There's no place like Nome....there's no place like Nome.

I got the pleasure last month to be flown out to perform at the end of the Iditarod in one of Alaska's remote gems, Nome.  They call it the last great race.  1100 miles of frozen landscapes, sub-zero temps, and the most well conditioned athletes, sled dogs.  Dog mushing is a hardcore sport up here in Alaska and it is not for the weak hearted.  It is for bunny boot wearing bad asses.  What are bunny boots?  I'll get into that at a later date.   

What sets Nome aside from other town in the United States?  Well....here are a few things:

1) There are no trees - It is subarctic tundra.  Just miles and miles of grasses, tusiks (mounds of land about the size of a basketball on average that make walking hell on your ankles), and everyone's favorite aspect.....BUGS!!!!!  The joke is there is a beautiful woman behind every tree......But don't be fooled...there are good looking women in town.  It is where all the village princesses go when they leave their villages for the big city....Nome!

2) There are no roads out that connect to the road system.  You fly in (when the fog isn't in -- which happens a lot) or you boat in (only in the summer).

3) The only thing that will keep your warm there is whiskey....cheap whiskey.  I would like to suggest R&R.  Worthless to us, but $100 a fifth in the bush!  Many people don't know this but many of the communities off the road system (which we call "the bush") are dry.  No...I'm not talking about running water this time.  Booze is outlawed.  Just a factoid.

4) It costs an arm and a leg to get things in or out of Nome.  That is why when your car dies it stays in the yard for eternity.  I slept on a plywood bed with a piece of 1" pink sheet foam on it.  The Ritz!  Not much comes in...not much goes out.  However king crab here is half price compared to anywhere else.  $10 a pound!  The only steal of a deal in town.        

But.....let me warn you.  If you ever get the chance to go to Nome be prepared for one thing if you plan on spending multiple days there.  Your liver will grow like the Grinch's heart and turn into a bag full of large rocks and gravel.  8 dollar shots, 7 dollar beers, and 7 bars within a couple hundred yards and you don't even care how your bank account is dwindling.  You have to stay warm....and booze creates that illusion.

Celebrities in Nome?  You betcha!



This is Zeke from Bering Sea Gold and yours truly!

This pic is Lance Mackey (4 time winner of the Iditarod and my neighbor -- he is a Fairbanks guy and lives a few hills over from me) and I at the Bering Sea Bar and Grill before one of my shows.






One might ask what else is there to do in Nome during the winter?  Well...after I spent an hour walking around the "whole" town I realized that.....there is nothing.  Absolutely nothing but eating and drinking....heavily.  Not like bloated John Candy "Wagon's East" kind of heavily....heavier than that.

The skinny of it is....Nome is like a hardcore drinking party that bumps it up a notch during the end of the Iditarod.  This place is a trip....literally.  I can't wait to go back again next winter!  Plans are all ready being made.