Talkeetna, Alaska

Good morning, my friends. We'll be moving on to Hope, Alaska, this morning. It's one of our longer drives of the trip. We'll pass by Anchorage for the time being, heading down to Hope, Seward, and Homer, before making our way back to Anchorage. 

For now, let's talk about Talkeetna, which was our reason for being in this area. Remember the little quilt I showed you in the quilt shop post yesterday?

Well...there's the sign!

We first passed by Nagley's Store. This is where the mayor lives. We stopped in both coming and going to meet the mayor. Both times, I was told he was out. He was probably busy negotiating some kind of treat treaty, one assumes.

Oh well. I found his picture on their picture postcard rack. Meet Stubbs. Too bad I couldn't give him a skritch.

We were looking for a place to eat, and this place had good reviews.

I had a "Solstice Wrap." This was a vegetarian wrap, but that's not the reason I chose it. It had beet hummus and other vegetables, and I could get it with sweet potato fries (my favorite). It was all really tasty, and when I selected it, they had me with the beet hummus. I love beets, and I love hummus. How could I not?

Mike had the fish and chips made with Alaska cod.

The town is pretty touristy, but still worth a visit. We enjoyed snooping the many souvenir and gift shops. This t-shirt gave me a chuckle.

And I liked this bench. I'm the shopper. Mike is more of a bench-sitter.

At the far end of Main Street, we came to the Susitna River. Here, there was a short walking trail. The river bank was piled with what we call rip rap in Oregon to control streambank erosion. I was shooting directly into the sun for this next photo, but I think you can still read the sign.

Looking to the right, there was another view of Denali. You can see the peek right in the middle of the mountain range below.

Looking in the other direction, it looked like this:

Walking back, we took this little path, no more than 100 yards long. It took us past some interpretive signs about one of the first women settlers.

We'd passed Annie's Ice Cream on the way, but we stopped on the way back. Mike had a scoop, and I had two. 

The ice cream was good, but my two scoops were actually four scoops, and I couldn't eat all of it.

From there, we headed back to the Jeep. I tried hard to buy a couple of gifts here, but everything is so danged expensive. In one shop, I picked up a pretty coffee mug. It was $70. And I love my neighbors, friends, and family, but sorry. There's no way I'm paying $70 for a single mug. Yes, it's all hand made by local artists, but still.

On the way back, we stopped off at a spot where one could book a tour on one of these float planes. At $145 per head, that's also not something we're going to do. The view was worth the stop, though.

Yesterday, we explored the park here at Montana Creek a little. We're staying in a privately-owned RV park. Across the highway is the Montana Creek State Recreation Area. We could walk through this tunnel to get there.

There, we could get up close to the creek. Some folks on the other side were swimming and panning for gold.

The wild roses continue to bloom in abundance along the sides of the trail. We also saw these little bluish-purply things. My phone tells me these are wild geranium.

If this weren't the giant thing it is, I might call it Queen Anne's Lace. It's about ten times the size of any that grows near where I live. My phone tells me this is hogweed.

There are some buds of it waiting to bloom just outside our door.

Okay, so that's all I have to tell you about Talkeetna and environs. We'll be moving on shortly. The scenery is just about to change from mountains to sea. I'm looking forward to seeing a different part of the state. There’s still much to see and do. We’re not even halfway through our trip yet. Stock up on supplies if you need to.