Dog Mushing at Chena Lakes

On Sat. Feb. 28th, I (and Kyle) went to a church function for the General Relief Society President's visit. The activity included a gold mining skit, traditional Inupiaq Indian fashion show (our local Indians are actually the Athabascans, the Inupiaqs are from the north shore), a lesson in traditional dance, and of course a wonderful talk by Sis. Beck.

Chris and Gracie spent their daddy-daughter day outside at Chena Lakes watching dog mushing races. This was a sprint musher event where the teams run a 12 mile course. The dog team events ranged in size from 2-dog skijoring teams to 10-dog mushing teams. Our friend (and Vince's original owner) Amanda Byrd competed in the 10-dog event with only 8 dogs but she still won!

Gracie taking advantage of the time outdoors to play in the snow of course.

Amanda getting her gear ready while the dogs are hooked up around the car.

Gracie didn't want to smile so Chris took a sad picture instead.

Gracie blended in with the dogs wearing a harness and her hat with ears. (It is actually a kitty-cat hat, but with the nose and whisker section tucked under her chin, she looked a lot like some of the mushing dogs.) Amanda introduced Grace to some of her friends as one of her new dogs.

6-Dog team getting ready to go.

Taking off!

Racing into the finish!

Taking a break from watching the races.

Amanda getting her team ready.

Waiting at the start. The teams are staggered and individually timed. If the event has multiple days (which it most often does), after day 1, the teams are sent out in their current ranking.

and off goes Amanda!