Iditarod Artist

On Tuesday afternoon we had the chance to travel to Eagle River visit the studio and kennel of Jona and Jon Van Zyle.  Jon has finished the Iditarod two times and has served as its official artist since 1979.  He has also illustrated many picture books, some of which are in our classroom if you look carefully!  His wife Jona is an artist as well.

This Year's Official Poster

You can visit their website at:  http://www.jonvanzyle.com/

Mrs. Rizzuto Getting Our Posters Autographed

In their kennel they have twelve of the most beautiful dogs!  The dogs are so happy and love to be shown lovin'!  Once all of the teachers were in the pen, the took all of the dogs off their leads and let them run around which was just WILD for a few minutes until they all calmed down.  Then... get this... all Jona said was "let's go to work" in a very quiet voice, and all the dogs went back to their houses and waited to be hooked up again!

Everyone Say "AWWWWW!"

They have this HUGE doggy wheel in the pen. The dogs can hop in and out of the wheel as they like to go for a run!  It was like a giant hamster wheel for dogs!

Doggy/Hamster Wheel

Jon's studio is AMAZING!  I could have spent all day looking at all of his "stuff."  In addition to his own artwork and memorabilia, he had lots and lots of native artwork.  It was such a neat space - I wonder if we could decorate the classroom like this? :)

Jon's Studio

On the way back to the hotel, the weather cleared up a bit and we were able to see the Chugach Mountains that surround Anchorage a lot clearer.  It was really cool because sometimes the clouds were actually in the middle of the mountain, so it looked like the tip of the mountain was floating above in the sky!  (For my mythology fans - it's what I would picture Mount Olympus to look like!  Or maybe even Asgard up in the sky!)

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Humpy's (like the humpback whale) where it was Trivia Night!  I am sorry to report that we were not able to win a t-shirt.... but we did ace the quiz on Disney Villains!!!

Wildlife Count:  Several Moose, tons of ravens, and LOTS OF SNOW (does that count? it should!)