Why Usha Vance's Greenland adventure got derailed by a dogsled race across ice and snow

Danish and Greenlandic officials welcome a U.S. decision to alter a planned visit this week to the Arctic territory they said was not wanted or needed.

The visit has both been upgraded and downgraded, because the vice president will be joining his wife.

The idea of acquiring Greenland first came up in the 19th century when Andrew Johnson was president.

Trump first expressed interest in acquiring Greenland during his first term.

Greenland 's government has been fairly explicit: There was no formal or informal official invitation to U.S. officials for them to visit.

The invitation for the dogsled race was sent by an American named Tom Dans , who runs a company called American Daybreak .

Dans says the visit was always intended to be "purely personal in nature".

Pituffik is situated in Greenland 's way remote north, about 750 miles from the North Pole , an area where there are few civilians or Greenlandic officials.

There was no mention of whether their son will still be on the trip.

The lawmaker said nobody in Greenland knows much about what goes on there.