Our apologies to Johnny Horton for paraphrasing the lyrics of his famous song about the gold rush. Well, we went north to Alaska for the Golf rush rather than the gold rush. The midnight golf rush, that is.
We arrived in Anchorage and made our way to our backpacker's inn which was near downtown and the ocean. There we met people from all over, including Brazil, New Zealand, Italy, and even California, as it was a very international group. We spent the first day walking around and exploring. We loved "Wild Rides," which was all about mushing and sled dog racing. Did you know sled dogs respond to voice only, there are no reins. "Gee" is turn right, "Haw" is turn left, and "The other Gee" means they goofed up and didn't turn right when they should have. We also had a pretend salmon fishing experience (we both landed the fish), and finished the day with a very serene and sleep-inducing slide show and music about the aurora borealis. We rented a car the next day, but it rained heavily, so it was off to the movies and some birding just like in Oregon (with umbrellas). We celebrated the summer solstice (longest day) at the Solstice Restaurant (naturally) with Alaskan King Crab Legs, and Dungeness Crabcakes. Delish!
Finally we were ready to take the shuttle van to Fairbanks, past Denali National Park. Fairbanks is a real outpost, a frontier town like no other. Oh sure, it has a Wal Mart and Wendy's, but it also has the only Prospector's Supplies store we have ever seen. The land of the midnight sun is just that -- light for 24 hours. You must experience it once in your life if you haven't. Our lodging was a teepee, a white one, which let in lots of light all night, so sleep was difficult. It was made more difficult by the heavy rainstorm which dripped into our teepee and onto our sleeping bags. But, hey, the price was right, so we experienced life in a teepee just like the eskimos, or something like that. (There weren't any igloos around). Anyway, the second night was dry but colder. This was after our midnight golf experience at North Star Golf Course, the northernmost course in the western hemisphere.
We had an 8 PM tee time, so started out in a cart, thanks to the generous owner who took pity on us as this is the peak mosquito time. We lucked out however, as the rain earlier in the day kept the mozzies away, so we didn't really need our mesh hats. We did Deet up before the round, and wore our Permethrin soaked shirts, so no mozzies came within ten feet of us. The course has lots of "lumps and bumps," as the friendly staff noted, because of the permafrost which changes the topography yearly. We didn't mind, as it was absolutely gorgeous playing until 11:59 PM in broad daylight with the sun shining beautifully on the nearby hills and trees. We finished just before midnight, so figured that we were the LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH TO FINISH A ROUND OF GOLF ON JUNE 24th! (The International Date Line is nearby). When you figure there are over 6 billion of us hominids messing around, that is of some note. After finishing, Bill, the course attendant who is also a 4th grade teacher, snapped our picture just for fun with the goofy netted caps on.
So, we had a super time, and I played as well while wearing hiking boots and using the rental clubs as I did with my golf shoes and regular clubs. Hmm. Maybe that Deet helped my game. Anyway, we're now back in Oregon, reunited with our dog Ben who was staying with our son and daughter-in-law Doug and Liz with their kids Alek and Adelyn on their mini farm with two other Golden Retrievers, about 30 chickens and ducks, a cow and calf, and two cats. We played a Camelot game and Princess Adelyn named me "Papa Knight." I love it. Ben is home and absolutely bored.
We have about six weeks off from the golf trip as we try to loosen up our torsos for the last 25 courses. We aren't sitting still, however, as we head back to Maine on July 15th where we left our RV under a tree at Gloria's Mom's house, then jump on a jet to London and Kampala, Uganda where we will be going birding and watching mountain gorillas. Jamie, our middle son, will accompany us as a reward for finishing his OB/Gyn training. He gets a Business Class seat and we get Coach. There is no justice. Next blog will be in August, as we hit northern New England and on to Cooperstown, New York, where we lived for a year in the 70's.
