Puppies, Puppies, Puppies!

We started the day without much plans. Greg started with a run along the waterfront, while Amy found coffee at a local shop. After a few chores, we decided to return to Exit Glacier, where we hiked the overlook trail to the second overlook, which we didn't reach yesterday.

As we drove back to town, we passed Ididaride, the home of the Seavey dog racing team. Mitch Seavey is a 3-time winner of the Iditarod, and he holds the record for the fastest time. Amy was reluctant to go since we've visited other dog racing camps on Alaska cruises in the past. Greg, however, could not miss an opportunity to see dogs, so we went. Excellent choice! We took the tour of the summer kennels for Seavey's male dogs. (Seavey's females spend the summer in a separate camp a few towns away).

After a short orientation, we took seats in a cart. Next, the staff hitched up a 14-dog team to the cart. The cart carried 9 people: 7 guests plus two mushers. One of our dogs was the lead dog in the champion team for last year's Iditarod competition.

In a competition, the dogs may run for up to 4 hours, but in the relatively warm summer months, the musher kept them to 5 minute intervals, with breaks in-between. The dogs were jogging, not sprinting, but it was enough to pull the heavy cart along the hills and turns of the gravel road.

When we returned to the camp, we got the highlight: playing with the puppies! They had a litter of 6-week-old puppies that were rescued from Nome. Unfortunately, these puppies are not pure Alaskan Huskies, so they are not suitable for racing. But they said that dogs like this are popular as pets; they will be available in a few weeks, where they typically get adopted in just days. (Sorry Ari, but this breed is far too energetic for us).