September 23 – Seward, Alaska

puppy!

Weather – 8º, some rain

Steps – 11,899

Seward

16 hours 3 min of daylight

Latitude – Calgary 51º, Seward 60º

Today we visited the Ididaride Dog Kennel. I was really looking forward to today’s tour. Originally, I wasn’t so sure about how these dogs were being used. I’m not usually one for animal focused entertainment. However, for this tour I did some research, talked to some people whose knowledge of dog ‘issues’ I valued. I felt OK with how the dogs spent their lives and went ahead with this tour. It was really well done.

This is NOT the time of year to visit Alaska to see the dog sleds on snow…there is no snow, at least none on close to the bottom of the mountains. However, they

our team with Cybil

have specially designed wheeled sleds that emulate the real thing. During the summer the dogs

our team

are trained on these wheeled sleds for the Iditarod – a 1,000-mile race that takes place in March each year.

The kennel was only about a 15 min drive from where the boat was docked in Seward and we spent about 2 hours there hanging with the dogs and learning about the race.

These dogs (the actual dogs that race the Ididarod) are Alaskan huskies, but don’t look like the dogs most people think of when they

think of Alaskan huskies. We learned that the ones we think of as Alaskan huskies
have been bread for their looks. Apparently, these dogs are how they look without selective breading for looks. They are still pretty darn cute!

Iditarod map

We learned about the Iditarod race and a little about the dogs before we were divided into groups of 8 for each team of 14 dogs. It took a bit of time for Cybil, our guide to hitch all of our dogs, but then we were ready.

geared up for the race

lunch spot

I was co-musher and stood on the back of the sled – Cybil told me to hold on but “don’t worry if you fall off I’ll stop for
you”…whaaaat? It was super bumpy and I was holding on for dear life…there was only one time when I almost fell off. Then there was the steering mechanism that Cybil as using at the back that got me in the kidney a couple of times – I didn’t care…it was a blast.

random wall in Seward

We rode 2 miles through the forest for about 10 minutes. We learned about voice

Alaskan craft beer taps

commands for stop, go, left, right…the dogs were amazing.

When we got back, we had some time with the puppies, that was a whole other thrill. 

One thing to note, is that along the dog sled trail someone from the kennel took a video. I thought “how much is that going to cost”, guess what…NOTHING. They just airdropped it to us!!!

cool, moss covered tree

Seward is small enough (pop 2,000) that it’s easy to get around on foot. After the dogs visit, we were back in town and decided to find a place for lunch.

more dogs

We had another Alaskan micro-brewery beer. That’s 3 micro-brewers beers in as many Alaskan towns. Let’s see if we can keep that streak alive tomorrow!!

We also had Alaskan crab dip. I think I said yesterday I was determined to have Alaskan salmon as much as possible – I’ve altered that goal to be as much Alaskan sea food as possible…dinner tonight was salmon.

After lunch we visited the Alaska SeaLife Center and learned how marine mammals who have been abandoned, stranded or injured are rehabilitated. We

ended our time here visiting the aquarium seeing puffins, sea lions, starfish, and
many other sea creatures.

on the trail

Our very busy day continued back at the boat and a pre-dinner Lionel Richie tribute show. One of the ship’s guest entertainers is a Vegas lounge singer. I saw his first show a few nights back and was super excited to see his Richie show. He was great!

good morning Seward!

 Things are continuing to look up on the modern music front – that is if you consider “Dancing on the Ceiling”, from 1996 or 1977’s “Brickhouse”

so small

MODERN! I still haven’t heard “Lady in Red” which BTW is also from 1986 – a perfectly fine song when not heard EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!!

The after dinner show was a comedian, who wasn’t so great – I guess you win some, and loose some. 

PS...I tried to upload the video from the dog visit. I think it worked, but the ship's wifi block video viewing, maybe uploading too.