Turning Heads Kennel

Alaska Dog Sledding Tours

Our Life

Honored to Contribute to Senate Remarks on the 2025 Iditarod

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I am super honored to have helped draft a brief portion of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s remarks on the 2025 Iditarod that were delivered in front of the Senate this morning at 8:30am Alaska time, congratulating Jessie Holmes on his victory early this morning.

Well done Jessie!🥳

Thanks to my friend Victoria Hardwick, (2019 & 2021 Iditarod finisher) for making the connections and asking me to help write these remarks.

My words are at 34:13

“[Iditarod] is a reminder to us that in Alaska, the land does not yield to those who are unprepared—it rewards those who respect it, who understand its power, and who find strength in its challenges.

The Iditarod is a living tribute to the pioneering spirit, a reminder that hardship is not to be feared but faced with courage.

Today, as we recognize this great race and the men, women, and dogs who make it possible, let us also recognize the values it upholds: perseverance in the face of adversity, partnership that transcends words, and the unbreakable will to keep going—no matter the storm.”

You can watch the full clip below. Thank you for being a big fan of the Iditarod, Senator!

The 2025 Iditarod Start Has Moved To Fairbanks

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The Iditarod start has moved to Fairbanks. The start moving so far north and adding an extra day between the ceremonial start and the restart is a pain — but we adjust and move on. More daunting is the new trail is almost 200 miles longer. I’m grateful for once not to be racing. 900 miles of river running is boring and gives you too much time with your thoughts. There are no real changes in the landscape or sections of trail to require concentration. It is monotonous. 

I don’t know what to expect from the team this year. Training started off stronger than ever but with no snow here since January training has been difficult. Travis has to balance the role of father and musher. He is doing it as well as anyone. Conditions have meant he’s had to travel to get the dogs trained. He craves that elusive victory but not at the expense of missing too much family time and for that i am so grateful. 

Elias is quite the wild child. Little kids are exhausting, humbling, rewarding and enchanting. I find myself in awe of everything our son does, however simple. I find myself in a slower pace and more regulated to the sidelines than I once was. The passing of seasons can be so hard. I find myself reading more of adventures than having them myself and get ready once again to sit on the sidelines. Cheering too is its own virtue and I am lucky for what we have — even if at times I do feel like the sled dog that wasn’t picked for the team. 

Travis is downplaying his chances this season, whether because he genuinely feels that way or to lessen the pressure on himself I can’t say for certain. It always seems like a mad rush to get to this point of the season and then time crawls painfully forward until the 3-2-1-go of the start. 

Then the anxiety starts. I feel am stuck right now in the “hurry up and wait” phase but all too soon the race will start and my nights will be restless with worry and anticipation.

Back to Fall Training

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Even as daylight grows shorter, the days feel longer than ever. We wake early, whether we want to or not when the sun is still sleeping.

In the summer, these early mornings were refreshing. We had plenty of sun, and the naturally long light was motivating. It was also nice having a moment of peace before our property came alive with workers and guests, but as daylight grows shorter and we find ourselves in the dark, I wish Elias would sleep just a little longer. I’m sure every parent knows this particular struggle.

Turing Heads Kennel Fall 2024 Dog Sledding 41
Switch and Zydeco lead the team as they head out on a fall training run.

Mornings are cold, but just barely. The frost only lingers briefly after the sun peaks her head over the horizon. We try to take advantage of the cold. Travis will run teams while I make breakfast and play with Elias, but we both move slowly. I always thought that racing the Iditarod would prepare me for the sleep deprivation of being a parent. How naive. Now I know the truth: being a parent to a toddler is the ultimate training for racing the Iditarod. It doesn’t matter that Elias sleeps through the night. He’s wide open when he wakes, and we had better be ready.

Turing Heads Kennel Fall 2024 Dog Sledding 10
Morning frost starts to melt as the sun comes up.

When I was in high school, I was terrible at waking up. In either a moment of brilliance or frustration, my dad got an alarm clock that rolled away before it went off. Genius? Yes. Evil? Yes! Bleary-eyed, morning coffee cup in hand, I find myself thinking that our child is a lot like that alarm clock—always on the run forcing me to be more awake than I’d really like to be.

Before 7, the toys we neatly put away the night before are scattered across the house. We trip on trucks and dog toys and anything else that his tiny hands may have found. (You truly don’t know what you have in your home until you have a curious toddler roaming about.)

When it warms, I bring Elias into the dog yard in a backpack. He enjoys the sled dogs, and, truthfully, I want the reprieve from the worry that comes with watching a small child. We say hi to all the dogs and wait for Dad to come in with a team. Fall training is the foundation of any dog team’s success. We work on building endurance back and working with the team. Tours help keep the dogs in shape, but they are akin to summer camp and lack a true mission the way training does. Racing shapes our season and gives us goals to work towards.

