We woke up to a rainy day. We packed up and out of our Anchorage hotel and set off for breakfast at Snow City Cafe. On the way we drive through downtown Anchorage. It reminded us of downtown Rapid City with a touch of Canada. Building about 10 stories at most, spaced out with surface parking lots and shorter buildings in between. Flowers are hanging from the lamp posts.
Breakfast required a 30 minute wait, that should be a good sign
. It is a mix of locals and tourists. Breakfast was very good and everyone enjoyed the reindeer sausage that was shared.
The rain continues so we drive around Anchorage for a driving tour. We pass the train depot, the fishing bridge (there were lots of fishermen in the river hoping for a bite), the farmers market (it's closed today), the Anchorage museum (undergoing major remodel, and many shops, store and car dealerships. We continue on in the rain towards Talkeetna. Not far we find a new Target and Starbucks where we stock up on supplies and caffeine.
The drive reminds of our many drives through the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia and Alberta. Tall, rugged mountains with lush grass, bushes and trees. Lakes, streams and rivers are everywhere. We pass through Wasilla and then the road narrows to two lanes and soon we loose cell service. The clouds are hiding the mountains from us and dropping lots of rain
.
We arrive into Talkeetna a quaint and muddy little town that hosts many Denali tourists and adventures. The town is filled with old log homes that have been converted into tourist shops for souvenirs, coffee, food, and recreational activities from scenic flights over Denali, river rafting, ATV tours, zip lining, fishing, jet boat rides and more. The train stops in Talkeetna so it gets flooded with tour groups. One moment it is nice and quit and next it is swarming with tourists sporting name tags or tour lanyards. We arrived just before the train and found a nice restaurant for lunch. Soon after ordering a train arrived and the empty tables quickly filled up.
After lunch we browsed a few of the tourist shops before heading to our hotel to checkin. Our room wasn't ready so we set out on a short nature walk on the resorts trails. Lauralee made sure we were safe by sporting a "bear bell" on her boot to let the Bears know we were coming
. The trail was very lush with berries, mushrooms, wildflower and trees with hanging moss. We returned to the hotel and checked into our rooms. A short break and we headed back down to town to see of we missed anything the first time through. Since the rain had stopped we were able to peruse and linger a little more the second time through town. Still just a tourist town, filled with gift shops, restaurants, and activity sign up shops.
Back at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge we have dinner in the casual dinning room. If the clouds weren't here we would be enjoying a panoramic view of Denali National Park. At least the food was good. Salmon so fresh it might have been swimming just 24 hours earlier.
After dinner we relaxed and prepared for a busy day tomorrow as we tour Denali National Park. Hoping the weatherman is wrong and the clouds
Rainy Day in Alaska
Sunday, August 07, 2016
Anchorage, Alaska, United States
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2025-02-11