Hello Anchorage!

Woke up and snuck in one last visit to the ranger station in Talkeetna. They had a video about "Mt. McKinley" (Denali) that we wanted to see. You can tell that it was a little older video because of the name change. Was worth the extra stop; just fascinating what people go through to climb that mountain.

Headed out of town, stopping long enough at Brown Bear Coffee drive thru for our requisite morning drive coffee, and surprisingly enough they had some Krispy Kreme donuts! I am not sure where they buy them, but they were the real deal....

Next stop of the day was the Iditarod Headquarters! An excellent video about the history, the sled dogs, and mushers. A little time in the gift shop, and then outside for puppy time! Darling litter of 4 fat puppies! And you get to hold them and kiss their little puppy faces.... Cindy and I loved it! Then we met some of the adult dogs, we didn't do the demo ride, but spent some time talking to one of the handlers. 5 or 6 of the dogs we were petting had been in last year's event, and several in the Yukon Quest, a similar race, that runs from Whitehorse to Dawson City, I think. We all enjoyed this visit.

Continued our drive, stopping in Wasilla. Unfortunately the visitor center and museum were closed. Fortunately they are located right next to a wonderful sub and salad place, Krazy Moose, or something like that. It is house in an old historical building. Great sandwiches! So we will always have fond memories of Wasilla!

Short afternoon hike to Thunderbird Falls, which was quite a busy little trail. Auggie was thrilled to be a part of this little adventure. His timing needs a little work, I got to complete most of the hike carrying a bag of his "gift" to the mountain! No trash cans at this trail, you carry out what you bring in!

Back on the road again heading into Anchorage. Actually one of the biggest cities on our trip. We have been so use to all these little towns with one or two traffic lights! Freeways, stoplights, interchanges, oh my!

We made a conscious decision to try an overnight at a Cabelas parking lot, so went cross town to find our camp spot. What a great experience! No power or water, you really just get to use their parking lot for the night. We got over on an edge of the lot that had a little pond and shrubs, was very nice! The parking lot was very large, and I would guess there were about 3 dozen units sprinkled about! And you get to end your day walking through the store which is always kind of fun because they are big with lots of outdoor stuff and decorated with lots of stuffed wild animals and fish. We always enjoy just walking through them.

Our dinner? We had a variety of pasties that we found at a bakery, the Roadhouse, in Talkeetna! Reminded us of our family in Michigan! (Wouldn't have known what they were if not for the Cobbs.) Slightly different version, mine was with reindeer meat....no gravy!Read more