel (Junior Suite)
5 Breakfasts
1 Dinner (Mushers' Banquet)
Escort
Private Transfers
Private Meeting / Lecture with Lance Mackey, 2007& 2008 Iditarod Champion
All admissions (including two lectures of your choice Friday February 29)

Day 1 - March 4, Wednesday Arrival in Anchorage

Upon arrival in Anchorage you are met and transferred to your hotel. Settle in and get acquainted with your guide and the city of Anchorage. Overnight Anchorage

Day 2 - March 5, Thursday Touring Anchorage

This morning after a leisurely breakfast you will attend a "Welcome to Alaska" orientation that will review the week's activities. This will be your in depth introduction to the "Last Great Race".

Before leaving for a drive along Alaska's only National Scenic Highway, the Seward, we'll visit the Anchorage Museum of Art and History. Then, drive south of Anchorage toward Portage Glacier. Here on the eastern edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the road skirts Turnagain Arm, where 14,000 years ago we would have been unable to drive here as the landscape was covered with late Wisconsin glaciers. Turnagain Arm was named by English Captain, James Cook in 1778. We'll stop at Beluga Point, a 4,000-year old Alutiiq Eskimo hunting site, where the second highest tides in the world occur with a 38-feet surge.

Tonight you will attend the Mushers' Banquet where you enjoy the festivities as you celebrate the great achievement of the serum run to Nome. At the banquet you will have a chance to bid on an opportunity to ride in one of the sleds during the race start in Anchorage. (B) (D) Overnight Anchorage

Day 3 - March 6, Friday Private Breakfast Reception with a Musher

This morning our group will enjoy a private meeting with Lance Mackey 2007 Iditarod Champion.

Lance will provide insights into the sled dogs, their many characteristics and attributes, the years of breeding and training that goes into putting together a team. You will learn first hand of his accomplishment in winning last years" Iditarod Race".

As well, he will describe the strategy, hardships, technical aspects and joys of life on the trail - the race itself. We'll get a good look at the sled, (20" wide), clothing and gear that carries the musher, food and required survival equipment for two weeks from Anchorage 1,150 miles across the wilderness of Alaska to Nome on the Bering Sea coast. What it takes to win this extraordinary sled dog race will soon emerge from the discussion.

This afternoon you have free time to attend some lectures on the race and learn even more in anticipation of the race start tomorrow. (B) Overnight Anchorage

Day 4 - March 7, Saturday "Race Day"

The ceremonial Iditarod start will begin in downtown Anchorage, where thousands of fans and media from around the world join in this world-famous event. The #1 position is reserved for Leonard Seppala, one of the most famous musher's who carried the diphtheria serum to Nome over the original Iditarod Trail. Today, fans who were the successful bidders on the "Idita-Rider" auction will ride in the sled of a musher as they leave the start chute. (B) Overnight Anchorage

Day 5 - March 8, Sunday Race Re-Start and on to Fairbanks

Today we transfer to watch the official start for the race to Nome. Depending on conditions the race will re-start at Wasilla or Willow. Mushers will hookup their dogs and race across more than 1,000 miles of Alaska's wilderness. The dogs sense that this is "go time" and their level of excitement is unmatched. You will have a far better, closer look at the teams and mushers.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - Go! With a rooster-tail of snow behind each sled speeding down the chute, mushers wave to fans as they head off on the "Last Great Race". After wishing the mushers well we head to the Anchorage Airport and fly home.