Today we went DOG SLEDDING! It was so amazing and I can now check something off of my bucket list. We left the house in the morning and traveled to AK Dogsled Tours which was about 2 hours away. We went through some small towns that were really cute along the way. The dogs were part of Dallas Seavy’s race team. He is a musher that competes in the Iditarod. The last time he won was in 2015. When we got there we were introduced to Rosie who was our guide and she showed us around and told us how everything would go. I was in the first group of people to go out on the sleds and our musher was very knowledgeable about Alaska and knew so much about the dogs. It was his first season mushing and he was originally from Oregon. He wanted to come to Alaska to do some mountaineering work. We went on a 10 mile ride and I started out in the front of the sled with the view of the musher, so I was looking at the dogs backsides and their floppy ears. Our lead dog’s name was Ram. He was such a good dog, and so were all the others. There were 8 dogs on the team pulling the sleds. It was so beautiful and majestic out on the tundra and it was so fun to be able to experience such a beautiful place on a dog sled.
About halfway through we gave the dogs a rest and they all pretty much laid down in the snow to cool off. It was funny how they instinctively did that as soon as we stopped. Brandi and I got to go and pet the dogs and tell them what a good job they were doing pulling us around. After our break I was able to stand on the sled in the back and experience what it would be like to be a musher. That was really cool too. I couldn’t imagine doing that for 1000 miles in the Iditarod though...at the end I got to put the break on my sled to slow us down. We thanked the dogs and our musher and then went up the hill to hang out with Rosie some more. The pictures that I got on the trail were so cool! They are pictured above.
Before we left I got some apple cider and then we got in the vans and ate lunch on our way to the little town of Talkeetna. It reminded me of Nisswa, MN in the size and the cute buildings that were around. We went to some gift shops and explored the town. I got a couple souvenirs and a latte from a place called conscious coffee. It was pretty good. I also had a peach pastie at a bakery in the town which was delicious too! After we were done exploring the town we drove back to Anchorage and the faculty made us a delicious fish dinner. We were able to hang out as a big group one last time before we went on our separate ways to our clinical sites.
About halfway through we gave the dogs a rest and they all pretty much laid down in the snow to cool off. It was funny how they instinctively did that as soon as we stopped. Brandi and I got to go and pet the dogs and tell them what a good job they were doing pulling us around. After our break I was able to stand on the sled in the back and experience what it would be like to be a musher. That was really cool too. I couldn’t imagine doing that for 1000 miles in the Iditarod though...at the end I got to put the break on my sled to slow us down. We thanked the dogs and our musher and then went up the hill to hang out with Rosie some more. The pictures that I got on the trail were so cool! They are pictured above.
Before we left I got some apple cider and then we got in the vans and ate lunch on our way to the little town of Talkeetna. It reminded me of Nisswa, MN in the size and the cute buildings that were around. We went to some gift shops and explored the town. I got a couple souvenirs and a latte from a place called conscious coffee. It was pretty good. I also had a peach pastie at a bakery in the town which was delicious too! After we were done exploring the town we drove back to Anchorage and the faculty made us a delicious fish dinner. We were able to hang out as a big group one last time before we went on our separate ways to our clinical sites.