Today reminded me of the Bible verse that says something like “Crying may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” What an incredible day today was! It nearly erased the brutality of last night as today was beyond all expectations FANTASTIC!
Niklas, our host, brought us warm oatmeal and hot water for coco so at least we were able to warm ourselves from the inside out this morning. The day started out well. Just at the crack of dawn (8:30am) Niklas uncaged the dogs and let them run around their penned in area near our tent and just be dogs for about an hour. They romped and rolled in the snow, they squabbled and chased each other around, they came over to us for some lovin’, they peed on everything they could lift their leg on… it was quite fun to watch 29 dogs having a good time. Then about ten o’clock some other tourists showed up and we got the low-down on how to hook the dogs up to their harnesses, how to brake the dogs and what to do if the sled rolls over. Niklas drove the lead team of nine dogs because he had two adults on his sled. The other three sleds had only five dogs pulling them because we each just had one person down in the sled (zipped up nice and cozy warm with reindeer hides to sit on) and one person driving the dogs. A Norwegian couple was in the second sled, Kory and Kaleb were in third place and I got to ride in the last sled while another Norwegian guy drove our team. I was a little nervous at first after the safety lesson of all the things to do if something goes wrong, but once we got going, it was a comfortable pace and all my fears dissolved.
The dogs so love to pull the sleds that they began barking and howling at the first sight of the sleds being prepared. There is a huge snow anchor that keeps them still until it’s time to go, as their only instinct is to go full speed ahead, all the time, and to try to get in front of the pack of dogs in the lead. (It was a little scary to think about losing the driver, as the dogs would just go all day with no way to stop them.) It’s hard to believe those skinny dogs with a not very thick coat, love the snow like they do and can handle the extreme cold they live in, but it was easy to see how much fun they have when they are out in it. Even while we were on the tour, they would sink their head in a pile of fresh snow just so they could shake it off themselves, or they would take a bite to get a drink of water as they were running full speed ahead. Several of them had to poop while they were running, and a few made the whole team stop for them but most of them just kept right on running, like horses do. It was pretty funny.
The weather today was absolutely perfect and the scenery where we were was breathtaking. There is no way words could describe how we all felt as we were gliding along the frozen lake with the sunshine hitting the mountaintops around us, the dogs not making a peep and just the sound of the runners under us sliding on the frozen ice. It was magical. And it seemed, as I was watching from the back, that I was in a National Geographic special on Alaska because I had seen that scene many times before, but only on TV. I had the dogs right in front of me, the other sleds in the distance ahead of me and just this drop dead gorgeous winterscape all around me. I took as many photos and video shots as I could but I also wanted to enjoy the moment and just take it all in. The funniest part was when Niklas took us on a fairly short loop trail so we could see each other coming from the other direction as each team looped back– and it was there I was hoping to get photos of the front of Kory and Kaleb as they looped around, but the last two teams of dogs (mine and Kory and Kaleb’s) saw this as an opportunity to become the lead pack so they made a cut right through the middle of the loop and tried to get ahead of Niklas and his team as they turned the corner. Not only did they get off the trail and dive into a lot of fresh snow powder, but they got their ropes all tangled up in the process. It was quite the effort to get them untangled and heading down the path again, but it gave us all a good laugh just the same.
It really was something to have that experience today. Kaleb has decided everyone needs to do that sometime in their life and Kory and I thanked Kaleb over and over because if it weren’t for him, we certainly wouldn’t have made the effort to come here and do this. So it was a day to remember, for as long as we all shall live.
And, not wanting to put any damper on the day, I insisted we go into town and see if there was any hotel rooms available for the night, as I just couldn’t stand the thought of one more night in that tent (see photo), especially since tonight was supposed to be colder than last night! Both Kory and Kaleb protested, but I insisted that we’d all be happier tomorrow (since we have such a long drive home), if we get a good night’s sleep. I won because I said I’d only check one hotel and if they had a room and it was less than $300 a night (a bargain here), we’d stay. They agreed, thinking that would be impossible, but we have a God who can do the impossible and we found a room for $295! Hallelujah! We went out for a nice warm dinner, we all had a good hot shower, and now we are ready to sleep in a clean, warm bed. God is good.
