Alaska - Day 2 Anchorage/Talkeetna/Lake Eklutna

The morning started at the hostel in Anchorage as we all packed up and made
our plans for the day. Someone had suggested trying a local place called
the Snow City Cafe to eat their renowned crab omelettes, so we made our way
to downtown Anchorage in search of their grub.  The customers seemed to be
a mix of both local town denizens as well as just a few visitors.  The wait
came to be about 30-40 minutes, so we took some  time to have a cup or two
of coffee while Logan and Charlie went in search of phone cards to call
home.  Tung of course raved about the feeling of such a local place and
surely dreamed of owning his own cafe.  As we sat and talked with our
waitress, we soon discovered that we all were ordering the same entrees --
crab omelettes and salmon  cakes -- to be split between two people.  Sadly,
they didn't have any white bread despite the urging of Tung and Logan,  but
Rishi did find himself the off man out, literally.  He went for the huevos
rancheros, which came really to be huevos with a small side of salsa.

After breakfast we started our journey north, stopping for gas and
groceries.  About 30 minutes north of Anchorage we detoured off to Eklutna
Lake and had a great 2-3 mile hike through the park.  Walking up the
mountain gave us time to wish Logan was walking slower...and captured some
great scenic views of the surrounding mountains, foliage, and lake below.
Before we left the park, we walked to the lake shore to skip rocks and
admire Rishi's naturan, green beauty.  The drive from the lake to Talkeetna
was a bit hazy for me, since...well...I slept the whole way.  However, when
I woke up near the town's edge, I could instantly tell that I was going to
enjoy the night.  Talkeetna is a wonderful little town near the edge of
Denali, with hints to tourism but marked more by the local people and
quaint pubs and restaurants.  Victor had arranged lodging at the Talkeetna
Roadhouse, and we all instantly fell in love with the host, her little
cafe, and our rooms for the night.  We unpacked the cars and then started a
short walk around town looking for a place to eat.  We decided on West Rib,
as they had a good selection of real Alaskan food and beer.  We waited for
our table over a few pitchers of Alaskan Amber and college football
highlights (damn Greg Davis).  Once again, the majority of us ordered the
same dish -- a filet of halibut.  I went for the caribou burger and their
Alaskan seafood
chiveche.

After dinner we came back to the Roadhouse where a mixture of dessert
eating, card playing, coffee drinking and talking with some local girls
(Kate and Sarah -- Sarah is actually starting her own Fair Trade Tea
business) filled the remainder of the evening.


- posted by JW Walthall at 6:01 AM | Permanent Link | 0 comments