My "Bucket List" has provided us with so many adventures its unreal. Daniel would tell you in a hot minute that the list grows daily (sometimes when I'm super excited it grows multiple times in a day). Daniel views it as a challenge to cross things off my list, and I view it as some type of never ending, always adding, life adventure.
Not all things on the bucket list have been awesome (Daniel will gladly tell you of some of the most lame experiences I have put us through). BUT each adventure has been a memory (and usually a ton of laughs) and for that I keep adding more!
Since I was a kid, watching the movie Balto at my Grandma's house, Ive wanted to dog sled (for some reason Grandma's house only got like 5 channels and the only decent one was PBS and I was WAYY to old and cool for that channel) I would pack as many VHS tapes as I could in my bookbag, which usually meant like 3 max haha and so Balto almost always won the top 3.
I remember thinking how awesome it would be to dog sled. So when the bucket list began in college, memories of Balto invading, dogsledding was added quickly.
When this whole Alasaka move happened it was the FIRST thing I told Daniel we had to do. Our third and final year in Alaska and we finally crossed it off the list.
Let me tell you...IT WAS INCREDIBLE!! I have to say it was in my top favorite things Ive ever gotten to do.
For some reason, as excited as I am for the new adventure, almost every single time we are about to do something new (and particularly when we are separated from each other) I become incredibly apprehensive. I blame it on the whole Snowmobiling incident.
So you can imagine I was seriously doubting my decision when with minimal(and I am talking MINIMAL) direction my guide hopped inside the sled and said "Ok, you go!" This would be a good time to tell you that she was from Switzerland with the thickest accent ever. Of course while she was talking earlier (with probable directions) I was concentrating on her accent and formation of words so I would be able to repeat her perfectly when telling the story to Daniel (who was in the sled in front of me)-everyone knows being able to impersonate someone is a gift of mine and adds so much to a good story, haha.
So here I am with Olga. We'll call her Olga because that's what I named her in my head when she was talking (probably telling me her real name). All I keep thinking is, "so you're telling me not only do I need to guide these dogs and keep myself alive, but I'm also responsible for your life Olga?!" I know I had to be gripping that sled so hard my knuckles were white. We went a few miles and I began to get comfortable with it as I wasn't really going anywhere but straight. Olga told me to stop the sled and I was thinking GREAT, what a fun experience now I will get to ride in the sled the rest of the day! Olga begins rattling on how the next leg is more "trrrickie" "But youu ken do it! Jew are GREET!!" At this point I think Daniel realizes my panic and yells, "You don't have to if you don't want to!" Then Olga suddenly interject, oh YES. Jew are GREET!!! You go!" She hops back inside the sled before I even have to time to back out and off we go. I'm trying to pick my heart back from my butt where it suddenly fell when I realize we are now doing hills and turns, but my body is shaking so hard from the rocky hill that I forget my fears and instincts (that I developed in the last 5 minutes) kick in and I'm guiding this sled, and Olga who is continually yelling, "Oh yea, Jew are GREET!!" She yells it so many times I start to believe her and think, oh man, I AM GREAT!!
The whole journey was about 30 miles and once I got confident I was able to do this (which wasn't too long) it was incredible.
It amazing that the dogs just know where to go, I mean you are only giving them minimal direction and they just go. I also learned that even trained dogs are just dogs (which is why when a squirrel ran in my path the dogs went berserk and my foot was slamming on the break trying to keep us from flying off the path. Dumb squirrel.
We also go to see about 30 caribou run past us, which was terrifying and amazing and spectacular and did I say terrifying.
It's one of the most uneasy feelings to look around and realize you are just a speck. To be completely in the middle of no where with nothing but miles and miles of wilderness is the type of thing that makes my belly quiver. But it also makes me realize that God, who created all this, cares for me. The little speck that I am. And that, well that's mind blowing.