Niklas, our host, brought us warm oatmeal and hot water for coco so at least we were able to warm ourselves from the inside out this morning. The day started out well. Just at the crack of dawn (8:30am) Niklas uncaged the dogs and let them run around their penned in area near our tent and just be dogs for about an hour. They romped and rolled in the snow, they squabbled and chased each other around, they came over to us for some lovin’, they peed on everything they could lift their leg on… it was quite fun to watch 29 dogs having a good time. Then about ten o’clock some other tourists showed up and we got the low-down on how to hook the dogs up to their harnesses, how to brake the dogs and what to do if the sled rolls over. Niklas drove the lead team of nine dogs because he had two adults on his sled. The other three sleds had only five dogs pulling them because we each just had one person down in the sled (zipped up nice and cozy warm with reindeer hides to sit on) and one person driving the dogs. A Norwegian couple was in the second sled, Kory and Kaleb were in third place and I got to ride in the last sled while another Norwegian guy drove our team. I was a little nervous at first after the safety lesson of all the things to do if something goes wrong, but once we got going, it was a comfortable pace and all my fears dissolved.
The dogs so love to pull the sleds that they began barking and howling at the first sight of the sleds being prepared. There is a huge snow anchor that keeps them still until it’s time to go, as their only instinct is to go full speed ahead, all the time, and to try to get in front of the pack of dogs in the lead. (It was a little scary to think about losing the driver, as the dogs would just go all day with no way to stop them.) It’s hard to believe those skinny dogs with a not very thick coat, love the snow like they do and can handle the extreme cold they live in, but it was easy to see how much fun they have when they are out in it. Even while we were on the tour, they would sink their head in a pile of fresh snow just so they could shake it off themselves, or they would take a bite to get a drink of water as they were running full speed ahead. Several of them had to poop while they were running, and a few made the whole team stop for them but most of them just kept right on running, like horses do. It was pretty funny.
The weather today was absolutely perfect and the scenery where we were was breathtaking. There is no way words could describe how we all felt as we were gliding along the frozen lake with the sunshine hitting the mountaintops around us, the dogs not making a peep and just the sound of the runners under us sliding on the frozen ice. It was magical. And it seemed, as I was watching from the back, that I was in a National Geographic special on Alaska because I had seen that scene many times before, but only on TV. I had the dogs right in front of me, the other sleds in the distance ahead of me and just this drop dead gorgeous winterscape all around me. I took as many photos and video shots as I could but I also wanted to enjoy the moment and just take it all in. The funniest part was when Niklas took us on a fairly short loop trail so we could see each other coming from the other direction as each team looped back– and it was there I was hoping to get photos of the front of Kory and Kaleb as they looped around, but the last two teams of dogs (mine and Kory and Kaleb’s) saw this as an opportunity to become the lead pack so they made a cut right through the middle of the loop and tried to get ahead of Niklas and his team as they turned the corner. Not only did they get off the trail and dive into a lot of fresh snow powder, but they got their ropes all tangled up in the process. It was quite the effort to get them untangled and heading down the path again, but it gave us all a good laugh just the same.
It really was something to have that experience today. Kaleb has decided everyone needs to do that sometime in their life and Kory and I thanked Kaleb over and over because if it weren’t for him, we certainly wouldn’t have made the effort to come here and do this. So it was a day to remember, for as long as we all shall live.
And, not wanting to put any damper on the day, I insisted we go into town and see if there was any hotel rooms available for the night, as I just couldn’t stand the thought of one more night in that tent (see photo), especially since tonight was supposed to be colder than last night! Both Kory and Kaleb protested, but I insisted that we’d all be happier tomorrow (since we have such a long drive home), if we get a good night’s sleep. I won because I said I’d only check one hotel and if they had a room and it was less than $300 a night (a bargain here), we’d stay. They agreed, thinking that would be impossible, but we have a God who can do the impossible and we found a room for $295! Hallelujah! We went out for a nice warm dinner, we all had a good hot shower, and now we are ready to sleep in a clean, warm bed. God is good.
