Let’s ride on a dog sled!   Mom really said those words and we quickly agreed.   We are in North Pole, Alaska, near Fairbanks, to work on Eider’s dad’s estate, but not today.    Mom made reservations and our friend, Barbara, drove us to Sirius Winter Sled Dog Tours .   Arriving for our 6 mile, one hour trip, we watched our dog team get harnessed to our sleds.

This is our dog team and sleds. Ready to go

This is our sled, with mom.   Barbara has another set of sleds with her driver, or musher.   I, Zeb the Duck, and cousin Eider Duck are on the second sled.

Ducks on sled, ready to ride.

This is Avett, one our dogs.   While riding, Nita, our guide and musher, stood behind the first sled and guided the dogs.   We rode with mom, standing on the back of the second sled.   Standing gave us a great view, and wasn’t as cold as sitting so close to the snow.   Mom stood, with her knees bent, on the ride.   She said it felt like water skiing.   During our ride we did not take photos.   We were moving fast; going up and down small hills, and over frozen creeks.   Dog sleds on ice feel a little different.   During turns, Nita told us how to lean to make things easier for the dogs.   We loved our ride.   Here we are, sitting on the first sled, exhilarated after our exciting and wonderful tour.

Nita, our guide and musher is standing on the first sled, waving to mom.

We love these sleds and the Alaskan Huskies that pulled us through the wooded snow area.   The trails were groomed, but Nita told us the untouched snow would be almost waist deep.   That’s a lot of snow.   We just had to pose for another photo on our sled, with our dog, Avett.

Ducks with Avett

While we still wanted to go further, we aren’t ready for the Iditarod.   That famous dog sled race began Sunday, March 4, 2018.   The official start was crossing frozen Lake Willow, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Anchorage.   The finish line in Nome, Alaska, on the Bering Strait, will be reached in about 9 days.   That is too much for us.   Isn’t this a great picture of the dogs pulling the sled?

Dogs pulling sled through woods

This photo came from Sirius Dog web page.   The only time we were on the trails with dogs, we were on the sled.     These winter sled dog tours are available from Sirius from November through March.   We hope you enjoy a dog sled ride soon.   Of course, they are available in Alaska, but many other locations also.   They are offered in Colorado, in many of our ski areas.   We had never been on a dog sled before, and we love it!   Maybe again sometime?   Driving back home, we again drove on snowy roads and under branches, bent from the heavy wet snow.

Driving on a snowy road with low hanging snow covered branched

This was a perfect day in Alaska.   This is the end to this Alaska trip.   But we want to show you one more photo.   This was taken about 15 minutes before official sunrise, from our back window.

So blue, just before sunrise

The morning really did not look so blue to us, but we heard that the time just before sunrise and after sunset has great light for photos.   We just love the blue in this photo.   We took many photos, but this one has the most blue.   Mom did not enhance or alter anything about the photo.    This is just how it came with our iPhone.   Next time we will show you more of our beautiful Colorado.