Lapland - Day 3

On the third day I was very excited because today we were going to be able to drive dog sleds.

We left early again so the boys could play on the snow piles.

This was the temperature when we started the day, much colder than the day before.

The Christmas tree was very pretty!!!

The dogs were all lined up and they were READY to go!!!  They were barking and pulling wanting to get going.

The boys getting ready for their ride!  Unfortunately they weren't able to ride with us, again I didn't do all my research and they had somebody who worked there drive the sled.

David ready to drive his dog sled!!!  He is sooooo excited!!!

I am ready to, I am just hoping he is a good driver. ;-)  LOL

And we are off!!!  It was amazing, as we took off the dogs were very quiet and all business.

Unfortunately the person in front of us was a bit slow, so we had to slow our dogs down quite a bit.  They told us you had to keep a safe distance between the teams or they will fight.

You can see the dog on the left closes to us grabbing some snow on the run.

David is all smiles, having a great time driving the dog sled.  Our only problem was the person behind us tried to pass us on a straight stretch, almost getting the dogs fighting.  The employee on the snowmobile kept yelling at him to slow down.

You have to look closely, but you can see that my eyelashes were frozen getting icicles on it.

My turn to drive, and good thing to because I was so cold.  It was much warmer driving and it was so awesome!!!!  Just out there running with the dogs in the beautiful snow!

The boys on their sled.  They told us when we got back that the sled in front of them turned over and the two people on the sled fell off, but the dogs kept on running.  So they jumped on with Michael and AJ, both adults.  Finally the employee told the adults they had to run along side because the dogs were getting tired.  It took awhile to catch up to their lost dogs.

Michael was so glad to get inside by a fire.  If I thought I was cold, the boys were FREEZING!!!!

AJ working on getting warm as well.  I know how cold I was and I only rode half the way. 

This was definitely Michael's favorite part of the trip!!  He LOVES dogs and he was in dog heaven!!!  There are 300 dogs at this farm - the largest in Lapland.  I wouldn't want to clean up poop there.  LOL  They live up to 16 years, but they retire after 12 years.

David and Michael petting another one.  He is sniffing Michael, checking him out.

AJ was making friends as well!!!  They rest from May to August and then start their training.  The season starts in December and goes till end of March.

I LOVE their eyes!!!  Always have!  They eat up to 3.3 pounds a day of pork, beef, salmon, and high energy dog food.  They start in the morning of meat soup.  Then in the evening they get another big meal.

Michael is finding so many friends!!!

David as well!!!  70% of the front dogs are females.  Male dogs are in the back because they are strong.  She told us that the dogs tell them when they are tired, or ready to run.  Even some of the dogs that are retired, every now and then they go out.  They are so in-tune with their dogs, they know when anything is slightly off.  She also said the dogs are bred to run, it is in their DNA.  They are not happy unless they are our there running.

When we got back, a little more fun in the snow!!

We had a little bit of time before we headed out for our final adventure, so what better way to pass the time than some cards?!?

It is steadily getting colder.

Usually the river is frozen, but it wasn't quite there yet - but the fog on it looks neat!

We headed out to hunt for the Northern Lights.  They played a movie about them before we headed out to look for them.

Our pathway to the little camp - so beautiful!!!!

This snow hill they keep growing because they make igloos out of it.  They would be pretty cool!

They had a tepee with a fire, which was a little warmer than this fire.  But it was also way more crowded.  I enjoyed staying out here,

The boys called for their Dad to come and join them in their sliding.  It was one big piece of ice.  They slid down fast.  We headed out on a snowmobile sled ride onto the frozen river and I think the temp dropped another 5 degrees.  It was FREEZING!  We saw a slight glimmer of the Northern Lights, but nothing huge.

 

David hanging with me at the fire!

The boys were roasting some hot dogs for a little snack.

They decided to come and join us outside at the fire.  They also had reindeer burgers there, with a special sauce and they were so yummy!!  Even though we weren't able to really see the Northern Lights, it was a great adventure!!  It was a FANTASTIC vacation and we did things that I never thought I would be able to do!