Saturday June 29

Today was a interesting day too.  We went on a paddle wheeler down the Chena river.  

Got to see a bush pilot take off and land in the river.   One out of 60 people in Alaska have their pilots license. 

We stopped at Trailbreaker Kennels, the home of the family of late Susan Butcher. She was a sled dog trainer and won the iditarod dog sled race 4 years in a row. It's a 1100 mile race from Anchorage to Nome.  In the summer the dogs train by pulling a 4-wheeler (without the engine) 

From there we stopped at a Athabascan Indian village and had a tour with stories about their history and culture.  Got to see a fishwheel and and see how they dry and store salmon.  Was a very interesting trip

This is the paddle wheeler that we rode on

The sled dog kennels

Getting hitched up

And they are off

They were so excited to get going

This is a cache where their food was stored 

Drying the salmon. Once dried it will keep up to 2 years

Like that fur coat?? It only cost between 15,000 and 20,000.  Took one lady 6 months to make it

And that was working 4 to 6 hours a day

This is a old Polaris snowmobile 

A dog sled

This is Susan Butchers lead sled dog.  He ran 43,000 miles during his lifetime