Q and I decided that since we live in Alaska, we should take advantage of the adventures only Alaska can offer us. Currently, the Yukon Quest is happening here in Alaska. For those of you non-Alaskans, the Yukon Quest is a dog mushing race similar to the Iditarod, where teams of dogs race 1000 miles from Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks over 10-16 days. The whole city of Fairbanks is glued to the race. In the 3rd grade class I was teaching on Friday, the kids were all doing a math project on their chosen musher and tracking their team’s progress. It was an incredibly crafty way to for kids to do math about something that they loved talking about.
So this weekend, Q and I decided to try out this whole dog mushing thing! We researched and found a few different places around town that offer tours. We chose Paws for Adventure, which was only 20 minutes away from us and offered a variety of tours. When we arrived, we saw all the of the sweet dogs sitting in their individual homes all across the hill and we were SO excited. The dogs each have their own house and sleep there all throughout the winter (even in -40) and summer. They love their homes and are such friendly dogs!
We found our team of 8 dogs and sat down in the basket while our leader, Ryan, hooked up the dogs and we were off. We rode 30 minutes and talked about the dogs the whole time.
The dogs LOVE to pull and do their job. When we were leaving the start point, all of the dogs in the homes were barking and upset they weren’t going on the adventure!
The dogs that pulled us were are all Alaskan Huskies, a breed of dog that are bred specifically to do dog mushing. They are lean and strong dogs and breeders don’t care about their coloring, just about their build. You’ll see white ones, brown ones, tall ones and short ones!
I was fascinated with the art of putting together a dog mushing team. Sometimes the girls are the leaders and the males are strong in the back and sometimes you put cousins together or moms and sons. It was SO fascinating!
We had the BEST time. It was an adventure we could only have experienced in Alaska!
Pin It
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks like so much fun! What a unique experience. I never would’ve guessed that they sleep in their own houses out in the cold.
Jessica recently posted..Favorite Things Friday
How awesome! I remember my friend telling me about raising / caring for her team of mush dogs (as I called them). They, too, each had their own home and I thought it was so cool. What an awesome memory for you and Q. Thanks for sharing!
Megan recently posted..On Sugar and Booze