Sunday, May 27th - Trip (continued)

Steve's fishing trip was another wonderful success. This time, he was the only one to catch a king salmon, and it was a good size one (33lbs). He also caught two halibut (each about 20lbs). The biggest halibut was caught by a man visiting from California, and topped the scales at 60lbs. It took him about 20 minutes to get it into the boat.

The weather was worse for this trip. With cloudy skies and intermittent rain, Steve said he was glad to be wearing his long underwear. Hard to believe that long underwear is warranted at the end of May, but I know he's glad he packed them.

Steve and his king salmon

Cleaning the halibut and cutting filets

Cleaning the salmon

Once the fish cleaning starts, the gulls and eagles show up. They circled high in the sky over us, with their focus entirely on the fish innards and heads filling the waste bucket. Across the road, another charter boat was cleaning fish, and once in a while they'd toss some fish guts onto the parking lot for the gulls and eagles to enjoy. I made my way closer, camera in tow.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

With his eye on the prize

The rain continued on and off all evening. It was miserably cold too, and both Steve and I at one point thought we were coming down with something. We just couldn't shake the chill, and even turning on the heat in the camper didn't help. Finally, at 9pm, we went to bed. We fell asleep in no time.

Day Seven: When we awoke, we could see the sun trying to break through the clouds off in the distance, but the skies over us were still a dismal gray. At least we were heading in the direction of the sunshine. We were both getting tired of the rain. As we packed up the camper, the skies opened up yet again and we began the drive damp and chilly.

The drive from Ninilchik to Talkeetna was uneventful. Driving around Turnagain Arm, the mountains were ringed with thick clouds, but off in the distance it looked like Anchorage had sunshine. At least the rain had stopped.

We stopped in Anchorage to fill our gas tank and our extra gas cans. We always carry extra gas cans with us, so that we don't have to buy gas at the halfway point between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Typically, gas along that stretch of the highway can be 80 cents to a dollar more per gallon. Before we left Fairbanks, we paid $2.67/gallon. I had to top off in Soldotna ($3.07/gallon). When we got to Anchorage, gas was $2.97 so we topped off and refilled the gas cans. It's a good thing, as gas was $3.67 in Cantwell (the halfway point).

The weather in Anchorage was beautiful, and it continued to get warmer and more sunny as we made our way to Talkeetna.

Information about Talkeetna from the internet:

Athabascan Indians originally inhabited this area. They were a strong group that refused to let the Russian traders up the Susitna River. In 1892, gold was discovered in the lower reaches of the Susitna River, bringing miners and prospectors into the area. They established gold mines mostly to the west of Talkeetna (about 50 miles) such as Petersville and Collinsville. Some of the claims are still actively mined today. Then in 1915, President Woodrow Wilson selected Talkeetna as the site for the Engineering Commission Headquarters for the construction of the Alaska Railroad that would connect Seward to Fairbanks.

The Talkeetna townsite was established in 1919 when the railroad surveyed and auctioned 80 lots. Half of the lots already had improvements on them. The average price at the sale was $14.25. None of the buyers elected to use the easy payment plan that was offered. The year 1999 marked the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Talkeetna townsite.

Alaska Railroad Mile Post 226.7 (Talkeetna) is north of Anchorage about 120 miles. The railroad was a lifeline to communities like Talkeetna along the rail belt prior to the construction of the George Parks Highway. A few communities still depend on the railroad for their primary access route. The railroad provided affordable transportation and convenient shipping of food, supplies and equipment for early miners, homesteaders and other settlers. In 1921, the train from Talkeetna to Anchorage took "only" 19 hours! Today, the express passenger train makes the trip in about 3 hours.

Three rivers, the Talkeetna, Chulitna, and Susitna, converge here to become the Big Susitna drainage. The word "Susitna" in Den'aina Indian language means "Sand Island River". The name "Talkeetna" loosely translated, means "River of Plenty", or more literally, "Place where food is stored near the river," meaning a place where a food cache was located. Chulitna means "River of Big Leaf Trees". The Den'aina Indians were an Athabascan subgroup who inhabited the Upper Cook Inlet drainage. – For some local residents Talkeetna simply means: "Where three rivers meet".

Mostly, Talkeetna is known as the 'jumping off point' for climbers from all over the world. In Talkeetna, there are several flights which will take climbers hoping to conquer Mt. McKinley (Denali), to the base camp at 7200 feet.

