Trust me.....This one is exciting!! Sorry so Long but it is a great story!!
The highlight of our alaska cruise was going to be dog sledding on top of the denver glacier, to get to it... we first needed a helicopter ride, then we would get to actually drive a dog sled, then helicopter back down! Trip of a lifetime and 500.00 to experience!! Christy and I had no problem choosing that as one of our excursions once we knew we were headed to Alaska! Money is no object when dealing with furry animals in our family!
So the day finally arrives when our boat docks in Skagway, AK. We get off the boat and board our bus that drive us to the helicopter launch area, we go inside and get a safety lecture and are issued life vests and safety boots, we gladly put them on!! We are assigned numbers in which to get on the helicopter, I am number 5, my astrology info says number 5 is a good number for me, so I am very happy! We take our seats and off we go...WOW, I am actually flying in a helicopter, first time for me!! Christy and Ronna are old school at this, but not me, I am nervous, scared but so intrigued, I love heights and views. I always ask for the highest floor when getting hotel rooms and my favorite place to eat in Las Vegas is the top of the stratoshphere, it was just the flying part that scared me. But soon we are buzzing along over lakes and ice and climbing up to 4000 feet to our landing pad...but wait, it is all foggy and they have to land out more instead of at camp, so now we have to get in a track cat contraption and get driven to the dog camp, no problem, just another adventure to cross off my bucket list!
We arrive in camp, the dogs are everywhere, we meet our musher, sweet girl named Megan, she has been mushing a long time, her first dog is still in camp and is 16 years old! Sorry, the names of the dogs are strange and I cannot remember any of them. She shows us the sled and lets us get comfy, christy stands in back, I sit and Ronna rides up front with Megan, and off we go!! Wow, I am on a dog sled being pulled by iditarod winning sled dogs!! We stop and rotate positions and meet the dogs, they are sweet and lovable!!
On to more sledding and then we get back to camp to meet some puppies, oh they smell wonderful!! Gotta love new puppy smell!!
Then we are rushed off to get back to the helicopters, we pile in the cat tracker and head to the side of the mountain for pick up....but wait, no heicopters are there, we hear them coming but then they turn and go back down the mountain, we cannot see them as the cloud coverage has dropped our visibility to about 30 feet.
They explain to us the helicopters cannot see to land and we may be camping here for the night....UH...Excuse me??? No, no, there must be a mistake, I did not sign up for that excursion!!! Let me say, Christy is beside herself giddy at the prospect of sleeping with 500 sled dogs for a night, but me, not so much....I like the comfort of my ship's cabin and the fabulous meals for dinner and the clean room and hot shower....please let the helicopters come back, please!!!
And soon my prayers are answered and my hero arrives, I tell him I love him and he is my hero! I think he is used to that kind of treatment!
Hope you enjoyed my Alaskan Adventure, and if you ever get the chance to go cruise to Alaska, go and make it the trip of a lifetime, like we did!!
4 comments:
Love that puppy picture...you need to post a few more of AK before you are done here, Grasshopper! Just think...you could have earned the Indian name, "Sleeps With Dogs", but you had to have the comfort of a bed!
Thanks for sharing your fantastic trip to Alaska...it's ALMOST like I was there with you, the dog sledding was my favorite part of your trip too!
Great post and pictures! Thanks for visiting and sharing your trip!
Thanks for posting this! Megan is my daughter and I'm glad she provided a great dog-sled ride for you! She has her own blog on mushingmegan.com and there you can see more of her dogs, their names, and some of the adventures she's had working on the Denver glacier this summer. My other daughter Rachel probably took pictures of you and helped you off and on the helicopter. I see her in one of the pictures with the bright yellow ear protectors.
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