June 15th & 16th, 2016

The last couple of days have been awesome.

June 15th

In the morning, Chris, Heather, Angel and I went out to the Reindeer Farm for some horseback riding. We had done this in 2014, but it was cloudy with a little rain. Today, the weather was perfectly clear. We rode up the butte and had unobstructed views of Denali, Pioneer Peak and the Knik Glacier. The horses were well behaved and friendly.

With our fee, we also received entrance into the Reindeer Farm. Of course we had to pet rabbits and feed the reindeer and elk. I guess they have been selling off quite a few of the elk. The herd was trimmed down from around 60 to around 30 animals. There were just a few babies this year.

That afternoon we went to the Iditarod Headquarters to see the new puppies and give Bob and Angel a chance for a sled dog ride. Of course Heather had to go with them. We had done this in 2014, so I really did not see a reason to do it again.

Click for video:

Iditarod Dog Sled Ride

We learned something very valuable visiting with the guy and lady running the dogs; he is Joe Redington, Jr. His father is the "Father" of the Iditarod Joe Redington, Sr. His wife told us quite a bit about the race, raising dogs, and its history. They currently have over 80 dogs which they train and sell to mushers.



June 16th.

We decided to go down to Anchorage with our bikes and ride some more of the Coastal Trail. Again our luck continues with the weather. We had crystal clear skies and warm temperatures. After riding, we had lunch at Earthquake Park.