How Can You Not Like A Place That Has Bathtub Races?

We arrived here in Nome on the 10^th and have been exploring ever since.  This city of around 4,000 sits 102 miles below the Arctic Circle and the differences from where we’ve been are dramatic if not subtle.  To take stock of where we were in the trip and what we still have to cover, yesterday I took an aimless sort of walk. I was quickly brought to the present by a remarkably unique scent.  I stopped to try and figure out what this powerful combination of sweet and acrid was when it dawned on me that I was smelling the simple scent of shrubbery and damp earth.  We’d been above the Artic Circle for so long that my nose had seem to have forgotten the seemingly everyday scent of vegetation.  It’s the little discoveries about where we’ve been and where we are that keep me heading around the next corner.

You don’t have to be here very long to realize that Nome has a rich and very strong history with gold. It was first discovered here in 1898 and the search for it today is as strong as ever.  The inner basin of its harbor is filled with just about every conceivable size and design of dredging craft as people still search for gold on a daily basis.  Talking to a local who is still on the hunt we were told that on a “good” day a person could dredge up around $8000 worth of the precious metal.  I imagine the bad days speak for themselves.

But perhaps what Nome is most known for is the fact that it serves as the end of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. On the first Sunday of March a growing number of “mushers” and dog teams start what is known around the world as “The Last Great Race” from Anchorage and, 1049 miles later, end the race here in Nome. The race isn’t without its detractors but once you’ve seen how a pack of sled dogs react when they see their sled and harnesses you know that this marathon holds quite a wonderful and powerful emotional investment on every level.

And then there’s the Bathtub Races. Occurring every Labor Day, bathtubs are outfitted with wheels and raced down Front Street. Some very stringent rules govern the race in that 1) Every tub must be full of water, 2) The “bather” must have a towel, bar of soap and a bath mat and 3) Tubs must have at least 10 gallons of water left in time by the end of the race.  Always wanting to improve things, I think that if they could combine the Iditarod with the Bathtub Races (dogs in the tubs being bathed) that the world would beat a path to Nome.

As always we’re keeping an eye on a weather window which we may try and take advantage of tomorrow, Sunday.  Our next big event will be exiting the Bering Sea and entering the Pacific where we’ll head up to the east and eventually work our way down The Inside Passage, something I did years ago and am greatly looking forward to.