It’s Iditarod time at our house. We are using the upcoming sled dog race as an excuse to read lots of sled dog books; learn all about mushing, Alaska and dogs; pull each other around on sleds and shout out commands; and watch a sled dog race.
On Sunday, we drove up to Lincoln, Montana, about 3.5 hours from here to watch the start of the Race to the Sky. I wanted to the boys to see, feel, and smell what a race is a like. The Iditarod is a little far for us this year, so we looked for an in-state race. I’ve never been to a sled dog race either, and I was probably the most excited of all.
One of the racers we were anxious to see was Jenny Greger, a 16-year-old who lives right up the pass. Her parents board our dogs. Rigby and I went to dog school with Jenny’s mom, Kara, when he was just two-years-old. (I wrote a story about Kara and Jenny a few years ago.) Jenny competed in the junior division and is headed up to the Junior Iditarod next week.
I wanted the boys to meet Jenny so they’d have a personal connection when we follow the race online.
The Race to the Sky is actually three races. There is an 100-mile eight-dog adult race, an 100-mile junior race, and a 350-mile 12-dog adult race.
When we first got there, we had about and an hour to walk around and meet the teams. The handlers, mushers and crew were getting the dogs ready. Then we lined up to watch them start in three minute increments. On ye huskies!
Warning: there are a lot of pictures of malamutes below. You’re welcome. Some of these photos are stolen from Henry’s Facebook page.



By the way–Jenny won the race!
How fun! My boys loved dog sledding last year; I bet they would love to see a real dog sled race.
My mom does a big Iditorad unit with her 3rd graders. You should chat with her. I’m sure you could adapt it to your two!
A week and one day!
Oh how I ♥ dog sledding!!! My grandmother used to raise Mals when I was growing up and did dog sled trips to Brooks Lake near Dubois, Wyo. So much fun!!
Oh goodness. If our Doberman wasn’t so neurotic, she would love to do something like that! I’m with you, I’d be way more excited than The Barracuda.
Nice fun.There is amazing!I like.And nice photos.