Nenana, Alaska

Today, we're driving through Nenana, the home of the Ice Classic.  That is the Lottery for guessing the minute of river breakup on the Tanana River which goes through the town of Nenana.  The 2011 winners each won over $15,000!!!  It's a much larger scale of the Kuskokwim Ice Classic that goes on in Bethel.

 This is the tripod that sits on the ice in the middle of the river.  It's attached on one side to a rope and from that to a timer.  When the ice moves far enough, the tripod moves and trips the timer.  It stops at the exact time (to know the winner) and an alarm apparently goes off throughout the town.  Can you imagine hearing that?  It's either air-raid or I wonder if I won! LOL

 The Tenana River.

 Old fashioned snow machine in Nenana's museum.  Crazy to see how far they've come.

 These books are all of the bets or "List of Guesses" for each years' participants.

 Look how thick they are!!!

 This is how they're listed.