Alaska Tour III

A transition day from Magnificent Dinali National Park to the quaint and quirky Talkeetna.

We went into the "Glitter Gulch" at Dinali for breakfast at the Black Bear Restaurant. It was excellent. The place was very small and rustic. The food was enjoyable and very tasty. The tea and coffee cups were enormous. I had a Chai tea which was delicious. It was also very affordable.

We caught the shuttle back to the hotel where we boarded the bus for the three hour drive to Talkeetna. We stopped at the same view point from where we had excellent views of Mt Mckinley/Dinali two days preciously. This time the mountains were completely covered in clouds. It turns out that only 30% of the people who visit the Dinali National Park get to see the mountain. This is how lucky we were when we had such good views.

After reaching the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, we checked in. Our room was very nice, but was on the ground floor giving us a view of the trees. We asked to change rooms, but were told after a run-around that there were no rooms available on higher floors. After some investigation, it turned out that thee actually were rooms available. Up stepped our tour director, Mike, who got us put in a third floor room. Well done Mike!!

We went into the four block Talkeetna. It is very quaint. We walked through the town to the river where tow other rivers meet up. It was very pretty. We spent some time walking and skipping stones on the water.

Then we walked the short distance back to town where we had dinner with two other couples at the Wildflower Cafe. It was a terrific meal; by fat the best since we have been touring Alaska by land. We would strongly recommend this restaurant.

So... back to the lodge where we sta on the deck overlooking the mountains. When it got chilly, we moved into the lodge foyer and sat by the fireplace. We have met a few copules on the tour with whom we have become friendly. The eight of us "hunt in a pack" dining together and trying to coordinate activities.

Bob and Kem are from Florida. They are fun loving and very good company. Kem is in charge of researching dining venues. She did a great job tonight!

Bill and Cathy are from Rhode Island. They are down to earth and enjoy everything going. It is a true pleasure to be with them.

The third couple, Bob and Beth get on with the rest of us very well. We enjoy good conversations with them. They have a good sense of humor; they need this to stay with the rest of us.

The rest of our group is very nice. We enjoy chatting to and relating to them on many levels.

This is an advantage of this kind of travel. We met great people a