Birch Hill skijoring and at the Tanana

Saturday was the 9th annual Birch Hill skijor race. Since Martin thought it might be fun to race with our dogs, this time I signed him up for the long race. Due to all that fresh and drifted snow, the trails were super slow. Martin likened it to trying to skate ski at twenty below - trying to ski on a sandpaper. Unfortunately Saphira didn't feel too good, so overall the dogs pulled really well (nice pic!) but only on the first couple kilometers, and after that it was almost more like Martin pulling them, especially Saphira on the downhills had problems keeping up. (And, by the way, mom, after I skijored with the dogs a couple weeks ago, you asked whether I was all bruised up. I said no. Neither is Martin now.)

Martin tok Sonja on her skis after the race, for a few minutes.

Later that afternoon, Cooper got his typical dose of love from the youngest one:

And when she was done cuddling wiht Cooper, Emilie did some fine body art:

Later that day we dropped the girls off with a babysitter, for the first time, and went ot have a lovely 6 course Tuscan dinner that we won at an auction, with Will and Anne and Judy and Mark. The girls had fun (the 5 year old with whom they were had a ton of toys) and so had we, so it was great overall.

Sunday we dropped Martin off at the airport and played in the white sandbox full of dinasaurs right there at the terminal for a while. Then we grabbed something to eat at home, and went to find the danes at the Tanana (river). Dorte and Mette had the boys (Kasper and Olav) out, together with their dogs. Some tourist outfit was also taking people out on a short 15 minute dogmushing adventure under the bluffs. Overall, it was a tiny bit windy, enough to make it somewhat more unpleasant to go upriver (into the wind), and there was also some snow-covered overflow a bit further on the river on the trail, so with Sonja we hung out with these folks for less than an hour before heading back home. Emilie had a nice nap during this time on my back snuggled inside the jacket.

Kasper and Sonja on Kasper's sled. Soon, she will be able to return the favor.

Bolto pulling Kasper:

Dorte pulling the momentarily empty sled as Kasper rolls out of the chariot, where he was sitting on top of Olav. Mette pulled both of them for a bit before Sonja decided she had enough sitting on the sled and decided to run.

The tourist outfit coming back to the "campground" at the Tanana river (no camping allowed anymore, but the name sticks on).