This winter they sponsored the coolest field trip ever. Thanks to grant money from the Mackinac Island Community Foundation the 4th - 7th graders went dogsledding! Of course, since it was February, there was only one way off the island. The plane could only carry four passengers at a time, so it took a little over an hour to shuttle all of us over to St. Ignace.
Nature's Kennel is up in McMillan, about a hour and a half north of the Straits. It was a long bus ride, but it was worth the trip. Tasha and her staff were amazing. The kids all got to visit with the dogs and then after a quick lesson, help harness their teams.
My son fell in love with one dog - Snickers. (He wanted to call dibs on her when she was put up for adoption - three years from now, and was devastated when we broke it to him that a sled dog was not a good match for our family.)
All the older kids (and the adults) actually got to drive teams. The number of dogs you had depended on your size; some of the kids only had two dogs, while the adults all had five. Driving a sled team is harder than it looks; those dogs take off so fast that you'll topple off and fall backwards if you don't have a tight grip. Luckily only one student was left behind but he managed to run and catch up with his team. He was no worse for wear and we all had a great time!
We never would have been able to give the kids this amazing experience without the help of the Community Foundation; they are so supportive of our school. Thank you MICF and YAC (the Youth Advisory Committee) for supporting this amazing trip.
This is such a great post, and I love your photos. Thank you so much for sharing. :)
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