No Place Like Nome:|The View From the Iditarod Finish Line

Visitors are advised to keep an open mind and be able to go with the flow when traveling here and to most outlying villages and towns across Alaska. What are known as "bush" or Alaska Native, villages here are big on atmosphere and small on amenities. Traveling in this state is more about the adventure and not hanging out in a hotel room, and Nome is no exception.

Lodging can be scarce during big events like the Iditarod. There are a few places that have been lodging mainstays for years to decades. These are relatively clean but small - and don't expect high-speed Internet. Be glad there's Wi-Fi at all. Cell service exists, but it's slow and when a lot of people are in town it gets overwhelmed and sluggish.

There are a few newer hotels and bed-and-breakfasts where the Iditarod bigwigs stay these days. They are a mile or more from the finish line, so either rent a vehicle or expect to hoof it back and forth a lot. Taxis are plentiful and $5 a pop from the airport to most anywhere, or from lodging to the finish line.

The older main street accommodations overlook the finish line, so a trade-off in modern amenities is a gain on location. For the more "wing-it" types, contact the Nome visitors center.

Longtime Nomeites leave town during Iditarod and rent out their homes and apartments to tourists and musher's families. This is often a great way to save money and have decent accommodations. For those really willing to take a chance, there are rooms available at hostels run by some churches.

One bit of advice when staying in a private home: Hit up the grocery or warehouse store prior to boarding a flight. Stuff a tote or cooler with food to save money and to avoid eating at restaurants every meal. There is a grocery store in Nome, but the prices may bring on apoplexy.

Also, to guarantee the happiness of and a return invite from a private accommodation owner, gift them with a bulk package of toilet paper. The cost of supplies in Nome is based on the volume each takes up in the cargo hold of a plane or barge that transports the goods here. Something this basic and necessary can be extremely expensive to replace.

Those not into the bar or church scene should get outside. There are sled dog tours run by the world's oldest dog-mushing organization, the Nome Kennel Club. Take a snow cat - a specially designed transport vehicle - or a helicopter to tour the area.

Tours go out to Safety, the last Iditarod checkpoint 20 miles from Front Street, or up Anvil Mountain - which is really more like a hill - to look for musk ox and view the now defunct Cold War-era White-Alice radar site. At night, look up to the sky for active aurora displays. The Northern Lights put on quite a show and offer amazing photo opportunities, dancing above various gold rush-era relics on the tundra.

Residents are friendly and helpful. Some may view the invasion of mushers, dogs and tourists as a nuisance, but most enjoy having new folks to talk to, and businesses enjoy a welcome financial boost to their bottom line.

There's a wonderful coffee and baked goods shop, the Bering Tea Co., where the friendly barista will whip up a flavored espresso and even offer recommendations on the various artists and crafters in town for handmade fur hats, mitts or Alaska Native carvings.

Stop in next door at Pingo Bakery and Seafood House for a filling breakfast, soups or a plate of King crab legs pulled fresh from the waters just offshore. Local residents will often take visitors out to check their crab pots under the ice not too far out from town. A successful catch will provide a nice feast at a reasonable price. The crab meat is so fresh and sweet that not a drop of butter is needed.

There's also Airport Pizza, several pubs and multiple Chinese food restaurants that serve up a variety of choices from burgers and cashew chicken to sushi. Save money and support local charities and student-government trips to Washington by purchasing homemade caribou stew, cakes and cookies at the mini-convention center that serves as Iditarod's Nome headquarters.

While partaking in community-made treats, chat with various race finishers who pass in and out with their families and listen in to the daily readings of works by the renowned poet of the great North, Robert Service, performed by Nome's charismatic mayor Richard Beneville.

If you miss meeting the mayor here, just keep an ear open for Beneville's characteristic "Hello Central!" greeting. He is seemingly everywhere about town, from meeting race finishers under the burled arch to entertaining visitors via the Internet while conducting a tour of the historic and beautifully renovated St. Joseph's Church.

The church, located in the center of downtown, serves as a community center and is home to a week-long craft sale with amazing fur, beadwork and carvings from remote Alaska Native villages, colorful naturally dyed sled-dog fur hats and various paintings and drawings of local artists There are also opportunities for local food and even handmade sushi on the spot at the church as well.

Nome may be far from a big metropolis but the residents and businesses know how to welcome, entertain and feed visitors. This is only wintertime fun.

Soon Nomeites and the Bering Sea will thaw for a few months. Migratory birds and birdwatchers replace dogs and mushers. While seasons and visitors may change, Nome and its people will continue the tradition of offering up treasures to those willing to come and explore.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit