Thursday June 22 - Saturday June 24 - Talkeetna to Wasilla and Hatcher's Pass
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| Wildflowers dancing in the sun! |
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| Butterfly enjoying the dandelions |
From Denali, we drove to Talkeetna (where we stayed one night), then on to Wasilla (where we cleaned up and did our shopping), and took a day exploring both the Independence Mine and Hatcher Pass. (We call it Hatcher's Pass since Val's dog was named for this beautiful place.) On Saturday, the sun broke out of the clouds and the day was glorious - one of the prettiest we've seen our whole trip. The clouds often disguise the beauty of the tall glacier-covered mountain peaks and it was a surprise to suddenly see the mountain tops that enveloped us!
Talkeetna would never be our first choice - heavy on trinkets and adventure trips. But the shopkeepers were very friendly and many local entrepreneurs were quite creative in their efforts to attract the summer tourist dollar. We especially enjoyed an excellent fresh halibut dinner that night at an authentic roadhouse restaurant. It's apparent that it's tough to make a living up here!
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| A frightened porcupine hiding in the bushes near town |
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| Talkeetna - lots of mixed arts & crafts and tourist buses |
The next day, our campground in Wasilla was perfect and it provided access to what we needed - grocery shopping, haircuts, and laundry facilities.
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Running with the big dogs at the Big Bear RV park
in Wasilla. Our tiny size always provides humor
for those short on entertainment. |
On Saturday the sun began to break through the clouds and we headed up to tour the Independence Mine historic gold mining site and Hatcher Pass. Val had recommended these and we are so happy she did! We had a great day there and here are some pictures of what we saw:
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| Independence Mine Manager's house - now a museum. |
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1940's furnishings were somewhat familiar to us -
are we now becoming antiques? |
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The old Burroughs 'Black Monster' which Ernie actually
used during his first years at the Fed Reserve in 1971 |
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| The dormitories and cookhouses for the miners |
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| Gravity is winning the battle here... |
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This was also a ski area. Note the price for an adult ski ticket. Guess
why the season pass is more expensive comparatively - perhaps
rope tows vs T-bars? Do you even know what those are anymore? |
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The dormitories remain, but the mine
buildings have given up the fight. |
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| Remains of the day... |
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| Windows to the past |
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Note the ladder - It assumes you can
jump the remaining 10 - 12 ft. |
After our picnic, we headed to Hatcher Pass, but since the access road remained closed (for maintenance), we hiked part of the Goldmine Trail at its base, which followed the little Susitina River up the canyon to the glacier. The wildflowers and butterflies were out celebrating the sun! A spectacular day...one of the best here in Alaska!
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| Ta dahhh! |
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| Hiding in the bushes |
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| We took off our sweatshirts - cheers! |
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| Stretching our legs |
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| Blue sky smiling on me... |
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| The river runs through it |
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| The path beckons |
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| Ready to explode |
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| Everything's popping! |
The day was perfect! On Sunday, we will be heading to Homer on the Kenai Peninsula.
Don't forget now, you are on vacation here, you don't live here so stop looking for houses for sale...besides fishing gets old and you are already on SS so you wouldn't qualify for the Alaska tax refund the working residents get.
ReplyDeleteYou are right! There are so many houses and properties for sale here, it is really surprising. It's as if there is a turnover in population right now, or since the price of real estate in Alaska is so high now, people can finally afford to sell. We have just been a little surprised at the junk that is thrown everywhere all over property here...a little discouraging that this beautiful land is being misused...We love the long nights here...the many hours of sun, but the weather is a bit dismal and the overcast and rainy skies get a little old. We are quite simply very spoiled by the sun in Calif and could never ever live without that!
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