Turing Heads Kennel Fall 2023 Dog Sledding 10
Elias in his mushing suit and backpack.

By the afternoon, it’s still hitting 50 degrees. It feels warm for this time of year. Usually, I relish the quick chill brought on by fall, but the slow transition this autumn brings is helping our little toddler adjust.

Soon, it will be cold. I feel it calling. And like the dogs we love much, our bones are itching to run.

Scouting Our Glacier Dog Sledding Camp

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It seems like just yesterday we were packing up dog camp and getting ready for fall training. Everything comes full circle and it seems another winter has slipped by. This year was an exciting year for us. Travis set his sights on a top 10 finish in Iditarod and we were stoked on his 9th place finish.

We didn’t take a vacation after Iditarod in hopes of getting a lot done in preparation for tours but mother nature has certainly made it difficult to do much of anything. Outside, it continues to be an awkward mixture of snow and rain.  It’s wet and cold but not in a way that inspires you to want to do anything except for curl up on the couch and read a book or watch a movie.

Still, we slip on our extra tuffs and spend time outside splashing in puddles (which freeze over half the time) and playing with dogs.Thanks to Ray Redington, Travis and I have gotten addicted to the show, The Black List and have been binge watching episodes at night.

Travis, Dan, and Thomas scout camp locations for running our glacier dog sled tours. Photo by Sarah Stokey
Travis, Dan, and Thomas scout camp locations for running our glacier dog sled tours. Photo by Sarah Stokey

We’ve accomplished a lot in a few short weeks. We did a major revamp of our dog lot. Last year the 8 acres of beautiful old growth forest next to us was cut down as new neighbors prepare to move in. We have been kept busy with trying to get a new fence built and making our own dog yard safer. We get a lot of wind where we are located and without the trees in the lot next door, we were afraid that some of the cottonwood trees in our yard might pose a hazard to our dogs. Controlled felling seemed like a much better option!

Now, we are working on projects to get our dog sledding camp ready for the 2018 season. It always seems like there is not enough time to do all we need to get done: build dog houses, paint old houses,  groom the dogs, — We could go on and on — and then, somehow, before we know it the helicopter arrives in Seward and it’s time to go scout out the location for our dog camp.

 

A beautiful untouched landscape with incredible mountain views created us back at camp. Photo by Sarah Stokey
A beautiful untouched landscape with incredible mountain views greated us back at camp.

There’s something exciting about getting ready for the first helicopter ride. This will be our 6th summer operating tours on Godwin Glacier and we couldn’t be happier. It’s crazy to think that Travis and I took this tour operation over when we were 20 and 24 respectively. Each year, we continued to further develop our business.

Seward has such dramatic landscapes; it never ceases to be beautiful. Each year I look forward to the slow progression as time marches from one month to the next. For now, the peaks remain covered in snow. But in a few weeks time they will morph into verdant green mountain sides. By the end of summer, the last of the snow will have melted and brilliant blue pools of water will form above tree line.

The tours we offer, the lifestyle we allow people a small glimpse into, and the magnificent place we call home all make what we do so rewarding.  Our tour program is integral to our success as a kennel. Not only does it help us fund this crazy dog-centric lifestyle, but it also helps our dogs stay in shape.  We actually wrote a blog post awhile back detailing exactly how it helps us. Check it out: how our summer dog sled tours help us as a competitive racing kennel.

In the end, our scouting trip to Godwin Glacier was successful. We planted our windsock to mark the location of camp for when we go back in a few days time with the first of our sling loads. We will have a lot of gear to move to camp over the next two weeks. Our glacier dog sledding tours are scheduled to begin May 18 and our summer dog sled cart tours are scheduled to begin a little earlier, on May 15.

Leaving Dog Camp. Photo by Sarah Stokey
Leaving Dog Camp. Photo by Sarah Stokey

We can’t wait!

Turning Heads Kennel is Featured by The Seward Chamber!

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turning heads kennel seward chamber

One of the truly wonderful things about living in Seward is our incredible local community. All our human food in our Iditarod food drops for the last several years have been donated by local Seward restaurants and organized by our friends, the Walker family. Our dogs eat the best dog food out there too.

Nothing has been sweeter than coming back to Seward after Travis Beals’ 9th place Iditarod finish to such a supportive community. Everywhere we go, people beam with pride and congratulate Travis!

Imagine our delight, when the Seward Chamber of Commerce reached out to us to be a member highlight. It was a lot of fun sitting down with their questions about our business. Learn about how we got started in our business, our most important business advice, and all about our dog sled tours!

Make sure you check out our Turning Heads Kennel Member Spotlight!