SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2025

PUPS, SNOWMOBILES, AND A GOURMET FAREWELL

First thing on today’s agenda was one of the things I was most looking forward to: dog sledding!

We hopped on the van to the kennel, and met the owner who told us about the dogs and the history of sledding in the Arctic north, then walked us through how to control the sled and some safety tips. The main thing was a big metal brake on the back, as we were going to go in a line of a bunch of two-person sleds and needed to stop at various places along the route. We quickly learned that you have to put pretty much all of your weight on that brake as otherwise the dogs would definitely take off!

Any slight worry I had about this being inhumane quickly vanished when she told us – and was immediately corroborated – how ecstatic the dogs were to get to pull the sleds and run through the snow. As soon as they saw they were being taken out of their kennels and hooked up to the ropes, they lost their minds with excitement haha. (As she said, they thinking “it’s time! it’s time!”)

We paired up randomly, as one person would be sitting in the sled while the other stood on the back and “drove,” then we’d switch halfway through the route. I started out sitting while Dani bravely took the reins, and we took off, led by our adorable five pup team.

After an exhilarating race through the snow, we circled back to the kennel and got to spend some time playing with the dogs.

This is Solomon, the middle dog in our team who absolutely loved rolling around in the snow:

After the dog sledding fun, we had some free time before our next activity, and a few of us walked over to the nearby town and a couple of big souvenir shops. It was a little overwhelming, with room after room of wood products, souvenirs, jewelry, knives, Christmas paraphernalia, seemingly a million mittens and hats, toys, and more. I think we all did at least a little damage.

After some shopping (kind of excited for NYC winter to come so I can wear my new warm hat), we gathered back at the lodge to pick up balaclavas and helmets for our afternoon snowmobiling excursion.

I was slightly nervous for this just because this is a machine and my Manhattanite self has driven a car maybe once in the last 22 years haha. They told us it was “just like driving a motorcycle” which made me laugh inside, because I couldn’t have less of a frame of reference for that.

But I did it! We paired up and, similar to the dog sledding, took turns driving and riding on the back. Jennifer and I made a good team, and while it was a little nerve-racking trying to keep the ‘skis’ of the snowmobile in the existing tracks that we were following, we made it in one piece and enjoyed a nice adrenaline rush along the way.