Day 6 in Alaska!


Today started a little later than our other days; we headed out of the house around 10. Our first stop was Alaska Wild Berry Products. It was a chocolate shop, candy store, souvenir shop, and fun shop all in one. It was very cool, and it had the world’s largest chocolate waterfall. Willy Wonka still had them beat, though.


I bought some goodies for friends and family from there and ended up getting a free reusable bag for spending over a certain amount of money. Oops. It was fun to see them in the back room coating the candies in chocolate and getting to taste some of the Alaska flavors. We went to Max Burgers for lunch. It was a Hawaiian burger and chicken place. I got a Hawaiian BBQ chicken, which was very good.


We headed north from there to Team Petit Dog Sledding. We got there early at 2:15; our booking was at 3. They told us to come back closer to 3 so the people who were there before us could leave. We drove down to Big Lake to hang out for a little bit. Once it was closer to 3, we pulled back up to the building, and there was a team of dogs waiting there. Nick booked the sledding for four people, and he wasn’t feeling great, so he stayed with the car.


We went over to the dogs and their owner, whose name is also Nick, and his friend/helper Lou. Nick introduced us to the dogs and told us all the dogs’ names on his team. They were so sweet, and we got to pet all of them. After we were all introduced, he took us over to his trophy hut. He had won multiple smaller races around Alaska and raced in the Iditarod for many years. His highest placing was sixth. He talked about the races, how many days they took, and fun little things about his journey to where he is now.


All the dogs on the team are his race team that he currently competes with. Anna and I went first. There were two sleds hooked up to a team of 16 dogs. Anna got to “drive” the back sled that controlled the brakes, and I sat up in the front sled with Nick behind me. I took lots of fun photos and videos of the dogs as we ran through all the trails around their property. So far, this is one of the coolest things I have gotten to do up here. I loved every second of it.


Once we got back, Kris and William took their turn while Lou brought Anna and me over to meet all the puppies. The most recent puppies were named Frank, Sriracha, and one other hot sauce name. Their mom’s name was Hot Sauce. They were sweethearts too. There were a few older puppies we also got to play with.


I asked about their breed, and Lou told us they are Alaskan mutts, or Alaskan sled dogs. He explained that during the gold rush in Alaska, dogs were used heavily, and they bought working dogs from Chicago to be able to work for them. From then on, they bred the dogs that worked the best and were the strongest for what they needed, which turned into what is now the Alaskan sled dog.


Anna and I talked to Lou for a long time, and I loved hearing his stories and how he has played every part in the dog sledding world and can’t leave it. He also told us that for the performance feed and ground beef his team gets, as well as all the dogs on performance feed, it totals about $300 a day in food costs.


Once Kris and William were back, Nick brought us inside and gave us each one of the dogs’ little booties. We learned that each of his dogs’ bloodlines is connected to one of his first, best dogs. We were able to buy some shirts from him as well with the Team Petit logos. He is able to keep his dogs and racing alive because of doing tours year-round like what we got to do. It was so much fun and worth every penny.


This was for sure one of the best parts of my trip and maybe even my favorite. I edited my photos when we got back to the house later in the night, and I love seeing all the dogs. This is for sure something to be included in future trips.


The photos below include some I took while on the sled as well as others from the girls. We had so much fun with that today! I got lots of camera boops and kisses!