July 7th - Exit Glacier

We started the day at the Bake Shop. This cute little bakery in Girdwoos served up some good breakfast.

We hit the road for Steward. The views on Steward highway are beautiful. We headed to Exit Glacier. It's one of the few glaciers in Alaska you can hike to from the road. It was a moderately  strenuous hike uphill. The views were incredible. I was shocked at how much the glacier has receded since I have been here in 2000. There was a sign showing the difference.

After glacier viewing, we headed to downtown Steward for lunch. Steward Brewing company serves up some good brews and some good food. They had a great steak salad. We had to laugh because the wings were tiny. Glenn call them one bite wings.

We did some souvenir shopping. Then we went to Steward Windsong Lodge to check in. The resort feels like summer camp. The rooms are in blocks of 8 spread out around the property. It's a functional room. We walk down to the Salmon Bake for dinner. We couldn't resist the bug sign out front advertisng cheap beer and lousy food. It had neither. We drank our beer out of mason jars and enjoyed the fried halibut. We had a nightcap at the Resurrection Roadhouse which is part of the resort. They had a great beer list. Again we enjoy the beautiful weather.

July 6th - Roadhouse, Hot Dogs, and a mountain

Breakfast at the Talkeetna Roadhouse is a must do. The portions are huge. You eat family style at long tables. It was fun to chat up other travelers from around the world. The food was okay. I think that a place known for the quantity over the quality of the food is a good indication of what you're going to get.

We hit the road Anchorage. Our destination in Anchorage with the International House of Hot Dogs. This was on Glenn must do list. It turns out the International House of Hot Dogs is a trailer in an auto parts store parking lot. It was the friendliest service we have ever had. And the hot dogs were delicious. We both had reindeer polish sausages with different toppings. Glenn's had pineapple, sauteed onions, salsa, mayo, and jalapenos. My reindeer polish had onions and a chipotle cream sauce. We also tried the smoked salmon quesadillas. All the food was very good.

We headed down Seward Highway to Girdwood. The views are fantastic. We arrived at Hotel Alyeska on the side of a mountain. We checked in and then headed out for a  on Winner Creek Trail. A five mile hike. Which may have been a little more than my couch potato legs were ready for. We hiked to a gorgeous creek and the only way to get across it is on a hand pulled tram. We didn't take the tram because the line was long but it was really cool to see.

For dinner we headed up a motorized tram to the top of the mountain to eat at 7 glaciers restaurant. We got a seat at the bar with an amazing view and had a fantastic meal. The highlights of the meal were the scallop bisque, the kale salad, halibut ceviche, and the chocolate tart. The bartenders were really friendly and made some good drinks. One of our favorite drinks was the rhubarb cosmopolitan made with Alaskan rhubarb vodka. It was a really really fun night with a gorgeous view.

July 5th - ATVs, Gold Panning, and Target Practice

We took the Homestead ATV tour. After a brief lesson and test drive, we headed out on ATVs with a family from China. We took a tour of downtown Talkeetna. We stopped by the VFW - the site of the annual bachelor auction. We watched a plane land on the town air strip. Then we headed out to Dennis' homestead. We had to cross a couple bridges. It took a bit of concentration as the bridge is 46 inches wide and the ATVS are 43 inches wide.

Dennis showed us the original homestead of his family.  His family moved to Alaska in the sixties and took advantage of the Federal Homesteading Act to secure a deed to  mile by half mile plot of Alaskan wilderness. He still lives there and took us to his cabin for lunch, target practice, and panning for gold.

It was a lot of fun. The gun was huge and used for protection against bears. It was so loud! Glenn and I both go within an inch of the bullseye. The parents in the Asian family both got bullseyes. They were so excited!

After the tour, we were very dusty. We headed into town to enjoy the gorgeous weather. It was in the seventies and sunny. We sampled some Alaskan beer at Whispering Cafe. Then had fried artichokes and pork belly at Twisted Creek. We finished with salmon at Latitude 62 - a more spot popular among the locals. They have four tables outside. When we entered the restaurant and asked to sit outside, the bartender said, "Sure, but I'll probably forget about you." We laughed. Gotta love a restaurant with with a warning.

We headed back to the cabin to chill out for the rest of the night.

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.

July 3 - Wasilla and Arriving in Talkeetna

We slept in a little this morning. We were impressed with  Comfort Suites Anchorage Airport. The hotel seemed new and had a cute lounge. They also offer free breakfast. We decided to hit the road and try some of the local fare. That didn't work. Turn out most of the restaurants were closed for the fourth of July holiday. The Alaskan seem to enjoy getting espresso from the shack in a parking lot. Who are we to argue? We got lattes for the road and head for Wasilla.

