Begin today with a tour of the Anchorage Museum Rasmuson Center for an immersion into all things Alaskan. Experiential learning, interaction and technology are expressed in the sleek modernity of the recently added glass façade. Permanent exhibits include the Art of the North and Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center. Explore the city in the afternoon at your own pace. In the evening, rub elbows with the mushers at the Musher’s Banquet at the Dena’ina Center, and observe as they choose starting positions from a boot. HOTEL CAPTAIN COOK.

Today is at leisure and you are free to create your own personal itinerary for a tour of Anchorage or you may choose to participate in one of the available optional activities at an additional cost.

– Taste of Winter-Alaska’s Great Outdoors: Take a-40 minute dog sled ride and participate in an all ability level snowshoe trek through wooded trails in the morning and afterward get rewarded for you efforts with campfire prepared s’mores. Depart at 9:30 AM with return at 12:30 PM or depart 11:00 AM and return at 2:00 PM.

– Turnagain Arm Winter Adventure: Take a road trip down the scenic Seward Highway to Girdwood for exceptional wildlife viewing. Ride the Alyeska Resort Aerial Tramway to the top of Mt. Alyeska and visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and watch as Wood Bison plod through 65 acres of tidal flat terrain, as part of a conservation effort to reintroduce the species back into the wild. HOTEL CAPTAIN COOK.

Today you will be present for the ceremonial start of the 900-mile long Iditarod. Early risers will be rewarded with the sights and sounds of staging activities of racing teams as they prepare their teams for the beginning of the race. Watch as the eager dog teams charge down 4th Avenue on the first leg of the race. Enjoy this day’s festivities which will include the 8th Annual Running of the Reindeer, where costumed contestants attempt to outrun reindeer through the streets of Anchorage. HOTEL CAPTAIN COOK.

Travel to Wassilla and visit the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters for a musher’s tutorial before heading on to Willow for the official start of the race. Then drive along the Knik River fed by the melt of the Knik Glacier. The river road twists its way through the rugged landscape and offers spectacular views around every curve, including Pioneer Peak which stands 6,398 feet in the Chugach Range. The Knik River Lodge is tonight’s location for rest and refueling. Enjoy a delicious meal and comfortable night’s rest in the welcoming warmth of the lodge’s frontier cabins. KNIK RIVER LODGE.

Make you way back toward Anchorage today via the scenic George Parks Highway. Along the way pass by the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area, a unique flat land park dotted with clear fresh water lakes rimmed by lush unspoiled forests. In Anchorage you will board an overnight flight home. Arrive in the lower 48, with a touch of the wild still clinging to you the next day.

Travel back to Anchorage via a scenic route and bid adieu to your fellow travelers as they depart for the lower 48. Off to the airport first thing next morning to board a flight to Rainy Pass, an Iditarod checkpoint some 150 miles from the official starting point in Willow. Experience the kinetic energy created by the comings and goings of mushers and dogs, as they stop for a much needed rest and a bite to eat, or head off into the wilderness to continue on with the next leg of the race. Partake of an afternoon meal at Alaska’s oldest hunting lodge, the historic and rustic Rainy Pass Lodge and fly back to Anchorage for your connecting flight home.