Dog Sledding

Sign posted on our way to dog sledding

We arrived at the Caribou Crossing where we were able to do some dog sledding. Clearly it's summer time so no snow, so instead they put us on a wheeled cart for the dogs to pull. I was expecting to see large husky's but instead the dogs average about 55 lbs each and full of energy!! You could see as they were getting the dogs and attaching them to the sled, how excited they got. It's as if they were screaming "Pick Me!!". Once they were attached, they were ready to pull even if the rest were not. They jumped high and was explained to us how they just love pulling the sleds. Once all the dogs were attached we climbed on the cart. Not all of us could fit on one so Cottles, Martha and Sylvia went on one while Mike, Nate and I went on another. And off we went! Wow are those dogs strong. The cart was completely dog powered and we had 8 dogs pulling us.I'm pretty sure their combined weight was about a third of what they were pulling. Amazing little dogs!


Our musher was Michelle Phillips. She placed 16th in the last Iditorod race and was really happy she was our musher. After we did a bit of dog sledding, they took us to the kennels to visit with the puppies and to ask any questions. the puppies are so adorable!! I think Shayne decided that once he is out of the house, he wants to adopt one. The dogs are bred for their energy and during the race they wear booties and the mushers carry about 10,000 pairs. Mostly they carry dog food in the sled and the mushers will eat about 10,000 calories a day during the race and still lose about 10 lbs. It took Michelle a little over 10 days to complete the last race. I realized that what they put their body's through is equivalent to climbing Mt Everest. Apparently the dogs can go for about 10 hours of pulling during a race. Wow, that's a lot of energy!She showed us the equipment she uses including her sled and clothes she wears. Clearly she is devoted and  I am now convinced that this is a sport I never want to do!


We then went to have a BBQ lunch and Lilia of course, wanted to have a beer. So we bought Yukon Gold! Not bad!

Dogs waiting to be selected to pull

They get so excited!

Almost hard to contain them

Mike C ready to mush!

And they are off!

Path we were on

I think Nate really wanted to mush!

Resting spot for dogs on path

Headed back

Michelle Phillips doing Q and A

Shayne

Beautiful puppies

Nate just loving the puppies!

Chloe

Sylvia

Mike C

Nate

Nate

Nate

BBQ lunch

Yukon Gold!

Next.. back to Skagway!

Skagway to Tormented Valley

After the quick tour of Skagway, we headed on the Klondike Hwy to the Yukon. We got lucky with our tour guide. Very informative but also quite humorous which made the drive a lot of fun. As we cruised the Klondike Hwy we saw some truly beautiful scenery. Mike, the guide was kind enough to make quite a few pit stops on the way so that we could take photos.

A couple of interesting things on the way, in the Tormented Valley there were these trees that were about 3 feet tall. He explained that the became these bonsai trees and that they were roughly around 400 years old. Interesting! And bravo to Sylvia for having amazing eyes to spot a bear. Still trying to figure out how she spotted it since it was a blonde black bear in dry grass area. Hmmm...good eye Sylvia!! 

On the border of Alaska and Canada

  

Nate

 

Tormented Valley with tiny trees that are 400 years old

Beautiful scenery

Oh Canada

The girls

One of the beautiful waterfalls

Gorgeous!

Mike, me, Nate,Lilia, Chloe, Martha, Sylvia, Shayne, Mike C

Cottles

Mike C and Lilia (What's so funny?)

Nate and I

Sylvia and Martha

Mike and I

Entering the Yukon!

Blond Black Bear that Sylvia spotted

More tiny trees!

Next.. Dog Sledding!

Skagway

Friday, June 29

Booking excursions via the cruise is the most expensive way to do it. I had found www.viator.com as an alternative way of booking tours. Tours are about 50% cheaper this way. Another approach is to just take a chance by getting off the ship and finding whatever is available and it's even less. Well on Viator we found a tour of the Yukon with a dog sled ride.

We got off the ship and we had to find our guide. While waiting, everyone else made a quick stop at the bathroom and I found our tour guide. His name was Mike and we started chatting right away. I could tell immediately he had a great sense of humor. I asked him if was Alaskan or Canadian. Turns out he was from New Hampshire. We all boarded the van and said the bathroom stop was a good idea since the next bathroom stop would be in the "Tormented Vally" and it had a tormented bathroom. hmmm...

On the tour it was all 9 of us, plus another 3 from the cruise. He said we had to make a quick pit stop to pick up another group of 4 and then we were on our way. It was a quick tour of the town. He showed us the Red Onion Saloon which was Skagway’s most exclusive bordello before 1900. The Arctic BrotherHood Hall Historic Building, where the facade of the building has a false front made out of nearly 9,000 pieces of driftwood and flotsam collected from the beaches. The financial district, which was just a Wells Fargo bank, the radio shack which also serves as a video rental store and a tanning salon. And the brand new medical building that has no doctor. He says should you get really sick, then you are airlifted to Juneau, which will cost you about $30K and if you are even sicker, they will fly you to Seattle, which will run you about $100K. Guess you do not want to get sick in Skagway.

Red Onion Saloon

If you want to know more about the history of the saloon go to http://www.redonion1898.com/history.html
Interesting little history!

Arctic BrotherHood Building

Financial District

Radio Shack/Video Store/tanning Salon

 Skagway...to be continued.

Savoring the moment

Sometimes after coming home from vacation, it takes a while to sink in what you have just seen. I believe that most of us do not take the time to just enjoy the moment and truly just live it. So I have to go back to a moment when we were in front of the South Sawyer Glacier. Mike C had purchased bottles of Alaskan Beer for us to toast to but it was Martha who really stole the moment and love her for it. Right there in front of the glacier while holding on to the Alaskan Beer, Martha decides to do the running man! Maybe you just had to be there or maybe you just have to know Martha but I'm going to say that she completely rocked the moment by doing the running man. Thank you Martha!! So much fun to watch you!!