Dog Sledding

Although the wind and moisture made it uncomfortable in the open yesterday, the temperature was in the high 30s Fahrenheit, and it apparently was never below freezing during the night.  We awoke to a heavy drizzle.  We packed the car and were ready for the group breakfast at 8:00.  

Instead of the standard European breakfast buffet of meats and cheeses, we were served a "special" breakfast – two hotdogs, mustard and bread.  The whole group was dumbfounded, but gamely nibbled at or heartily ate the wieners.  Of course any liquid was extra and very slow to arrive, we ended up going back to our rooms for our water bottles.  

When we all left the hotel lobby at 9:00, the drizzle had turned to light rain.  We split again into two groups, and I was feeling well enough to go dog sledding.  The dogs were mixed breeds, and not large.  The snow conditions were not good for sledding, especially on the uphill jogs.  There were three mushers who first took us on rides with six or eight-dog teams.  

Not long after we started, the rain ceased and the sun tried to peek through the clouds.  After everyone had rides, we could drive the sleds, first with the mushers as passengers; and, if deemed talented enough, alone with a four-dog team and lighter sled.  We did this for nearly two hours until it began to rain again, so we went early to the lunch rendezvous point, the Koliba Goral.  

This restaurant was a replica of traditional construction with hewn logs and roped shavings chinking.  We had traditional Slovakian country dishes for lunch.  Mom had cabbage soup and Halusky, which looks like macaroni and cheese, but is really tiny potato dumplings in a sheep cheese sauce and evidently bacon grease for extra flavoring.   The big meal in Slavakia was traditionally lunch and a big part of that meal is soup.  

We all hoped that the weather would turn in Donovaly, because they are to host the world dog sledding championships next weekend.  They are expecting over 800 dogs from all over Europe.  Without more and dryer snow it will be a disaster.  After tourism, forestry seems to be the largest industry in the mountains.  There are very large agricultural fields in the mostly flat area all the way back to Bratislava.  

There were many vineyards, a few larger than 100 acres.  All rural houses are in villages, rather than scattered with the land holding as in America, and each village house usually has its back yard plowed for a garden of partial fruit trees/vineyard and part garden.  Although the fields are very large and most have been plowed (there is some corn stover exposed, and a few fields look like they have winter wheat planted) all farm equipment is stored out of sight.  

We did see two equipment dealers at Nitra, and Dad had to stop to take a picture of the “foreign” combine and tractors.  There is a good deal of road construction around Nitra, and limited crews were working on Saturday and Sunday.  Caterpillar was heavily represented, as were Volvo, Kamatsu and Hitachi.  There was a Caterpillar dealer in Branska Bystrica.  It was 52 degrees Fahrenheit when we got back to Bratislava.