July 2 2008 - Talkeetna......

Talkeetna?
You don't know where Talkeetna is????
Well we caught the Denali Star Train at 8.15am on Wednesday July 2 to head north, arriving at Talkeetna just a little after 11.00am. This is me ready for breakfast on the train!!

Our Gold Class carriage ....... with the domed ceiling and outdoor viewing platform.
Breakfast time...... Reindeer sausages, eggs, croissant, bacon ... the works!!
Talkeetna Rail Station......
Talkeetna is north of Anchorage and is a colorful and interesting town about 14 miles off the Parks Highway. With breathtaking views of Mt. McKinley and the Alaska Range, Talkeetna looks out over a broad valley where the Susitna, Talkeetna and Chulitna rivers meet.

Gold brought miners to the Susitna River in 1896 and by 1901 Talkeetna was a miner's supply center and eventually a riverboat station. In 1915, it became the headquarters for building the railroad north. Today, Talkeetna draws anglers, adventurers, recreation seekers and climbers, who use the town as a staging area for ascents of Mt. McKinley.

Talkeetna retains much of its early Alaskan flavor with its narrow dirt roads that are lined by log cabins and clapboard buildings and houses. Main Street, the only paved road in town, begins with a "Welcome to Beautiful Downtown Talkeetna' sign at the town park and ends at the banks of the Susitna River..........

Chinook Wind Cabins where we stayed.......
one of the many craft and or gift shops in town......
a very colourful "Moose" .......
Janine outside the pub.....
...... and the two of us outside our cabin having our morning coffee .........
We stayed at the Chinook Wind Cabins and found this to be the best place we stayed at in all of Alaska ...... we had our best sleeps there as the beds were a dream!!! The people running the cabins picked us up at the rail station and were friendly and helpful.

On July 3, it was back to the Rail Station to catch the Denali Star Train to Denali.......