The Dog Days of Vacation

Months ago when this getaway was getting planned, My girlfriend Shannon came across this place in Deep Creek that would take you dogsledding. We both thought that would be a cool thing for the kids to experience. When we went to make reservations, the only day they had available was Monday. That was the only hang-up. Monday was the day to travel back home. Well, no big deal. The reservation was for 10a.m. How long could it possible take. There were 9 of us and two people at a time got to go on the sled. Really it went by weight. Two people on a sled up to a certain weight.
We woke up Monday morning and really didn't have that much to do. We packed most of our things the night before since we had to leave early the next morning to get to the dogsledding place. The place wasn't that far from the cabin. It was actually right down the road from the ski resort but as you know from my previous tale, it took about 40 minutes to get to the ski resort because of our road. Shannon and I both agreed that we would leave together in case one of us got stuck in the driveway. The day before we both got stuck. For Breakfast, we let the kids eat and drink up anything they could find or wanted to eat. It made it less to pack.
We packed up both cars and got ready to head out. Shannon and Lenny were the first to leave the driveway. They made it out with no problem. After they made it out, I was thinking, "Oh my god, Its our turn." Pat put the car in gear and started to move. We came to the sharp turn in the drive on to the road and barely made the turn. My face must have been beet red from holding my breath, but we made the turn. We started to go up the icy hill and I noticed Shannon and Lenny were stopped. "WHO STOPS ON AN ICY HILL?" So Pat stops. Lenny gets out of the car smiling because everyone made it out of the drive. I'm thinking to myself "Smile as your moving up the road mister. You two cavemen can pat each other on the back when we are out safely". Well, we made it out.
We finally get to the dogsledding place and get greeted by the owner. Very nice man, but sort of one of those finatics about his dogs. I guess he should be since its his business but sometimes it was a little much for me. We go into his compound and he hands us off to his wife. When we walk up onto this covered porch area, there is another family there. So now the total is up to 15. Well, no big deal. It still shouldn't take that long. The woman goes on and on about the dogs and where they came from. It was interesting. Ok, it was interesting for about 15 minutes. Thirty five minutes later, I am ready to go sledding. Not to mention, IT IS FREEZING OUTSIDE! "Can we please just have our cool dog sledding experience and go already?" Another 35 minutes go by and we are still talking. Now I feel just like I'm one of the kids. I'm here but I don't really hear you. Maybe because my eardrum is frozen. The guide then points out all the dogs in the enclosure. They had about 18 dogs I guess. She said"The dogs are getting really excited, they know what your here for. Watch them for a second. Maybe we can catch them doing the dance. I watched and all I saw was the doggy style dirty dance. Nothing like to male dogs going at it. I kept thinking maybe the moutain we were on was called brokeback. The guide then asked "Can anyone think of a name we could call the dance they do?" Without even a thought, I said "Dirty". Oh my god! Did I really just say that out loud. YES! Well, thank god the woman laughed. It was now time to get the dogs hitched up. Again, very interesting, but very intense. We had very precise instructions for safety while the guides did this. We did nothing but watch but had to stay aware of what was going on. The dogs are very strong and get excited on the way to get hitched up. The dogs are made to walk on their two hind legs to the hitch. This gives the handler more control over them. Well, my girlfriend Shannon gets a cell phone call during this and decides to answer it. Well she got in huge trouble. She wasn't paying attention and had her back turned to the handler and the dog and she was sort of in the way. She got yelled at pretty good and made to look careless and uncaring for the handlers situation. I am so glad my "Dirty" comment went over well. The funny thing about Shannon is about a month ago, you couldn't even get her to carry her cell phone let alone answer it. She gets a new droid and she's texting, emailing, and taking pictures. Shannon's jaw was on the ground. She is such a goody two shoes, I had to laugh at the whole incident. " I whispered in her ear, "Hey thanks for putting all our lives in danger Puss" We walked away and started to laugh. It's almost 12 oclock now. Can we please get this show on the road! I am starving! I didn't eat any breakfast before we left.
We all went on our rides. It was very fun. It was really cool to see how the dogs worked together and how disciplined they were. We got to yell the commands out too. We all got done with the ride and the guides were putting the dogs away. Of course the kids all wanted to pet the dogs and the owner said we are going to meet all the dogs later. I'm thinking "Later?! How much later? Aren't we done? We have a 4 hour drive home Lady! I'm starving! Unless your getting ready to cook up one of those huskies, I am leaving!" Just then I looked over at Pat. Remember when I told you about how wide his eyes got when he found out Garrett County was a dry county on Sunday. Well his eyes were pretty wide after he heard the guide say later. So the guide talks for about 15 minutes more and then we get led into the dog pen. I actually whispered to the kids not to ask any more questions. The guide would just go on and on. When we walked into the pen, I looked around. There were to many dogs to count. Are we actually going to meet every single one of these dogs? We did. That took about 30 minutes. We got led out of the pen and I was so happy to be done. Little did I know we were about to learn about all the types of sleds. While we were meeting each Husky, the other guides were pulling out all the different types of dogsleds. Oh my god. I think I may cry. Oh, wait a minute, my tear ducts are frozen!
It finally ended. Thank god. The Gilligan island tour was shorter than this tour. The kids really enjoyed themselves and I guess that is what counts in the end. NOT!