Dear Alex,

I have been very busy since I arrived in Alaska. I went on a sled ride to an easter egg hunt! I also learned some of the favorite activies of Alaskans, such as dog mushing, and skijoring. I had the opportunity to meet Sky, in the third picture. She is a local skijoring dog for Ashley's friend Dan. The difference between dog mushing and skijoring is whether the person is using a sled or cross country skis. In skijoring, there may be as many as three dogs. Dog mushers have a sled whereas skijorers do not. Typical dog mushing teams can be as small as 4 and as large as 14. It can be very difficult to train many dogs to work together. They have to learn commands such as 'gee' and 'haw' meaning 'right' and 'left' respectively.

In the 'bush country' of Alaska, which are villages that do not have roads connecting them to the major cities, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau, the people will ice fish in the winter. However, ice fishing is more popular as a competition or past time in European countries such as Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany; North American places such as Canada, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Alaska, and New England. Shelters, called shanties, are used to house the ice fisher from wind, snow, and even the cold. Although, the fisherman should still wear many layers of warm clothing. Temperatures in Alaska can be as cold as -75 degrees farenheit.