There and Back Again

Hello All…We’ve had a great last week just chillin’ here in Talkeetna, Alaska. We’ve had some rather rainy days which provided ample time for us to work on the big box of books that we brought along, listen to some Car Talk podcasts, and hang out in town at the local roadhouse where we have renewed our love of homemade pies and baked goods. I am finally starting to feel kind of at home here. The town is fairly small, and I am starting to run into people that I know around town. I love the local thing, and we are really enjoying getting to chat with people a little more.
This past week we took a day and drove up to Fairbanks where we got an oil change, checked out the campus, had arguably the best lasagna ever, and got to see the area. It was lovely with rolling hills and a river in the beautiful plain. On the drive we saw 7 moose, and I was pretty thrilled with Rodney’s photographic endeavors out the car window.
On the sunny days we have had a great time out hiking. With his berry book in tow, Rodney’s been identifying the local berries, and we’ve gotten to eat a lot of blueberries. I was nervous, but the locals haul them out of the woods in bags and encourage you with reckless abandon. They’re really good.
After almost everyone we encounter asking if we’d tried fishing yet, we finally caved and I got my very first fishing license ever. Even though we have little rods and didn’t really have any of the attendant gear, we bought some way too heavy line, a fillet knife, and hit the shores. We decided to go where there were lots of people, and while the fishing there wasn’t so wonderful, we preferred that company to the company of grizzlies. We spent several chilly hours casting, and Rodney pulled in a really pretty rainbow trout that we couldn’t keep. Although we didn’t catch anything else, we got to see a lot of salmon that had already spawned float back downstream to die and there were lots of other fish swimming right near the shore. Quite the sight. At least now I can always say that I have fished in Alaska.
We are heading down the road tomorrow for a scenic drive on the Denali Highway, a dirt road that heads to a small town called Paxson. Next week, we are going to get to go into Denali and camp for four days. Until then I think we are going to really enjoy our last several days here in Talkeetna reading, hiking, and dining on the scrumptious cinnamon rolls here at the Roadhouse café.