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| Anchorage Market and Festival |
On Saturday, July 14th, we awoke to heavy clouds, but, mercifully, no rain. We headed into downtown Anchorage to check out the
Anchorage Market and Festival, a weekly event held on Saturdays and Sundays all summer long.
We mingled with the locals offering everything from spiced nuts to beaver slippers. And there was certainly no shortage of reindeer sausage or giant bags of popcorn for sale. Implausibly, we found vegetables at high prices again...those same green beans at $9.99 a pound and a single giant zucchini for $10. Outrageous.
We wandered over to a little deli for lunch before ducking into a few shops along the main corridor in downtown. The sun peeked out and warmed us as we wended our way to the
Ulu Factory, a well hidden gem of a store in an industrial part of town nestled between the train tracks and Ship Creek, where the salmon run. The factory offers the Native Alaskan knives made right there on site.
An ulu is a traditional tool made with a semi-circular blade and either a wooden, bone or antler handle. It was originally designed to skin furs from animals or blubber from whales, as well as being used in finer tasks, like sewing. Now, while still being used by Native peoples, it is offered to tourists as a super useful kitchen knife.
We headed back toward Wasilla, purchases in hand, to walk around
Wasilla Lake. Unfortunately, the lake is bordered by private homes on one side and the busy Parks Highway on the other, so our walk was brief and loud. Apparently, the lake serves as more of a canoe trail, with 7 miles of uninterrupted paddling available to those so inclined. The beautiful views of the mountains are all around the lake, at least on clear days.
We returned to the RV for happy hour, dinner and cards, and perhaps, inevitably, the obligatory rain shower.
Sunday saw rain almost all day, and though we tried in vain to see some sights, much was closed for the day or invisible due to the weather. We spent the rest of the day in the RV relaxing with a movie. Our Monday began (predictably) with pouring rain, so we ventured out to rent three more movies. After watching the first of our marathon, the sun began to come out, so we headed out for a walk in
Lucille Lake Park. With so much moisture, the mosquitoes forced us back to the car rather quickly without so much as a glimpse of the lake itself.
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| Cute pup...but not The Ed! |
We decided to visit the nearby
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters. The log cabin building houses an exhibit of past race memorabilia, newspaper articles and anecdotes about mushing. We petted the tiny puppies and sled dogs outside before watching a film focused on the improbable wins of Lance Mackey, a four-time consecutive race winner. His feat was considered virtually unimaginable before he accomplished it based on the sheer number of experienced competitors against whom he raced.
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| Mt. McKinley |
The
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was established in 1973 through the combined efforts of Dorothy Page and Joe Redington. These two proposed the race as a revival of the historic trading route and dog mushing that opened interior Alaska to the rest of the coast. This race traverses almost 1100 miles of rough terrain through mountain passes and frozen tundra while battling isolation, howling winds and minus 20 degree temperatures, beginning in Anchorage and ending in Nome. How fascinating, though not a race in which we'd ever participate. We returned to the RV to finish our movie marathon and have dinner.
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| Mt. McKinley |
On Tuesday, the sunny skies forecast for the day woke up much later than we did, but at least it was finally sunny. We left to head north to
Talkeetna, some 50 miles or so away. Along the way we were treated to the sight of
Mt. McKinley several times, how nice! We stopped at a scenic overlook and took pictures of the mountain reflected in the lake next to us.
We continued on to
Talkeetna, a town established in 1916 as a divisional HQ for the Seward to Fairbanks government railroad route. The town is also the site of a traditional Athabaskan fishing and trading location, at the confluence of three glacially fed rivers: the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna. This adorable little hamlet offers gift shops, cafes, ice cream stands and a couple of little museums to those who make the trip to the 'end-of-the-road' town.
We first walked to the end of Main Street where the pavement gives way to gravel and then to a little path to the banks of the river junction.
Mt. McKinley stood off in the distance some 120 miles away hiding behind the clouds, but peeking out in bits and pieces to wave hello. We walked back to the nearest eatery, a food truck called the Mexican Moose, for tasty and messy pork tacos and burritos. Yum!
We followed the historic district self-guided tour and saw how most of the old buildings now hold businesses or museum exhibits, though several are in serious disrepair. We found the oldest structure in
Talkeetna, a log cabin built in 1916 by Ole Dahl, a Finnish trapper and miner who was lured like many others to the area by railroad work.
Another interesting building in town is Nagley's Store, built in Talkeetna close to the river between 1917 and 1921, using logs from the original structure operated by Horace Nagley in Susitna Station. It was moved to its current location on Main Street in Talkeetna in 1945. (It even stayed open for business during the 3 day move up the street on log rollers!)
