Traveling with the Stanfords 2025

Thursday March 23rd was the start of three nights of exploring for lights on our own. We set off with plenty of warm clothes, a flask of hot tea and the phone number of a towing company just in case we got stranded. We started with a drive on the local ice road to the small community of Dettah just 6.5 km on the frozen Great Slave lake or 23 km by road in the summer.  We stopped several times on the side and John persuaded Sara to lie down in the middle of the road for a photo which turned out really great.  The next three nights followed a similar pattern. We bundled up in multiple layers and warm boots and drove out of town and up the Ingraham trail. The road is paved for about 65 km then becomes the world's longest ice road going 600 km north to three diamond mines. The ice road has to be constructed each year and is only open for 8-9 weeks. There is a lot of traffic on both roads, as the mines try to get all their fuel and supplies shipped while the roa...

Wednesday March 22nd we had a dog sledding adventure.  We were picked up at the house and driven to the kennels where about 50 dogs are cared for and trained to pull different types of dog sleds. We chose North of 60 Adventures a family owned business. They offer different tours to share the cultural traditions and teachings they learned from their grandparents.  The young men running the sledding were a lot of fun and took great care of us. We had enjoyed the Norwegian dog sledding experience so much we decided to select the 'you drive' option again. This time John had a more comfortable sled with a few cushions, although it was still on the bumpy side. Sara was "Musher Girl" again! We had a wonderful time cruising over the frozen lakes and through the forest. Luckily the dogs were kind to the rookie musher and kept to the trail. We got some cool video from the GoPros. One fell off right at the start after a big bump, but the lead guy kindly picked up and took some ...