Cooling off

It's pretty hot right now (and planning to stay that way all weekend!), so I'm trying to remember a few freezing cold days. Do you think this kind of mental exercise actually works?

If you have good air conditioning, please adopt me for Saturday!

I've dug into some old pictures for realism. This was back when D was involved with the international student club. He organized a dog mushing trip outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. It wasn't a super cold day, but it was chilly enough to keep the heater on high during the drive to the camp.

Our rented vans pulled up to this scene-

And these cuties-

We used the cabin to change into heavy snow gear. The only person who was unfazed by the idea of being outside in the cold for hours was a girl from Kazakhstan. She was laughing as everyone else stuffed themselves into layer upon layer.

The sled dogs were CRAZY excited to head out towards the track! They went ballistic! We were hanging on to them, trying to walk them towards the sleds (a losing battle). Can you imagine if you felt that way about going to work, haha? ;)

The mushers had us get used to the sleds first-

- and then we were off!

It was so many years ago that I barely remember the actual moments of dog mushing. It's like when you go on a roller coaster; it's all a big blur when the ride ends. I think I remember more the cold hands and the hot chocolate we all drank by the wood stove afterwards.

The dogs were also pretty wiped out by then.

These mushers were super nice guys. They knew the life stories of every dog on the team.

All the dogs traveled in little crates stacked on the truck bed. They looked so sad, like they were dreaming of the next run already.

Even though they did all the hard labor, us humans were wiped out too, ready for the boring drive back to campus.

Ah, I think it feels a degree or two colder here already. I'm just going to sit at the computer and stare at that snow for a while longer.

Have you ever been dog mushing? Are you into winter sports? I just googled- you can do this in Ukraine too! Check it out: dogsled trips in Ukraine. How fun would it be to do this sport in another language?!