Onward to Talkeetna
We left the beautiful Alyeska resort mid morning for our traverls up to Talkeetna. Ruth and BJ took advantage of the later departure to walk some of the trails on the resort property. The Alaskan mosquitoes are crazy. They are everywhere, even in the snow. When we got on the road it was pouring rain which continued for the entire day and into the evening.
It was a relatively short ride to Anchorage where our itinerary had us stopping in downtown Anchorage for about 90 minutes. Because of the rain we ended up stopping at a mall which most people were not thrilled with however, there was a small artisan pop-up fair in the parking lot that had some excellent artists with prices that were quite reasonable. With the rain and low crowds, the artists had plenty of time to talk about their crafts. We had ample time to talk with them too. The fair also had an excellent taco foodtruck whcih we took advantage of.
It continued to rain as we approached Talkeetna and we were advised by our guide Melinda that there would be limited opportunities in Talkeetna to purchase snacks and drinks for our long Denali tour so we stopped at a small quirky grocery store called Cubby’s with animal heads all around the store. The power had gone out in the store so they were on generator lights. They had no internet either so we could only purchase things with cash. Walking though the aisles we commented on the very high prices of most food items. As most food needs to be shipped in and with the small population in Alaska there is limited opportunity for bulk purchases. A mediums size bag of chips was $8 and bananas were $1.25 per poiund. There was a liquor store connected to the grocery where some local beer was acquired. It was not expensive. Charlie happily carried the snacks back to the bus in the rain. Note - there was no liquor in the bags he is carrying despite looking like he just came out of the liquor store.
The remainder of our travels to and in Talkeetna were very rainy. Thankfully we had a wonderful bus driver, Leon who was both an excellent driver and an all round terrific guy.
Our beautiful hotel was located about a half mile from the center of Talkeetna. Talkeetna itself is about 10 buildings long. Leon offered to make 4 runs between the hotel and Talkeetna so we wouldn’t need to walk in the rain. The hotel shuttle ended at 5:45PM and we arrived at 5 so having the bus was perfect. We had planned to do a flight plane with a glacier landing in Talkeetna but the weather just didn’t cooperate so going into town was the only option. Talkeetna looks much like a 1960s hippie community . It has a great vibe with some fun restaurants and a variety of gift shops, stocked mostly with native Alaskan crafts. It is also the departure point for people wiho plan to climb the Delali mountain. We had a great time and took the opportunity to browse one of the nicest gift shops we’d been in (and we had seen a lot of gift shops). We had dinner at a little pizza restaurant with outdoor music even in the rain. People all had a great time and a number danced in the rain.
After stopping for some photos on the walk back to the bus we took the short ride back to the hotel and spent some time in lobby with its huge fireplace.
Ruth and Charlie played cards with a very nice family that was part of our tour. By 10PM everyone was ready for bed despite it looking like mid day. The sun didn’t set until close to 11PM and it never really got dark. We were leaving the hotel the next day at 8AM so we needed to get some rest.
