Talkeetna – Wandering Dawgs

Wandering Around America one state at a time – Alaska

January 4, 2017November 28, 2017Posted in Alaska, Birds, Glaciers, Road Trip, RVing, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, Arctic Circle, Bald Eagle, Denali, Haines, Ninilchik, Talkeetna17 Comments

State 2:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride! I will be featuring the states alphabetically and next up is

Alaska

Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The capital is Juneau and it is the only state capital that can only be reached by air, boat, or birth. The largest city is Anchorage.

We spent 50 glorious nights in Alaska in the summer of 2013.

I loved meeting so many wonderful Alaskans and hearing their stories. Wildlife, glaciers, boat trips, a flight seeing tour, eagles, halibut fishing, Denali National Park, taking the RV on the Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines, and a train ride on the Alaska Railroad are just a few of the amazing things we experienced while we were there. Our favorite place was Haines. The most exciting thing we did was take a flight-seeing tour from Talkeetna to see Mt. McKinley and land on Ruth Glacier. The farthest north we went was Coldfoot, north of the Arctic Circle.

Pullen Creek RV Park, Skagway, Alaska

Waterfalls along the Klondike Highway

Arriving at the Haines ferry dock

Watching for whales in Haines, Alaska

Bald Eagle at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK

Haines boat harbor

Deadliest Catch!

Mendenhall Glacier

The free George Black Ferry crosses the Yukon River from Dawson City to Top of the World Highway.

Poker Creek Alaska

The signposts show other towns named after chickens. Who knew there were so many?

The Pedro Dredge in Chicken is a National Historic Site.

Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska

Downtown Talkeetna. We ate at the West Rib Pub for dinner last night

We went really close to Mt. McKinley

Loving every minute of our time on Ruth glacier

Home of author Mary Lovel in Sherman, Alaska

The Alaska Railroad runs right behind our campsite

Such an amazing sight to see their tail

Stellar Sea Lions on day trip to Juneau

Calving on Aialik Glacier one

A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

There were Puffins in the water

Sea Otters on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

Wandering Dawgs at the Arctic Circle

A good look at the Alaska pipeline as it goes underground

Four of these fish are ours!

Mount Redoubt sunset in Ninilchik, Alaska

Anchor Point is the most westerly highway point on a continuous road system in North America

Our first moose sighting was this cow by a pond

Lukor liked it on top of his house

Polychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, Alaska

Caribou grazing in Denali National Park

Do you see the profile of a face on the right side of the rock?

Chunk of ice from the Columbia Glacier

Fireweed behind our campsite made the beautiful view even better

Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez

Every day was memorable, every day was special, every day we saw something spectacular. Was it worth driving over 14,000 there and back? Absolutely!

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama

Stubbs the Cat, Mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska

October 19, 2013June 20, 2015Posted in Alaska, Tourist AttractionsTagged Mayor of Talkeetna is a cat, Stubbs, Talkeetna1 Comment

We met Stubbs, the cat who is the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, when we were browsing in one of the shops in Talkeetna in July, 2013. Stubbs was adapted by the manager of Nagley’s General Store in 1997 and has served as honorary Mayor for 16 years.

Stubbs lives at Nagley's Store in downtown Talkeetna, Alaska — Stubbs lives at Nagley’s Store in downtown Talkeetna, Alaska

Stubbs is now recovering from a dog attack that occurred on August 31. We found out about the attack by accident when Henry came across an article in the Wall Street Journal from October 15 about Stubbs.

After the attack Stubbs spent nine days in a veterinary hospital and is now recuperating in a room above the general store. People from all over the world have donated money to help pay for his hospital bills.

After reading the article in the Wall Street Journal, I did a search and found other articles about the attack in USA Today, Time and the Anchorage Daily News. Here’s links to those articles.

Wall Street Journal: Mayor of Alaskan Town is a Cat

USA Today: Honorary Cat Mayor of Alaska Town Grabs Hearts Globally

Time: Alaska Town’s Cat Mayor Attacked by Dog

Anchorage Daily News: Dog Attack Returns Talkeetna’s Cat Mayor to National Spotlight

Stubbs also has his own Facebook Page: StubbsMayorCat

Favorite Alaska Memories

September 5, 2013June 20, 2015Posted in Alaska, Birds, Glaciers, Road Trip, RVing, WildlifeTagged Arctic Circle, Bald Eagle, Denali, Haines, Ninilchik, Talkeetna12 Comments

Although we left Tok, Alaska almost a month ago, our memories of Alaska will never leave us. Here, in no particular order, are a few photos of some of our favorite places and adventures.

Our favorite place was Oceanside RV Park in Haines, Alaska where we could sit and watch for whales, watch eagles fly by, and watch the ferries and cruise ships sail by.

Cocktail hour whale watching with Ted and Ruthy

The most exciting and most memorable experience of the entire trip was the South Face McKinley flight-seeing tour and landing on Ruth Glacier with Talkeetna Air Taxi.

We loved all of the boat trips we took.

