Fri 9th May 2003, Healy to Talkeetna

I set off early as it was to be a fairly long haul down to Talkeetna and I wanted to drive into Denali National Park on the way.  Which I did and it was lovely.  It started raining as I left Denali and it was to stay that way.  I pretty much drove all the way through with only a few coffee/rest stops.  The rain and high winds continued most of the way down and made it very tiring.  Nevertheless I enjoyed the drive and the scenery, of course, was great.  Not vast vistas or big mountain scenery because of the weather but great all the same.  The mountains shouldered their way out of the snow to where the cloudline shrouded their peaks.  Low cloud that made the mountains look as though they had been beheaded with a clean, sharp strike.

A strange thing happened on the way down; the trees had a faint haze about them as the buds were on the verge of breaking out.  But the trees were shy, keeping their little sticky-bud fingers tightly folded over the leaves until the weather should warm just that bit more ... then I blinked! ... and there were green leaves everywhere.  Just like that!

Talkeetna is 15 miles off the main highway, situated on a flood plain and very flat.  But there are plenty of trees and character - just ignore the souvenir shops, although there aren't all that many of them and they are not very obtrusive.

Again I have a cabin, this time with 2 double beds, dining table, en-suite shower and toilet and fully equipped kitchen area complete with fridge, microwave, 2-ring burner and filter coffee maker.  There’s also a satellite TV with video.  Need the video, as the satellite is unreliable out here.  I went for a short walk after settling in and settled on Cafe Michelle's for dinner.  I had a truly delightful organic meal of curried lentils and fragrant Thai rice soup, followed by (and here you are Mum, Dad) fresh Alaskan Halibut.  Mmmmm.  Fine food and fine prices, but really worth it.  The people at the next table seemed to think so too judging by their comments.

It had been a very long day so I watched a Harry Potter video borrowed from the cabin owners and then went to bed.