Wednesday, July 27, 2011 Skagway, Alaska

It is a cool, misty day but what a fun filled day it was.  We took a small bus into the hills to a Musher's Ranch, for a lack of something else to call it.  They have over 100 dogs that are taught to be sled dogs.  Each one is run several times each day. They are not owned by one person but I guess because these dogs need a large area to practice and they do make a lot of noise, several trainers/owners took to the hills.  It was a decent drive up w/rivers, flowers, etc. but the best part was seeing so many dogs.
















The hills are so steep we had to unload off the bus and take this German made vehicle up into woods.  We were practically going straight up and in very low gear.  We really didn't think we would make it, but this truck chugged along and we made it.

















They had four strings of 16 dogs already lined up and ready to go so we broke up in groups of 6, hopped on this golf cart of sorts and off we went.  I couldn't believe how anxious they were as soon as we sat down.  This picture is only a few of the dogs on our team.  Aren't they cute?










After our ride, we were able to pet them, learn their names - yeah right, like I'm going to remember - then we went back down the hill where there were Puppies.  Oh so darn cute and such little lover's.  The wheel on the bottom is a training toy for them.  They will get inside the wheel, a trainer will start it going and these little guys can actually keep the wheel going by running. We had two of them inside at one time but the little white one that I'm holding would do more sliding than running - so very funny.  We had time to play, had a cup of hot chocolate and down the mountain we went.








My friend, Cindy, in the light pink jacket, wanted me to go ziplining w/her because her husband backed out because of his shoulder's.  Now mind you, I just came down the mountain and the ziplining is right next door to the musher's, so after a quick lunch, up the mountain I went again.  I wasn't going to go but I'm sure glad I did.  We had so many laughs.  There were 11 strands from tree to tree that we did.  Went over rivers and gulleys.  Our guides were just great and very funny, but cautious to say the least.  We felt really bad for Jenna, another friend, as she didn't want to do this but her husband talked her into it.  She was deathly afraid as we were pretty high up sometimes and it took her a while but she did it.  We were so proud of her. 



On the way down the mountain, we were told how the people that first moved to the community could chose the names of their streets.  The road is very rough and has a lot of curves so this is the name he came up with.










Along side a creek filled w/salmon, we saw a grizzly bear.  He was a little hesitant to come out but eventually he did.  Always a treat to see bears.

We were quite tired when we got back so several of us decided to go into town for dinner at the Red Onion Saloon.  Cindy invited our guides to dinner as well - what a hoot!!!  Afterwards, we went to the Bonanza Bar and Grill because they were having karoke.  They had some really good singers so we joined in singing and dancing.  Had a great time but had to get back home as we were taking an all day cruise to Juneau.    Another fun filled day!!!