We arrived in Anchorage and made our way to our backpacker's inn which was near downtown and the ocean. There we met people from all over, including Brazil, New Zealand, Italy, and even California, as it was a very international group. We spent the first day walking around and exploring. We loved "Wild Rides," which was all about mushing and sled dog racing. Did you know sled dogs respond to voice only, there are no reins. "Gee" is turn right, "Haw" is turn left, and "The other Gee" means they goofed up and didn't turn right when they should have. We also had a pretend salmon fishing experience (we both landed the fish), and finished the day with a very serene and sleep-inducing slide show and music about the aurora borealis. We rented a car the next day, but it rained heavily, so it was off to the movies and some birding just like in Oregon (with umbrellas). We celebrated the summer solstice (longest day) at the Solstice Restaurant (naturally) with Alaskan King Crab Legs, and Dungeness Crabcakes. Delish!
Finally we were ready to take the shuttle van to Fairbanks, past Denali National Park. Fairbanks is a real outpost, a frontier town like no other. Oh sure, it has a Wal Mart and Wendy's, but it also has the only Prospector's Supplies store we have ever seen. The land of the midnight sun is just that -- light for 24 hours. You must experience it once in your life if you haven't. Our lodging was a teepee, a white one, which let in lots of light all night, so sleep was difficult. It was made more difficult by the heavy rainstorm which dripped into our teepee and onto our sleeping bags. But, hey, the price was right, so we experienced life in a teepee just like the eskimos, or something like that. (There weren't any igloos around). Anyway, the second night was dry but colder. This was after our midnight golf experience at North Star Golf Course, the northernmost course in the western hemisphere.
We had an 8 PM tee time, so started out in a cart, thanks to the generous owner who took pity on us as this is the peak mosquito time. We lucked out however, as the rain earlier in the day kept the mozzies away, so we didn't really need our mesh hats. We did Deet up before the round, and wore our Permethrin soaked shirts, so no mozzies came within ten feet of us. The course has lots of "lumps and bumps," as the friendly staff noted, because of the permafrost which changes the topography yearly. We didn't mind, as it was absolutely gorgeous playing until 11:59 PM in broad daylight with the sun shining beautifully on the nearby hills and trees. We finished just before midnight, so figured that we were the LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH TO FINISH A ROUND OF GOLF ON JUNE 24th! (The International Date Line is nearby). When you figure there are over 6 billion of us hominids messing around, that is of some note. After finishing, Bill, the course attendant who is also a 4th grade teacher, snapped our picture just for fun with the goofy netted caps on.
So, we had a super time, and I played as well while wearing hiking boots and using the rental clubs as I did with my golf shoes and regular clubs. Hmm. Maybe that Deet helped my game. Anyway, we're now back in Oregon, reunited with our dog Ben who was staying with our son and daughter-in-law Doug and Liz with their kids Alek and Adelyn on their mini farm with two other Golden Retrievers, about 30 chickens and ducks, a cow and calf, and two cats. We played a Camelot game and Princess Adelyn named me "Papa Knight." I love it. Ben is home and absolutely bored.
We have about six weeks off from the golf trip as we try to loosen up our torsos for the last 25 courses. We aren't sitting still, however, as we head back to Maine on July 15th where we left our RV under a tree at Gloria's Mom's house, then jump on a jet to London and Kampala, Uganda where we will be going birding and watching mountain gorillas. Jamie, our middle son, will accompany us as a reward for finishing his OB/Gyn training. He gets a Business Class seat and we get Coach. There is no justice. Next blog will be in August, as we hit northern New England and on to Cooperstown, New York, where we lived for a year in the 70's.
4 comments:
You guy have fun! Can't wait to see you next month!!!
I'm sure the people in Alaska didn't tell you that the Iditarod is terribly cruel to dogs. For the facts, visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website, http://www.helpsleddogs.org.
Here's a short list of what happens to the dogs during the Iditarod: death, paralysis, frostbite of the penis and scrotum, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, pneumonia, ruptured discs, viral diseases, broken bones, torn muscles and tendons, vomiting, hypothermia, sprains, fur loss, broken teeth, torn footpads and anemia.
At least 136 dogs have died in the Iditarod. There is no official count of dog deaths available for the race's early years. In "WinterDance: the Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod," a nonfiction book, Gary Paulsen describes witnessing an Iditarod musher brutally kicking a dog to death during the race. He wrote, "All the time he was kicking the dog. Not with the imprecision of anger, the kicks, not kicks to match his rage but aimed, clinical vicious kicks. Kicks meant to hurt deeply, to cause serious injury. Kicks meant to kill."
