The Triumphant Return of the Skagway Tours Blog!
It’s been months since we posted a blog. Why? Because we have a lot of other things to do! However, today we mark the triumphant return of this ever-popular blog. You can thank us later.
As we approach the new year, we are going to write blogs about all sorts of things related to Skagway, the Yukon, Skagway tours, and whatever else I can think of after drinking a cup of coffee. If you have a blog idea, let us know and your wildest dreams will come true.
So what the heck is this blog going to be about?
Good question. I hadn’t really thought of that. I was so excited about starting the blog back up that I didn’t really prepare anything other than talking about how the blog is back. Now I see that the premise is kind of thin. Oh geez, how embarrassing!
Ummmmm…. So this blog is now about dogs
Who doesn’t love dogs? Bad people, that’s who. I’m going to tell you about two famous Alaskan dogs in a lesson about how life isn’t fair.
Have you ever heard of the famous sled dog Balto? Of course you have because he is the famous sled dog that saved the sick children in Nome in 1925 by getting them a serum during the dead of winter. Everyone knows that story.
While Balto was a very good boy, yes he was, you probably don’t know jack squat about another dog named Togo. Balto earned his fame as a four-legged hero because he was the lead dog on the sled that brought the serum into Nome, but two other teams each ran separate legs. Why? Because it’s a long way across Alaska!
Togo ran the toughest leg
Togo was the lead dog on the team that ran the first leg of the trip. Togo’s leg was 200 miles longer than the other two dog sled teams and the temperature was 85 FREAKING DEGREES BELOW ZERO! Nobody expected Togo and the dog team to survive but they did after fighting a terrible storm and sea ice that was literally crumbling beneath his little paws.
Togo was also only 45 pounds. When he was a puppy, his owner thought that he would never become a sled dog so he was sent off to live as a house pet. Do you know what Togo did? He jumped through the glass window and escaped back to his master’s kennel. You read that right. Togo was the perennial underdog and probably why that word even exists.
Togo is a dog hero
Togo eventually retired and went to doggie heaven when he was 16 years old. While Balto got all the media hype, Togo enjoyed a quiet life eating yummy treats. Dogs don’t care about fame so it doesn’t really matter. After his death, Togo’s owner had his skin removed and made a mount out of it because I guess that seemed like a good idea at the time.
You can see Stuffed Togo the Wonder Dog if you travel to Wasilla but we don’t recommend traveling to Wasilla if you can avoid it.
Thank you, Togo, for all of the many kids you helped save from certain death. Sadly, all of those kids are no longer with us because old age eventually catches up with everyone.
The End.