Northern Exposure

As we were getting ready to check out of our room at the Denali Lakeview Inn this morning, we watched a moose stroll across the yard.

"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat..."

Heading south on the Parks Highway, we stopped to take a pic of a different entrance sign for Denali National Park. It was raining, so no one hopped out of the car to be in my photo. 😢

We didn't go into the park again but did do some shopping in the gateway town just outside the entrance. Purchases in hand, we continued driving south to Talkeetna, about 2.5 hours away. Talkeetna is often used as a basecamp for adventure activities such as river rafting, flightseeing tours, and mountaineering expeditions to Denali. From what I read online, Talkeetna served as the inspiration for the fictional town of Cicely from the 90s TV show "Northern Exposure".

We walked around downtown for a bit while deciding on where to eat for lunch. R and J ended up waiting for a table at Homestead Kitchen, while M and I zipped over to the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station to get the passport stamps for Denali NP. 

Another relief map with the Talkeetna ranger station at the bottom

Here's what we ordered for lunch. Yum!

Seafood Gumbo Pot Pie with Alaskan salmon and halibut, scallops, and reindeer sausage (x2)
Grilled chicken sandwich with blueberry BBQ sauce, and "The Lloyd" (ground elk sloppy joe)

After lunch we walked over to the Talkeetna Riverfront Park. On a clear day, Denali is visible from here, but since it was raining, this is all we saw...

Susitna River

From Talkeetna, it took just under 90 minutes to drive to the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. 

We stopped in the gift shop to get the Iditarod National Historic Trail passport stamps and then headed outside to ride the sled dog cart with musher Riley Dyche ($10/person). What fun! And yes, that screech you hear is me almost falling out of the cart when we took a sharp curve. After all that excitement, it was really interesting to learn more about the long-distance sled dog race from the displays inside.

Our hotel for the night was located on the other side of Lucille Lake from the Iditarod HQ. Lovely views of the lake and surrounding mountains!

After resting for a bit, we drove over to see R's cousins K and B. So nice to spend the evening with them! How cool is it to have ʻohana everywhere?!

Enjoyed our dinner at Evangelo's Restaurant

240 miles, 4.25 hours