Our land tour began with a brief historical tour of Anchorage which covered its beginning settlements. We also learned about the geology of the city and why there was so much devastation during the 9.2 magnitude earthquake in 1964. Our first stop was at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, where we viewed exhibits and crafts representing five fascinating native cultures.

Eklutna is the oldest continually inhabited Athabascan site in the Anchorage vicinity. The Eklutna religion is a blend of Athabascan beliefs and Russian Orthodox teachings introduced by Russian settlers in 1741. This settlement is the farthest inland point in Alaska that Russian settlers claimed. The Eklutna Cemetery holds the colorful and decorated "Spirit Houses" over the grave of a deceased relative. This custom comes from the melding of Athabascan and Russian Orthodox beliefs and practices. Often a family uses specific colors for their Spirit House to identify their clan. An Orthodox cross on the graves of members of the Orthodox Church.

After stopping for lunch in Wasilla, the official starting line for the annual Iditarod Race, we were treated to an unscheduled stop at the Iditarad Race headquarters where we enjoyed a movie and learned more about the history of the race.

On January 21, 1925, Dr. Curtis Welch diagnosed an outbreak of the deadly disease diphtheria, in the small ice-bound village of Nome, Alaska. The native Eskimo population had little to no immunity against diseases introduced from outsiders, which made this an extremely dangerous situation. The only serum available in the territory was 300,000 units located at the Alaska Railroad Hospital in Anchorage. The problem was how to deliver it to Nome. While there were two airplanes in Fairbanks, both were open cockpit crafts, which had been dismantled for the winter.

It was decided to transport the serum by train from Anchorage to Nenana, a town on the Tanana River 220 miles north of Anchorage, and then by a relay of dog teams over the 674 miles between Nenana and Nome. It was -40F at 11:00 PM on January 27th when the first dog driver left Nenana to begin the race to Nome. This epic relay was carried out by diverse group of 20 mushers: Eskimo, Russian-Eskimo, Norwegian, Irish and Indians. These men had stamina and toughness in common, and all shared the special understanding and working partnership with their sled dogs that would be the key to the success of the venture.

The last leg reached Nome on Monday, February 2 at 5:30 in the morning. In the street were 13 dogs harnessed to a sled, their heads and bushy tails hanging almost to the ground. They had covered the last fifty-three miles of the epic relay in seven and a half hours. These dogs, and the teams that preceeded them, had traversed 674 ice-and-snow covered miles in less than five days. They delivered to Dr. Welch the life-saving serum that within a week would break the back of the diphtheria epidemic.

In 1966-67 Dorothy Page and Joe Redington Sr. organized the first Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race to commemorate the serum relay. In 1973 the race was expanded to its present course. The Iditarod is run each year to commemorate this emergency delivery of diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska. Nome in 1925 had changed from a booming, boisterous turn-of-the-century gold-rush camp into a small, quiet town of about 1,500 people. It was fifteen years since the end of the gold-rush, but Nome remains an important settlement on the Seward Peninsula.