Mt. McKinley Here We Come!

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Geo: 62.459, -150.244

The following morning we took the so-called Husky Homestead tour, which involved a visit to the kennel of Iditarod dog race champion Jeff King. It seems that every single person who has ever won the Iditarod runs tours of their respective kennels, at which you get to hold the puppies and watch the dogs train. That said, we had been directed to not miss this tour to Jeff King's place. You'll see from the pictures that the puppies really are that cute. That said, aside from the dog demonstrations, we particularly enjoyed Jeff's speech, during which he recounted some of his experiences – he's run the race every year for more than 20 years, and is going again in 2010 – and what it was like to raise his family up there. K bought his autobiography later, and raced through it, saying it was a great read.

After lunch, we boarded a coach and had a three-hour drive south, to another Princess lodge, this one called Mt. McKinley Lodge. It is, by everyone's admission, located in the middle of nowhere, but is on the south side of McKinley and offers some of the best available views – when it is out. We arrived to cloudy skies, and while the huge banks of floor-to-ceiling windows across the entire lodge told us there SHOULD be a mountain out there, we couldn't see it.

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Photos

Anna and a Dog Sled Puppy
At Jeff King's Kennel, we were all allowed -- and encouraged -- to hold as many puppies as possible. Having so many people handle them is supposed to accelerate their assimilation with humans.