We stayed at Talkeetna Camper Park, a quaint but tightly packed RV park in a treed setting. The proprietors were very nice, and the park was full of families with children. Despite the large number of 'younguns', the quiet hours were respected and we spent a peaceful evening there. The park is right next to the railroad (only a matter of yards!), so when the train came through it was loud. We didn't find it bothersome at all, and if the train came through in the middle of the night, I sure didn't hear it!

After setting up camp, we drove the few blocks into 'town'. While planning the trip, I discovered that Talkeetna was hosting Moose on Parade - 2007, better known as "Moose on the Loose". Moose on the Loose teams local artists with sponsoring businesses to place large (four foot high to life size), uniquely designed and decorated moose-on-the-loose, all over Talkeetna. Later on this summer, the moose creations will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to various nonprofit organizations.

We parked in front of the Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce and saw our first moose: Uncle Samoose - The Patriotic Moose. Next door at Talkeetna Gifts and Collectibles, we spied Mickey Moose. We continued walking, with moose map in hand, in search of the moose on the loose. Not all businesses had their creations displayed yet, as they don't have to be up until June. These are the moose we found while wandering through town.

Uncle Samoose- Patriotic Moose	Mickey Moose	Queen Ruby Red Hat Moose	Spruce Moose
All Creatures Great & Small	Tales Told Twice	Cow Moose	Peter Pack Moose
Burd	I Spy a Moose	Close up of I Spy a Moose	Moose on the Loose

After finding and photographing the moose, Steve and I stopped at Mountain High Pizza Pie for dinner. Steve ordered a four-topping pizza with onions, mushrooms, black olives and Canadian bacon. I'm not very experimental when it comes to pizza toppings. Cheese, ham and pepperoni are the extent of my topping selection. I chose instead to get the typical standby - chicken strips. When they were delivered, they were horrible. The outer bread coating was mushy and undercooked. I sent them back, and satisfied my hunger with a slice of Steve's pizza - after scraping off all his toppings.

The owner comped me one of the two beers I had because of the situation with the chicken strips. Steve enjoyed his pizza - he ate the entire 15" pie (less a skinny slice I took), all by himself! The ambience at the restaurant was very nice, and the staff was also quite nice. It's unfortunate that my experience with the chicken strips was negative, but that won't keep us from going back again the next time we're in Talkeetna (the first week in June).

After dinner, we stopped in at the Talkeetna Roadhouse Bakery for two huge cinnamon buns iced with cream cheese icing to enjoy for breakfast the next morning. Here are some more photos I took in Talkeetna:

Main Street Talkeetna	Quilt Shop	Weathered Door	Mountain High Pizza Pie
Susitna River	Susitna River	Terns searching the river	Tern dives for bait fish
Flightseeing	Across the river to Alaska Range	Beadberry Patch

Yesterday morning, we leisurely ate breakfast and watched a DVD before packing up the camper. The rain came back as we slept - and we weren't happy campers. We were back on the road by 10am and fortunately as we left Talkeetna behind, the rain stayed behind too. By the time we hit the Denali Park area, the sun was shining and the temperature was rising. The mountain was halfway out. We could see her snow-covered lower elevations, but the peak was shrouded in clouds. Skies were blue, and the temperature gauge inside Steve's truck said 71F. What a glorious day it turned out to be!

It was nice to see our house after a week on the road. It wasn't so nice to download the camper. I hate that part most of all. By the time we reached North Pole, it was 81F and sunny. Fortunately, the house was a good 15 degrees cooler than the outside. Keeping all the drapes drawn and the house dark was a smart move. Last night, it got too warm in the bedroom (Steve likes to sleep with the bedroom door closed), and I came downstairs to cool off at 3am. I fell asleep on the sofa; it was nice and cool here in the living room. We won't be sleeping with the bedroom door closed any longer.

We don't have air conditioning in our house. Most homes up here do not. During the summer months, it generally doesn't get hot enough to warrant using an AC, however, when there are wildfires and the air is smoky, you can't keep the windows open. Then it can get uncomfortably warm. It will be interesting to see how things are this summer, in this house. I might just find myself keeping all the drapes drawn and blinds closed during the warmest part of the day.

Today, I'm catching up on the mountains of laundry and linens from our week on the road. Sometime this week, I need to do a heavy duty scrubbing of the camper too. It's a mess with all the dirt and mud tracked in while it rained on us.

One thing I was happy to see when we got home... our birch trees are thick with big green leaves. They were only budding when we left last week. What an amazing change in such a short time!