The biggest adventure awaited us in Skagway.  I chose this picture because I thought it was charming and it inspired me to create a bottle garden of my own.  Fresh flowers lined the streets in giant barrels and hung from old timey lamp posts.  There was a tiny museum on miners and the Gold Rush that was fascinating.  Burk and I love museums and find they are always a treasure.  But the most incredible thing we have ever done was to take a helicopter to the basin of a glacier and mush sled dogs.  It was called the “Icefield Flightseeing and Dog Sled Adventure”.  Once we landed we got to take a huge red Tomcar SUV up to the base camp.  We were greeted by a cacophony of dogs’ barks, yips, and howls.  Snow fell softly as they all vied to get a chance to be out and run in the deep snow.  I remember learning about white blindness from “Little House on the Prairie” but had no idea just what it was like.  It gave the strangest sense of claustrophobia and one could not distinguish earth from sky.  The dogs led us along with a surety that was comforting and afterward we went inside a warm tent for some hot cocoa.  There was some question as to whether or not we would make it back to the ship in time due to the weather, as the helicopter had no visibility.  Fortunately the clouds lifted and the snow let up briefly enough for us to take off.  Between my fear of imminent death and Burk’s horrid motion sickness we made quite a pair.  The ride back was highly erratic and very choppy.  I literally kissed the ground once we’d landed.  It was a wild, humbling experience.  But before we left I got to hold some newborn puppies and marvel at the age-old relationship between man and canines.  I found this quote by Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show host Roger A. Caras:

“Dogs have given us their absolute all.  We are the center of their universe.  We are the focus of their love and faith and trust.  They serve us in return for scraps.  It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made.”