We checked off goal after goal for this trip - pet horses on the side of the road? Done. Dogsledding? Done.

I had visions of gliding through the snow on some glacier, but it turns out that by September, all the snow has melted and it's already too icy and dangerous for the dogs to go up on the glacier. So instead we drove to the Southwest coast and went dog "sledding" on gravel in a cart. Close enough for me.

When we arrived, the dogs were barking like crazy. They were ready to run. We got to help put on their harnesses and get them ready to pull the cart.

What I learned from this experience - it is very difficult to get 10 dogs to all do the same thing. There were a lot of stops and starts in the beginning. One of the dogs was a seven-month-old puppy and it was his first run with the cart. He would run for a little bit, then get tripped up and fall on the ground, the other dogs dragging his prostrate body. His first day on the job, poor little thing. This happened multiple times and was upsetting, but the dog trainer gave him a longer lead and he got the hang of it.

Some pictures from the "Photo and Petting" segment of the tour. Ten dogs pulled a cart and four people, which is pretty amazing.

Here's a video of Julie getting a lesson on how to drive a dogsled. As you can see, it's a bumpy ride. I was scared to drive because I always assume I will crash whatever I drive, but I was able to clear the mailbox to the barn and coast in smoothly. Yah! Mush!