Onwards to Talkeetna

 



We took the Alaska Denali Star railway from Anchorage to Talkeetna.

The station in Anchorage.
Views from the train.   The vastness of the landscape here is remarkable.   Things that look close may be miles and miles away.  

For instance, those mountains are over 100 miles away.   That is part of the Alaska Range which includes Denali.   Most of those mountains rise from 200’ elevation to over 10,000’ with no foothills.   It is just instant mountains.



We made it to Talkeetna, but my hat did not.   When we were out on the open top deck of the train, my hat decided it wanted to stay in Alaska.  Darn, that was a nice Selene hat too.
In Talkeetna, we were sent out on a scavenger hunt with teammates.   We had about 1:15 to find everything on the list.    We did it, but it was close.   The winner gets great camaraderie and a prize valued at not more than $1M.   I sure hope we win!

Here, Karen is posing with the elected Mayor of Talkeetna, Wendell.   He displaced Aurora, who is feline.   There is some controversy surrounding the election.

Wendell ran on a platform promising more bones and biscuits for everyone.
Our teammates, Mark and Sue.   Who knew that when you put 4 type-A people together that things could get so competative!







We piled back into the vans and headed to lunch at the Talkeetna Lodge.   Beautiful views.

I also acquired a new hat here.
Off to the Kalitna Birchworks where they harvest and make birch syrup.  
Quite a complex process.   100 gallons of raw tap run produces about 1 gallon of syrup.
Our tour guide talking about the virtues of their evaporator used to take the reverse osmosised raw syrup and evaporate off the last of the water.

Birch syrup tastes kind of like a more savory smoky maple syrup.  It is very good.

Kalitna Birchworks makes 20% of the world’s production of birch syrup.



Talkeetna is a town that would make Santa Cruz, CA proud.  Just as weird, but with less tie dye clothes.  It was formed by artists, scholars, and free thinking people who eschew government and control.

Keep Talkeetna weird!

Behind me in the photo, is a little Mexican restaurant where we filled-up with an emergency halibut taco before heading out on our next adventure…

Cliffhanger….  You will have to read the next installment to get more juicy details!














Back at the Talkeetna Lodge at the Foraker Restaurant, we dined like kings & queens.   Karen had the duck and I had the elk ribeye.   We paired that with a 1999 Kenwood Artist Series Sonoma Cab Sauv.  

The waitperson had difficulty opening the 1999 wine and busted the cork.  They brought a second wine, but it was the 2000.   I gave her some ideas on how to open old bottles of wine, but she ignored me and busted the cork on this one too.   In the meantime, they had punched the cork on the 1999 and filtered/decanted it so they brought that one back.   Spectacular.   Since they already opened to 2000 they brought that to the table as well.   It was OK, but not as good as the 1999.   So we got two well aged Kenwood Artist Series wines for the price of one.

My lucky day.








This wraps up this blog post.   For more glacial entertainment, please see our next installment…

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