Slept pretty late, knowing we didn't have to hurry anywhere, had a cold breakfast of cereal knowing we would be eating a big lunch at a restaurant, and eventually moseyed down to Seavey's Ididaride. The Seavey Family has won the Iditarod on several occasions, and placed many times, so they're rather famous in the dog-sled world. We started out doing the dog sled section of the tour first, learning a great deal about how they live, how they're bred and maintained, saw how they lived in plastic barrels and seem to love it, how they can't wait to work, it was very enlightening. Then three groups of us piled into three wheeled carts, and watched in fascination as the dogs were hooked up, leaping and barking in anticipation, but not moving forward, not yet anyway. Before long, we were off and running! We rolled through the woods for about a half mile before stopping for a designated rest stop. Apparently, 50 degrees and raining was too hot for them to work too hard, as they apparently are more comfortable in 15 below, so the rest was to cool them down. After a bit of rest, off we went again for another half mile, another rest. During each rest stop, our guide, Grayson, a young man who did a pretty good job throughout the activity, answered all our questions and gave us lots more insights into the whole racing world. We traversed along the side of a river, then back into the woods, finally arriving back at the kennel, where our next stop was to cuddle puppies for a few minutes. Nine pups in one litter, only 16 days old, so it was easy to cuddle. Next we headed indoors to watch a demonstration of how the equipment worked, from showing us the brakes and steering on the sled, to dressing up an old and very cooperative sled dog in all the gear from booties to jackets to tummy (and privates) warmer. Then, with a young girl from the audience, we got to see all the human equipment as well, also from booties to jackets to snot wiper (yes, really). Finally, the kennel tour came to an end, and we then joined Todd our tour driver on the bus, and our first stop was a nearby restaurant. We had ordered our meals when we first arrived, so they were waiting for us by the time we got there, and were served moments after we sat down. I had a delicious salmon sandwich, Hubby a seafood chowder that was deliciously creamy. After lunch, we loaded back up on the bus and headed out to the Exit glacier, which was just up the road from Seavey's and walked to the river downstream from the glacier, and found chunks of ice all along the edge. I walked downstream a bit, and found I could see the glacier from there, it was quite remarkable. Then we all decided to head up the trail, though Hubby decided not to, since it was quite a bit of uphill climbing, so he headed back to the visitor center. The rest of us headed uphill, and eventually got all the way as close to the glacier as we could, though we did have any member of the party quit about halfway. Got lots of pix, and gaped and gasped at some of the facts that we learned along the way, like, every inch of glacier was made by compressing 100 feet of snow, making it so dense that no wavelengths of light can come through, except occasionally, when the conditions were right, a vivid aqua blue. Amazing. Afterward, we headed back down the trail, catching up to our stragglers, boarding the bus once again, and making another stop at a fish weir, where scientists count the salmon as they run upstream, and when they reach a certain number, they prevent any more from going upstream. This apparently insures that just the right number reach the lake, allowing for good runs every year, rather than boom and bust years. It's the latter ones that you find in the store as "Wild Alaskan Salmon." By now, we were pretty much wet through, as it had been raining steadily for several hours now, and, after a short drizzly ride through downtown Seward, we made it back to Seaveys. From there, Hubby and I went to the Safeway to pick up a few groceries, and briefly considered staying overnight in their parking lot, but fearful there was a city ordnance prohibiting it, we headed out to a turnout by the river that we found, almost directly across from the road that led to Seaveys. Looked like a pretty good spot, as several other RV's were there, and more joined us as the evening passed. A great day!
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