We took a bus from Denali to Talkeetna. Talkeetna was supposedly the basis for Northern Exposure. I never watched that show, but Alpine did, and I think he liked it... along with many other people. Again, the weather cooperated: we were on a bus much of the day, so it didn't need to be pretty. It wasn't. We stopped at Denali State Park (yesterday was Denali National Park), and this was supposed to be the view of the mountain:
The binocular didn't help either, in case you were wondering. =) There was a veterans memorial at the State Park. There were memorials for each branch of the service: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and the National Guard.
We took a
jetboat tour in Talkeetna, boating up the same river that we paralleled on the train. We spend the majority of our time in the Susitna River, but we were also briefly in the Talkeetna and Chalitna Rivers. The -na means river in the native Athabaskan language. It was a good experience... again, the weather wasn't important, so we had an overcast/rainy day, but it didn't detract from our trip. We saw more eagles:
There were trees like this on the Nenana as well - where we went rafting. The river freezes during the winter, and these marks on the trees are from the river ice. Water expands as it freezes, and the ice rubs the bark off the trees. Unbelievable!
This is a clearwater stream where salmon return to spawn after about 4 years... they return to the same stream where they were born.
Here is an eaglet in a nest. Apparently eagles are long-term mates, and the use the same nest for years. This nest may be 25 years old, and is probably 3 feet deep and 5-6 feet wide. They said that this was the second pair of eagles to use this nest, and eagles generally live about 25 years.
We went to a demonstration camp, so to speak, that showed us how people used to live here. The bear and other wild animal threat is very real - as evidenced by the shotgun our guide is carrying. It's a Mossberg 12 gauge, for those who are interested.
This shows how the natives lived... they smoke dried their fish, and then put it in the ground like a fridge. There are animal furs inside the building - bears and beaver.
Then we went to a trapper's camp. The cabin roof is covered in sod, and the door is a pull door - because bears cannot pull! They keep their food off the ground, and they had several different furs on display there, too: coyote, red fox, river otter, wolf, wolverine, lynx, and mink.
Our jetboat!
The binocular didn't help either, in case you were wondering. =) There was a veterans memorial at the State Park. There were memorials for each branch of the service: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and the National Guard.
We took a jetboat tour in Talkeetna, boating up the same river that we paralleled on the train. We spend the majority of our time in the Susitna River, but we were also briefly in the Talkeetna and Chalitna Rivers. The -na means river in the native Athabaskan language. It was a good experience... again, the weather wasn't important, so we had an overcast/rainy day, but it didn't detract from our trip. We saw more eagles:
There were trees like this on the Nenana as well - where we went rafting. The river freezes during the winter, and these marks on the trees are from the river ice. Water expands as it freezes, and the ice rubs the bark off the trees. Unbelievable!
This is a clearwater stream where salmon return to spawn after about 4 years... they return to the same stream where they were born.
Here is an eaglet in a nest. Apparently eagles are long-term mates, and the use the same nest for years. This nest may be 25 years old, and is probably 3 feet deep and 5-6 feet wide. They said that this was the second pair of eagles to use this nest, and eagles generally live about 25 years. 
We went to a demonstration camp, so to speak, that showed us how people used to live here. The bear and other wild animal threat is very real - as evidenced by the shotgun our guide is carrying. It's a Mossberg 12 gauge, for those who are interested.
This shows how the natives lived... they smoke dried their fish, and then put it in the ground like a fridge. There are animal furs inside the building - bears and beaver.
Then we went to a trapper's camp. The cabin roof is covered in sod, and the door is a pull door - because bears cannot pull! They keep their food off the ground, and they had several different furs on display there, too: coyote, red fox, river otter, wolf, wolverine, lynx, and mink.
Our jetboat!
Main Street, Talkeetna. This is literally it, except for a little less on the opposite side of the street. There is a perpendicular street with about the same amount of businesses. These towns are small and have a real lure to them... but then I think about how small I think my town is, and wonder if I'd eventually go crazy! I guess if you don't know what you're missing, it'd probably be easier... but I still think I might like to try living in an Alaskan town like this someday. Maybe. (Don't get your hopes up, Alpine! =)
Posted in our hotel (remember that sunset does not mean dark!):
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