Steward to Northern Exposure

Every Alaskan tourist needs to take a train ride. Our three hour ride was
from Seward to Girdwood and the Alyeska Lodge. A gourmet dinner was served
on the deck below. The fresh made bread (really baked on board) was
delicious with soft butter. When we asked for more bread our served told us
that would be an additional $1.00! That should have been our first clue
that food in Alaska costs way more than the lower 48. Dinner was very good,
but the icing on the cake was a warm 5 berry pie with whipped cream and ice
cream. Of my gosh, that was the best pie, other than homemade, any of had
ever eaten.

Arriving in Alyeska we hopped our tour bus to be transported to the Alyeska
Lodge. A stunning world class ski lodge, beautiful gardens & flowers
everywhere. White tents dotted the extensive lawns for the Fungus Festival
the next day. We rode the gondola to the top of the mountain for a quick
view as the clouds closed in after we had been there for 15 minutes. Down
the mountain to our waiting bus & entertaining tour guide and driver -
Dannie & Bill.

We passed through Wasilla but didn’t see Sara. I think she was having tea
in the lower 48.

Now let’s forget beauty and go someplace interesting and it doesn’t get much
more interesting than Talkeetna, Alaska. Talkeetna has world-class salmon
fishing and is near Mt. McKinley. Tourists travel to Talkeetna each summer
to fish, raft and just do the tourist thing. A 37-year history of the
Moose Dropping Festival, a two-day celebration held each July, came to an
end at least for this year with the announcement on Aug. 21, 2009 by the
Talkeetna Historical Society that the festival has been canceled. I never
found out why, it seems a shame to abandon such a classy event. The event was
where participants bet on numbered, varnished pieces of "moose droppings"
dropped from a helicopter onto a target. Talkeetna is home to Whole
Wheat Radio with locally hosted shows and NPR programming.
The town of Cicely from the television series Northern Exposure is widely
thought to be patterned after Talkeetna. "The Denali Overland Transportation Co."
(see photo) was ready to take us into the park but it was raining so my
sweetheart dodged into Nagley’s store for a beer. I being more of a
tenderfoot passed that up and went to the Talkeetna Roadhouse for a glass of
wine at the Wildflower Café. The light rain had me worrying about melting
in the rain but the overall atmosphere plunged me into the northern
experience. Of course the girls continued shopping, rain or no rain.