Trying desperately to soak up all the time we could with the view of
Mt. McKinley, we walked back down to the beach a couple more times, though each time the mountain was obscured more and more with clouds. Naturally, I had to dip my toes in the chilly glacial water...so cold!
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| Historic Knik, now a ghost town |
We headed back to the RV and after a nice dinner with cherries for dessert, we took an evening drive along Knik-Goose Bay Road in full sunshine. We drove out to historic
Knik (pronounced kuh-NIK), a once thriving trading town that was virtually abandoned overnight in 1917 when the railroad was instead built through Palmer and Wasilla to the east. We found the 4 little structures that constitute the remains of
Knik. The former roadhouse is now a museum and the others are an old cabin and 2 smaller outbuildings, all nestled in the woods near the Knik Lake.
We continued on and found an overlook of the
Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet, a huge body of water that leads to the Gulf of Alaska. We could see the beautiful Chugach Mountains across the water, some with snow. We stared in awe and took pictures of the mirror reflection in the
Knik Arm.
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| Old boat mired in wetlands next to Knik Arm |
As we ventured back toward town, we passed an idyllic spot where the land and water blend together in a green marsh. There, stuck in the tall wetland grasses, was an old wooden boat mired in the mud, listing to one side. We stopped to take in the improbably picturesque scene and snap some pictures. Wow. What a sight.
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Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet with
Chugach Mountains in the background |
We continued into town and picked up some happy hour supplies while watching the golden evening sun dancing on the mountain peaks to the south. The prettiest day so far (by a mile) in the Anchorage area, we wrapped up the evening with a brew. We saw the sun dip below the horizon finally, after 11pm, though it was still very light out, of course.
What an awesome day!
We wandered over to a little deli for lunch before ducking into a few shops along the main corridor in downtown. The sun peeked out and warmed us as we wended our way to the Ulu Factory, a well hidden gem of a store in an industrial part of town nestled between the train tracks and Ship Creek, where the salmon run. The factory offers the Native Alaskan knives made right there on site.
An ulu is a traditional tool made with a semi-circular blade and either a wooden, bone or antler handle. It was originally designed to skin furs from animals or blubber from whales, as well as being used in finer tasks, like sewing. Now, while still being used by Native peoples, it is offered to tourists as a super useful kitchen knife.
Sunday saw rain almost all day, and though we tried in vain to see some sights, much was closed for the day or invisible due to the weather. We spent the rest of the day in the RV relaxing with a movie. Our Monday began (predictably) with pouring rain, so we ventured out to rent three more movies. After watching the first of our marathon, the sun began to come out, so we headed out for a walk in Lucille Lake Park. With so much moisture, the mosquitoes forced us back to the car rather quickly without so much as a glimpse of the lake itself.
We decided to visit the nearby Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters. The log cabin building houses an exhibit of past race memorabilia, newspaper articles and anecdotes about mushing. We petted the tiny puppies and sled dogs outside before watching a film focused on the improbable wins of Lance Mackey, a four-time consecutive race winner. His feat was considered virtually unimaginable before he accomplished it based on the sheer number of experienced competitors against whom he raced.
We continued on to Talkeetna, a town established in 1916 as a divisional HQ for the Seward to Fairbanks government railroad route. The town is also the site of a traditional Athabaskan fishing and trading location, at the confluence of three glacially fed rivers: the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna. This adorable little hamlet offers gift shops, cafes, ice cream stands and a couple of little museums to those who make the trip to the 'end-of-the-road' town.
We first walked to the end of Main Street where the pavement gives way to gravel and then to a little path to the banks of the river junction. Mt. McKinley stood off in the distance some 120 miles away hiding behind the clouds, but peeking out in bits and pieces to wave hello. We walked back to the nearest eatery, a food truck called the Mexican Moose, for tasty and messy pork tacos and burritos. Yum!
We followed the historic district self-guided tour and saw how most of the old buildings now hold businesses or museum exhibits, though several are in serious disrepair. We found the oldest structure in Talkeetna, a log cabin built in 1916 by Ole Dahl, a Finnish trapper and miner who was lured like many others to the area by railroad work.
Another interesting building in town is Nagley's Store, built in Talkeetna close to the river between 1917 and 1921, using logs from the original structure operated by Horace Nagley in Susitna Station. It was moved to its current location on Main Street in Talkeetna in 1945. (It even stayed open for business during the 3 day move up the street on log rollers!)
We continued on and found an overlook of the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet, a huge body of water that leads to the Gulf of Alaska. We could see the beautiful Chugach Mountains across the water, some with snow. We stared in awe and took pictures of the mirror reflection in the Knik Arm.
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