Alaska – Snapping The Globe

There are fifty states in the United States and I had visited 49.

Yes, I had traveled to every state in our country…except Alaska!

Of course, I have watched many shows which chronicle life in Alaska, gold prospecting in Alaska, fishing in Alaska, house hunting in Alaska, just to name a few! I am sure you have seen them all as well, however, as these shows have made me sometimes feel like I have been there, travel to this amazing state had somehow escaped me!

Until now.

With some luck, I found myself in the position to be able to assist in transporting some military troops to Alaska where they would continue their journey onward to an overseas base. Realizing that I would have a bit of time in Anchorage, I immediately made plans to rent a car and analyzed a map of the area, determined to figure out how much I could squeeze in. As the date of departure neared, however, I realized that the weather was not going to cooperate. High winds were moving in and heavy snow was in the forecast. The weather was definitely going to hinder my plans and I wasn’t optimistic about driving on icy roads.

Thinking about one of the items on my bucket list, dog sledding, I began some investigation on whether I might be able to schedule this activity despite the weather. A little legwork revealed a kennel, about ninety minutes away, that provided transportation. Being able to accomplish something that I had always wanted to do and not having to drive in conditions that were pretty foreign to me would be a win-win.

Our journey to the most northern part of our country was long but uneventful and we arrived at our hotel in the early part of the next morning. After speaking with my coworkers, I had found that most of them also sought to mark dog sledding off of their bucketlists. Discussing it at length and making a few phone calls, we found that when pooling our resources, we could rent a four-wheel drive vehicle which would make it safer for us all to travel together and make the trip to Big Lake, Alaska. The bonus plan was that there was one in our group more familiar with driving in the snow…so I did not have to navigate the treacherous roadways!

After much needed sleep, we picked up our Suburban, loaded everyone up and followed the GPS route to Big Lake, via Wasilla. The roads were somewhat treacherous and I was truly glad that it was not me behind the wheel. Following a quick lunch in Wasilla and some poses alongside a big wooden moose, we found ourselves driving down heavily snow covered roads through the woods, spotting a real moose emerging from the woods, along the way.

The Happy Trails Kennel was nestled down a long and winding drive and we must have seemed like a bunch of crazy women, busting in, shaking snow from our boots, talking incessantly and eager to get the adventure started.

The owner, Martin Buser, an Alaska transplant, originally hailing from Switzerland, greeted us warmly. Little did we realize at that moment, that we were in the presence of Alaskan dog sledding royalty! Martin is currently the musher with the most consecutive Iditarod finishes and a four-time Iditarod champion, preparing at that time for the start of his next race a month later.

We were introduced to his wonderful wife, Kathy and another Iditerod musher, DeeDee Jonrowe, who had agreed to take part of our group out with her dog team. After finalizing our payments and outfitting all of us in our snow gear, we ushered outside to meet the dogs and learn a little about the sport of dog sledding.

Divided into two groups, four with Martin and three with Dee Dee, we headed out into the wilderness, following some previously plowed trails which headed out over the lake. I was with Dee Dee, perched precariously behind her on the rails of her dogsled, trying to capture the beauty of the landscape around us on my camera, while she told us about her family, how she found her way to Alaska and about her Iditarod career, which consists of sixteen top ten finishes and a second place finish that was the fastest Iditarod time ever recorded at that point. Its hard to describe how serene it is gliding through an all-white landscape with not a building or soul in sight for miles around! So hard to describe, in fact, that I had to facetime all three of my boys so that they could see what I was seeing while it was occurring!

Our journey lasted about forty-five minutes and my legs were burning from trying to balance on the sled. I will admit, however, I fell off once, so as much as I loved the outing, it was nice when it came to an end and were able to go out to the kennels to play with the puppies and the mature dogs!

Doffing our snow gear back inside the toasty building, we purchased some souvenirs, grabbed a coffee and watched a film, highlighting Martin’s illustrious career. It was fun to see that Mike Rowe of the television show Dirty Jobs had visited and filmed a segment at the kennels. Though we didn’t have to pick up dog poop like Mike, we could see that he enjoyed his visit as much as all of us!

As the sky was starting to darken and we began the journey back to our hotel, it was with excitement for what we had experienced and sadness for it to be over with too soon! Flipping on the radio, we almost expected to hear Roy Rogers singing the kennel’s theme song, Happy Trails, but alas, it was only the GPS, telling us to turn left, back to Wasila and Anchorage!

As our tires left markings in the snow all the way home, we indeed, left some happy trails!

For more pictures, check out Facebook, Snapping the Globe and Instagram, @snappingtheglobe.

And check out these videos of our adventure!

Happy Trails Kennel

http://buserdog.com/
Address: 19391 West Lakes Blvd, Big Lake, Alaska USA 99652
Hours: Winter dog sled tours, 1000 and 1400. From May until September, kennel tours available at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, additional fee involved
Admission: $149 per person. Kennel tour, adults, $49, children under 12, $22.
Getting There: North on Hwy 1 (Glenn Highway). Hwy 1 turns into Hwy 3 (Parks Highway). Go through Wasilla, turn left on Big Lake road at mile 52. Go 3 ¼ miles on Big Lake road turn right on Beaver Lake Road. Go 1 mile, turn left onto West Lakes Boulevard (long name, short sign “W. Lks. Blvd”). Go 4 ½ miles to our driveway on right. Look for tripod with sign.

Martin Busar

https://iditarod.com/race/2019/mushers/96-Martin-Buser/

Dee Dee Jonrowe

http://www.deedeejonrowe.com/