Days 22-23: Alaska...Talkeetna

We left our campsite in Seward on Wednesday morning, August 29, 2007, Day 22 of our trip, and drove to Anchorage. After enjoying some refreshment at McDonald's there, we did some shopping at Walmart and Sam's Club, then ate our lunch in Harvey before leaving the Sam's Club parking lot and heading on up the highway toward Wasilla, Willow, and ultimately to Talkeetna.

We reserved a full-hookup campsite at the Talkeetna Camper Park.

Then Doug took me to the local library, where I spent a half-hour on a computer, checking and sending e-mail. Afterward, we toured the town, which took about five minutes. Not much to it but charters and shops.

We were a little taken aback at the sight of this gravel-and-grass runway in "downtown" Talkeetna.

We stopped at Talkeetna Aero Services and booked a day trip to Denali on Friday. We were more than a little relieved to see a paved runway.

Then we booked a river cruise for Thursday at Mahay's Riverboat Service.

It was cloudy and cool on Thursday morning, August 30, Day 23. I walked down to the library about 9:30 a.m., only to learn that it didn't open for another hour and a half. So I rejoined Doug in Harvey, and we read for awhile. When 11:00 a.m. rolled around, I returned to the library and spent my allotted half-hour on the computer.

Later, Doug and I walked around Talkeetna. We stopped at the Mahay Riverboat Service to ask some questions about our scheduled tour that afternoon, and they told us that that trip had been cancelled due to low water in one of the three rivers the tour covers. So we signed up for a shorter and less expensive cruise that evening.

We continued our walk around town and had lunch at the Talkeetna Roadhouse. Our sandwiches were delicious, and the portions were more than generous.

Our Jetboat Safari that night was fun. We saw two families of black bears, one with two cubs and one with three. We think we saw the one with two cubs again on our return trip. We also visited a replica of an old Indian camp and another of an old trapper's cabin.

The Jetboat on which we took our river safari

Black Bears

Replica of old trapper's cabin. The elevated structure in the background was for food storage.

Inside the trapper's cabin

Inside the trapper's cabin

When we got back from the cruise, we walked into Talkeetna for ice cream cones before going back to the campground.