Today we took a walk into downtown Seward following the walking path along Resurrection Bay. We stopped off at Sea Bean Café to grab a coffee before walking over to Sea Life Center to wait for our ride out to Seavey Homestead for our Dog Sled Tour. The tour guide we had was from Florida down in the Miami area and is a teacher in Palmer, AK and comes to Seward for the summer to do the dog tours. Upon arrival to the kennels we were given some information about the Iditarod and the history of the race. Then it was time for the dogs!!! This kennel has a large “house” for the dogs to be put into small kennels and each house has a yard for the dogs to run, about 7-10 dogs live in each group and there is a musher to over look the dogs to prevent any fighting and dogs trying to gain dominance over each other. The location we were at had about 70 dogs on site. There are 2 other kennels owned by Mitch Seavey.   We learned that Alaskan Huskies are used to race as they are faster and skinner than Siberian Huskies. Fourteen dogs run on a sled team, but 14 dogs to not finish the Iditarod. Mushers tend to drop off dogs at checkpoints or if a dog is injured they are dropped off at a checkpoint. If a dog is injured then there is space on the sled where the musher can keep the dog warm until they arrive at a checkpoint. If dogs are dropped off at checkpoints they are then flown back to their home kennels after inspection by the onsite vet. Dogs have the booties that they wear while running. They also have jackets that they wear while they are resting at the checkpoint. At checkpoints the mushers have to out down straw for the dogs to lie on, check all of their paws and put on their coats, cook the dog’s food they need at least 1200 calories of food. The mushers do not get rest time at most check points, just their dogs. We learned that during the first 3 days of the race the musher might get less than 1 hour of sleep while the dogs will have several stops to rest. Food and supplies for each musher are flown into to each checkpoint site and when they arrive they look for their area and tend to their dogs. Mushers wear real fur around their face to keep their face from freezing. Male dogs have a real fur coat around their male parts to prevent freezing when they pee. Once they have started running the dogs to not stop to use the restroom they have to do it while they run. During our run we did see dogs pee and poop while running. 

The next fun stop was to see Hugo the Siberian husky he was used in the Disney Movie Snow Buddies and has never raced in an Iditarod. Siberian Huskies are know to be slow and steady works, but are not good for racing. Hugo just hangs out and takes pictures with people on the tour and he does not like to have his ears touched. 

The next stop is probably the best one of the trip. We got to meet some puppies that were born on May 15^th, so they were about a month old. We were able to pass the puppies around and get some cuddles in for a few minutes. 

The final stop was to take a sled ride. Fourteen dogs were hooked up and 8 of us were loaded onto a sled that contained 3 rows, with 2 people standing on the back. The musher was 1 of the people standing on the back. The sleds have breaks to keep the dogs from running to fast. It was about 50 degrees outside today and the dogs optimal outdoor temperature is about 0 degrees. Tours were also offered at different location to do a helicopter ride to and from a location with a dog sled run on the snow (for pricing reasons we did not do that tour). 

The girl’s decided they wanted to go to the Sea Life Center, so we wandered down there to check it out. We saw a saw Stellar Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, and Sea Otters. Pretty much everything we saw in the wild we got to see at the Center. We did get to see a Ringed Seal and Beaded Seal, which we did not see in the wild. It was a cool stop to see the animals and learn a little more about them.

We had dinner tonight at Chattermark. I had the Reindeer Stew and a grilled cheese. It was a good place to stop in while walking around Seward and then do the 1/2 mile walk back to our Airbnb.