Beargrease with the Boys

This past weekend I had a fantastic winter weekend with my son, Tyler, and his sons, Søren and Östen. We headed north for the start of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. It's the longest dogsled race in the lower forty-eight states—373 miles this year. The race is in progress right now and you can track it online at the Beargrease website where they post race stats and keep a really nice video blog. They even have streaming video at some points in the race.

We headed to Duluth on Saturday morning. Our first stop was the Fitgers complex for the cutest puppy contest. Søren and I voted for a Siberian Husky named Dakota. Östen and Tyler voted for a St. Bernard named Bob. After voting, we had lunch at the Fitgers Brewhouse.

Next, we headed north to Knife River where we settled into our cabin at Island View Resort. It was a wonderful little cabin in the snowy woods overlooking Lake Superior. It's far enough north that the lake is open water with waves striking the frozen shoreline. Rocks are covered with massive ice formations. Tyler and the little boys played in the snow banks around the cabin for an hour or so while I ran to Two Harbors for provisions.

That evening we snuggled up by the cabin fireplace and watched the movie Iron Will, a dogsled race movie (1994) that was filmed on the North Shore. As we watched, we were amazed to notice date of the race in the movie matched perfectly with our trip—the last weekend in January. Toward the end of the movie we all had a bowl of rocky-road ice cream. Then off to bed.

Sunday morning we packed up, cleaned up, and settled up. Then we headed to Perkins on the north edge of Duluth for some pancakes and eggs. Next stop, was the Beargrease starting line for "Meet the Mushers," a chance to go around and talk to the mushers, racing team members, and get close to the dogs. Søren and Östen were even given a chance to stand on a sled and see how that feels.

Next we watched the first five or so teams take off at the starting line. After that, we hopped in the car and headed north to watch the race in progress at several points in the open country along the way. Finally we headed north of Two Harbors to the first official check point on Hwy 2 to watch the first teams arrive there. Then we headed for home where Ali had hot soup and bread ready for dinner.

All in all it was about as perfect of a weekend as I can imagine—great time with my boys; beautiful weather along the beautiful North Shore of Lake Superior; and lots of fun experiencing the bold, rugged, and hearty culture of Minnesota's frozen arrowhead. I'll never forget it. Hope it turns out to be unforgettable for the boys too.