Whale Pectoral Fin on day trip to Juneau

Seeing ice calving on Aialik Glacier on the Kenai Fjords trip from Seward

Driving to the Coldfoot, sixty miles north of the Artic Circle was a drive to remember.

Catching Halibut and watching the sunset in Ninilchik, Alaska.

Denali National Park.

Moose beside the road on the way out of the park

Beautiful green valley at Polychrome Overlook

Driving the Top of the World Highway, panning for gold, going for a train ride on the Alaska Railroad, watching for wildlife on the side of the road, seeing the Fireweed blooming everywhere, seeing glaciers off in the distance and up close are all highlights of the trip we will never forget.

Every day was memorable, every day was special, every day we saw something spectacular.

Day 58: Flightseeing trip to Mt. McKinley

July 15, 2013June 19, 2015Posted in Alaska, Glaciers, Tourist AttractionsTagged Adventure, Flightseeing, Mayor of Talkeetna is a cat, Mt. McKinley, Ruth Glacier, Stubbs, Talkeetna, Talkeetna Air Taxi3 Comments

Day 58: Friday, July 12, 2013

We woke up to beautiful sunny skies. The weather forecast was sunny and warm all day. A perfect day for viewing Mt. McKinley.

We started the day by walking to beautiful downtown Talkeetna.

Welcome to beautiful downtown Talkeetna

Downtown Talkeetna. We ate at the West Rib Pub for dinner last night

House rules at the historic Fairview Inn

Stubbs, the Mayor of Talkeetna. He hangs around downtown.

I had a spinach bread for lunch. It’s kind of like a square pizza with spinach and cheese.

Next we stopped by Talkeetna Air Taxi at the airport to book a flight-seeing tour with a glacier landing. The first flight available was at 4:00 so we returned to the RV park to get the truck and drve to the Talkeetna overlook for a view of Mt. McKinley with no clouds.

Beth and Henry at the Talkeetna overlook

An Airplane flies over Mt. McKinley

At 3:30 a van picked us up to take us to the airport for our flight. There were six passengers on our plane – two guys and a gal from Norway, a man from Maryland, and us. Our pilot Alex was from Georgia.

The flight was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Seeing the mountains from the air and flying so close to the south face of Mt. McKinley was awe inspiring. It’s a day I will never forget.

Waiting to board

Mt. McKinley is in the upper left beneath the clouds

Shadow of our plane over the mountains

The Ruth Glacier is in the gorge between the mountains

We went really close to Mt. McKinley

View of McKinley through the front window

We were really close to the mountains

Really, really close to the mountain!

We were headed straight to this mountain

Really, really, really close!

Ours was the only plane on the glacier and we had plenty of time to enjoy the jaw dropping beauty around us.

We landed on the Ruth Glacier. Hard to believe it was warm enough to wear short sleeves.

The high round snow covered peak is the south peak of Mt. McKinley

Henry taking videos

Beth with the plane

Loving every minute of our time on Ruth glacier

We flew low over the glacier as we started our return trip to the airport.

Flying over the glacier

Beautiful scenery on our way back to the airport

What a glorious day it was! A day we will never forget. Perfect.

Day 57: Searching for Mt. McKinley

July 14, 2013June 17, 2015Posted in Alaska, Restaurants, RV ParksTagged Man vs Food, Mt. McKinley, Talkeetna, West Rib Cafe and Pub3 Comments

Day 57: Thursday, July 11, 2013 Teklanika Campground to Talkeetna, Alaska. Talkeetna Camper Park Site 34. 182 miles traveled.

The sky was still overcast as we drove the 30 miles from Teklanika to the Denali National Park exit. Our chances for a clear view of Mt. McKinley on our drive south on the Parks Highway were looking pretty slim. Mt. McKinley, at 20,320 feet tall, is the tallest mountain in North America. On a clear day there are overlooks along the highway between Denali National Park and Talkeetna where the mountain can be seen. We were keeping our fingers crossed the sky would clear.

The views were spectacular as we drove along.

There were still clouds in the sky as we exited Denali National Park and crossed Riley Creek

Our view out the front window of the truck as we drove south on the Parks Highway

Spectacular view at one of the overlooks on the Parks Highway

Our first view of Mt. McKinley from a Parks Highway overlook

Then finally, parts of Mt. Mckinley came into view at one of the overlooks.

Stops at a couple of other overlooks were disappointing with clouds completely covering the mountain. Finally, as we drove into Talkeetna, we were rewarded with spectacular views from the Talkeetna overlook.

Finally! A beautiful view of Mt. McKinley from the Talkeetna overlook as we entered the town of Talkeetna

Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley), 20,320 feet tall, is the tallest mountain in North America

Happy happy happy! We checked into our campground and watched the Alaska Railroad trains load and unload passengers right behind our campsite.

The Alaska Railroad runs right behind our campsite

Our home in Talkeetna

We enjoyed a great dinner on the outside patio at the West Rib Cafe and Pub which was featured on an episode of The Travel Channel’s Man vs Food. An Alaskan Crabcake sandwich for me and Halibut and Chips for Henry hit the spot.