We read about Abby's Home Cooking on Yelp so we headed there. It's a cute restaurant in a gas station. They really mean home cooking. 

When you order hash browns, Abby goes and shreds the potatoes herself from scratch. We had a couple orders of biscuits and gravy and they were delicious. We had to try the reindeer sausage. It tasted like smoked sausage with a little bit of gamey aftertaste. Service was good but slow. Again, everything is made from scratch when you order.

We went to the Iditarod Trail headquarters to learn more about this famous race. We took a sled ride pulled by a team of dogs. 

Then we had a great conversation with one of the dog handlers. It was really interesting to hear about all of the strategy that goes into the race. I had assumed that each musher had a pit crew. We found out that each musher has to pack everything with them. They can ship ahead packages to meet them at checkpoints. They are solely responsible for themselves and the care of their dogs during the race. Veterinarians check in on the dogs at each checkpoint. Each year the race evolves. One of the big evolutions in the last couple years was a musher decided to pull a trailer so that he could rest dogs and then rotate them in.

Ended our time in Wasilla with a trip to the Last Frontier brewery. 

We were impressed with the beers. Our favorites were a dark lager, the wheat and a pale ale.

Our drive to Talkeetna was easy. We stopped at Cubby's  Marketplace to pick up some food. We were surprised at now limited the grocery store was. We checked into the Little Cabin in the Woods at Denali  fireside cabins. It's a private cabin set back in a neighborhood.It's really cute and quiet.

Downtown Talkeetna is a nice short strip of gift shops and restauarants. We had dinner at West Rib Cafe. The chili cheese fries were aweskme. The Caribou chili had a smoky flavor. Glenn had a very good burger. My Halibut sandwich was not good. West Rib has an exclusive beer from Glacier Brew house - Ice Axe Ale. It's 9% and dangerously good. We also tried beers at Denali Brewing Company. The town had live music at the city park. The weather today was unbelievable - sunny and 70s. We ended the day on our deck back at the cabin.

Here we go - Alaska

We made it! We took a 6 pm flight from Tampa arriving in Anchorage at 1 am local time / 5 am Florida time. We had a quick layover in Seattle. The travel gods showed favor on us and we were able to pick up our car when we got in. Catching a few hours sleep before we head up to Talkeetna in the morning. The scenery was great from the plane.

Washington DC

On April 25th, we headed to Washington DC for a one night only trip. We have really enjoyed these one night only trips especially when our Facebook friends tell us where we should go. We got into town around 1 o'clock and headed over to a Facebook recommended restaurant Zatinya, a Jose Andres restaurant specializing in Middle Eastern food. We enjoyed some great eggplant dishes and the experience reminded us of our time in Turkey. After lunch, we met up with our dear friend Caitlin at Capitol City Brewing. It was great to see her, but Capitol City Brewing is a disaster. The service is terrible and the beer was not good. After a lovely catch up, we went our separate ways.

We headed to the Museum of American History - a Smithsonian Museum. We were so impressed with this museum. We toured the presidential exhibition which was amazing especially the special exhibition on first ladies. They had an incredible war exhibit about all of the wars that America has been in since we were founded. We also enjoyed the pop culture exhibit. Glenn got to check seeing Archie Bunker's chair off his bucket list. Overall a fantastic visit. After the museum we headed to Facebook recommended Lincoln for dinner.  The restaurant was very cool and the food was wonderful. We had the tasting menu so we got to taste some of the great dishes they have available. The service was odd. We ordered from a server. Then runners would bring our food and just throw it on the table and walk away. Since we had the tasting menu we actually didn't know we were eating half the time. After dinner, we headed to a bar around the corner from our hotel since it was raining. Maddie's Pub turned out to be a good find with a nice beer list.

Sunday morning, we had plans to meet up for breakfast with our friend Frank and Dahlia and their two boys at Ted's Bulletin. It was a beautiful day so the half an hour wait outside didn't seem too bad. Inside, the food was fantastic. They make their own pop tarts. We had a great time catching up.

Then Glenn and I headed out on our own walking tour of Washington DC.  We walked by Ford's Theater and the White House. The weather was gorgeous!

We met Kelli and her family for lunch at Pearl Dive  Oyster House. We had some great oysters and it really fun time catching up with Kelly and her family. After lunch, we went on a mini bar crawl stopping in a few bars and then headed to the airport.

We will definitely be back to Washington DC what. We have lots of friends who live there. Plus it's a really great city with lots of fun restaurants, bars, and museums.