Talkeetna Roadhouse

... My guess is that these are the parents - given the eaglet some room, but still watching over him to keep him safee. An eagle pair typically has two or three eggs, but usually only one eaglet survives.

There wasn't really much in Talkeetna - I would have rather stayed an extra day in Denali and gone out on one of the trails. Live and learn.

... seven of us saddled up and were on our way. I was in the rear, on an immense horse named Ghost, and the wrangler had given me the name “Bear Bait,” as I was in the rear and she was too far forward and the trail too narrow for her to get back and help me should a bear attack. Wonderful! It was, of course, tongue in cheek, but was somewhat prophetic, as about half way through the ride – which was along a very dense, narrow, and high trail ...

... three-hour drive south, to another Princess lodge, this one called Mt. McKinley Lodge. It is, by everyone’s admission, located in the middle of nowhere, but is on the south side of McKinley and offers some of the best available views – when it is out. We arrived to cloudy skies, and while the huge banks of floor-to-ceiling windows across the entire lodge told us there SHOULD be a mountain out there, we couldn’t see it.

... is by far the coolest place we've stayed so far with a really great view of the mountains. It's relatively warm, but we built a fire in the woodburning stove all the same - had to teach Ryan something! Today we are headin g on a rafting trip down the Kenai River. Will post more photos later, but for those of your on Facebook most are posted there.

... way, we would catch glimpses of Mt. McKinley through the trees. At first I thought it was a cloud, but then realized that it was too pointy to be a cloud. Dang, that is a friggin' big mountain (20,320 feet). About halfway, we decided to stop in Talkeetna for lunch. Just outside of Talkeetna, we got a really good view of Mt. McKinley (also called Denali). Amazing! I ...

... under budget so things are going OK. However, today's River Boat ride and flight will cost a bundle, even though we have two for one coupons with each. Our last thing in town was to get a bit to eat. There were some cool looking restaurants, but we settled down on Talkeetna street food - Pooh had Chinese and I had Mexican. They were both in little mobile stands - like a truck. But they had some indoor seating areas and it looked kind of permanent. Pooh ...

... and I think we are more than capable of climbing (hmmm!). The high street was littered with flight seeing tour companies, odd gift shops, pubs and cafes, seeming touristy but without the tourists, just climbers milling around. Doing as the LP advised we headed to the local museum, to be met at the reception by an elderly lady who informed us that there were 3 rooms, some of which contained ( and I quote) "lots of old stuff" ...... in a museum ...

... was entirely different to what I expected. Gold was one of the few reasons why people came to these regions. The rivers which are very young are braided as they are so full of the glacier flour or silt that has been grounded from the mountains that they spread out very wide and the water finds its own many ways through the silt. Most of the rivers are sterile - none or very little fish life.

... icefields, mountains,
and the world's deepest gorge. Mt. Mckinley and Denali were beautiful
to see. Around the lodge, we went on a trail thru the forest, there
were signs posted beware of bears and we saw some bear tracks along the
way!!!

... and then let my parents do the same thing. Then Anita and I got on one sled, while my parents got on the other, we loaded up the sled with some wood and food and took off to explore the white wonder. We got on a frozen creek, followed it to a dog trail that went through this beautiful patch of Birch trees, to, I believe it was Sheep Creek and rode down it for a ways, before stopping to make lunch. Anita though it was cool how ...