Causes of death have also included strangulation in towlines, internal hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury, heart failure, and pneumonia. "Sudden death" and "external myopathy," a fatal condition in which a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise, have also occurred. The 1976 Iditarod winner, Jerry Riley, was accused of striking his dog with a snow hook (a large, sharp and heavy metal claw). In 1996, one of Rick Swenson's dogs died while he mushed his team through waist-deep water and ice. The Iditarod Trail Committee banned both mushers from the race but later reinstated them. In many states these incidents would be considered animal cruelty. Swenson is now on the Iditarod Board of Directors.
In the 2001 Iditarod, a sick dog was sent to a prison to be cared for by inmates and received no veterinary care. He was chained up in the cold and died. Another dog died by suffocating on his own vomit.
No one knows how many dogs die in training or after the race each year.
On average, 53 percent of the dogs who start the race do not make it across the finish line. According to a report published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do cross, 81 percent have lung damage. A report published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine said that 61 percent of the dogs who finish the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.
Tom Classen, retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over 40 years, tells us that the dogs are beaten into submission:
"They've had the hell beaten out of them." "You don't just whisper into their ears, ‘OK, stand there until I tell you to run like the devil.' They understand one thing: a beating. These dogs are beaten into submission the same way elephants are trained for a circus. The mushers will deny it. And you know what? They are all lying." -USA Today, March 3, 2000 in Jon Saraceno's column
Beatings and whippings are common. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing Manual, "I heard one highly respected [sled dog] driver once state that "‘Alaskans like the kind of dog they can beat on.'" "Nagging a dog team is cruel and ineffective...A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all but is effective." "It is a common training device in use among dog mushers...A whip is a very humane training tool."
During the 2007 Iditarod, eyewitnesses reported that musher Ramy Brooks kicked, punched and beat his dogs with a ski pole and a chain. Brooks admitted to hitting his dogs with a wooden trail marker when they refused to run. The Iditarod Trail Committee suspended Brooks for two years, but only for the actions he admitted. By ignoring eyewitness accounts, the Iditarod encouraged animal abuse. When mushers know that eyewitness accounts will be disregarded, they are more likely to hurt their dogs and lie about it later.
Mushers believe in "culling" or killing unwanted dogs, including puppies. Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted for any reason, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed to death. "On-going cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed with baseball bats and if they don't pull are dragged to death in harnesses....." wrote Alaskan Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska's Bush Blade Newspaper (March, 2000).
Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, "He [Colonel Tom Classen] confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to maintain their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens. Or dragging them to their death."
The Iditarod, with its history of abuse, could not be legally held in many states, because doing so would violate animal cruelty laws.
Iditarod administrators promote the race as a commemoration of sled dogs saving the children of Nome by bringing diphtheria serum from Anchorage in 1925. However, the co-founder of the Iditarod, Dorothy Page, said the race was not established to honor the sled drivers and dogs who carried the serum. In fact, 600 miles of this serum delivery was done by train and the other half was done by dogs running in relays, with no dog running over 100 miles. This isn't anything like the Iditarod.
The race has led to the proliferation of horrific dog kennels in which the dogs are treated very cruelly. Many kennels have over 100 dogs and some have as many as 200. It is standard for the dogs to spend their entire lives outside tethered to metal chains that can be as short as four feet long. In 1997 the United States Department of Agriculture determined that the tethering of dogs was inhumane and not in the animals' best interests. The chaining of dogs as a primary means of enclosure is prohibited in all cases where federal law applies. A dog who is permanently tethered is forced to urinate and defecate where he sleeps, which conflicts with his natural instinct to eliminate away from his living area.
Iditarod dogs are prisoners of abuse.
Sincerely,
Margery Glickman
Director
Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org
I said something rather rude about Margery, took it back, then googled a snippet of her comments and found a handful of copy-paste jobs she's done to hijack other people's blogs.
May I suggest you filter/approve comments, pop?
We love hearing from you, thanks for the quarters map, Sebastian does a daily good deed, and finds the state every time!
Can't wait to hear about Uganda!
Signed,
Ryan Morgan
Director
Can't Wait to Hear About Your Trip to Uganda Coalition
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