4th of July - Hurricane Gulch, Wildflower Cafe, and Denali Cooks

We had a leisurely morning at the cabin. Glenn made eggs. We went for a walk and played cards. Around 11:30 am, we headed over to the train depot for the Hurricane Turn train. It's a round trip train ride to Hurricane Gulch.

This route is one of the few flagstop  train routes to deliver supplies to homesteads in remote Alaska. They just put out a flag when they want the trains to stop. On our route, a man had four tires and a guitar delivered. Grandkids met  their grandparents in their town - Sherman. The grandparents are the only residents. A group of rafters hopped off with all their gear - including their boats.

We got off the train for a little walk about in Curry - a once bustling town with a 5 star resort. The resort dwindled as Denali National Park gained popularity.  The resort tried to stage a comeback, but it burned down the summer before it's reopening.

The hurricane Gulch bridge was impressive.  They moved equipment four tons at a time across a tram they constructed first. Once the equipment moved over, it only took 60 days to finish the bridge.

On the way back, we stopped at Twin bridge. A family was camping and fishing there. A woman caught a salmon. It was fun to watch. It was bright red and about 2 feet long. We saw a moose, some swans, and a bear cub along our train journey.

We stopped on the way back in Sherman to shop at the bookstore. The grandparents (and town's only residents) wrote a couple books about homesteading and raising kids.

For dinner, we headed to Wildflower Cafe. It was a cute house converted in a restaurant with a big front, side and back porch. In the back, the bar had 40 taps. We had the specials - Blackened Salmon over pesto fettuccine and Blackened Salmon Oscar. Both were very good. The best bite of the evening was the seafood chowder.

Fifteen years ago when I worked at a rafting company in Denali National Parks - the whole crew would load up and head to bars near and far to hear Denali Cooks play. We even trekked into an air strip in the middle of Denali National Park for an epic jam session. On our first night in town, we saw an announcement they were playing for 4th of July. I was so excited!

We grabbed slightly sticky seats at the Fair View Inn and watched them set up. The crowd was a good mix of locals, seasonal employees and tourists. They led off with one of my favorite songs. We stayed until crowd pressed in a little too close and then headed back to the cabin.

A great day.