Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The morning was nice and leisurely. We breakfasted at the same place we had dinner last night and we were super-lucky to have Jason wait on again. I'm not sure he felt lucky, but a good time was had by all. We hung around the lodge for a good portion of the morning, on the deck and also inside, all showing up in bits and pieces. The lodge had internet access, so that was nice.
This is the room David and I slept in. One of us (hint: not me) is the world's messiest sleeper...
Sophie on a bear hunt
View from the McKinley Lodge. If it was clearer, Mt. McKinley would be visible right in the middle of the picture.We decided we'd spend a few hours in the town of Talkeetna, which was about an hour away. The train left from there to take us back to Anchorage so we had to go anyway. The bus ride was uneventful. Thankfully, Oaf was not our driver this time. Talkeetna is the town that served as the inspiration for the television show Northern Exposure. Sadly, we did not see any moose walking down the street.
Enjoying the busride to TalkeetnaThe town itself was tiny. It had a bunch of shops and restaurants, but that was about it. We wandered around for awhile, but it was pretty boring. We ate lunch at an OK (but highly recommended) place. They didn't have some of the items listed on their menu and their milk was frozen. Very weird. But they did have really pretty bathrooms - they were painted with scenes of the Alaskan countryside.
Sophie has decided to enroll in flight school to become an Alaskan bush pilot
SMOOCH!We made our way back to where the shuttle would take us to the depot and from there, Sarah, David, and I went the opposite direction to a neat little bead store. There were lots of pretty beads and I'm sure I could have easily spent a lot of money there, but instead just looked. I did, surprisingly, have a most pleasant port-a-potty experience. It was clean and didn't smell, I was quite shocked. It was eventually time to go to the depot. We waited (and waited and waited) for the train to arrive, already standing in line to board.
Like last time, we were assigned to a particular car and tables. This time, however, we really lucked out. The train had cars on it from the Alaskan Railroad and several different cruise lines. Our car was the very last one and our tables were the very last tables. This meant we had the huge back window all to ourselves. We also didn't have to share with anyone this time and the end seat was really a big long bench the width of the car. We had lots and lots of space. That would have been great for the ride up.
This doesn't seem like a good idea...This train trip would only be about 3-4 hours in length. We ate downstairs - the food was absolutely nothing special and very slow. I think I had some type of salad for dinner. Afterwards, we (except for Steve and Sophie) played Trivial Pursuits. I had lugged that stupid game all the way across the continent and we were going to play it come hell or high water. We never got a chance to finish the game but I declare dad the winner - he had 5 pieces when we stopped. Sarah and I had 3. David actually had 4 BUT he kept getting the world's easiest questions when he landed on a piece. Questions like "which Jewish holiday holds a seder?" and things like that. The rest of us were not so lucky with our questions.
One of the houses across the lake is where Sarah Palin lives (she resigned as governor 2 days earlier)From the station in Anchorage, we were brought to our hotel, the Captain Cook. It's a pretty large and apparently fancy hotel. It was fine. Because our plans for the next day began very early and would end very late, David and I got all our packing in order that night so we didn't have to worry about it tomorrow. Afterwards, I uploaded ALL of my pictures to Picasa, labeled and everything. It was soon bedtime. Bedtime in my twin bed. How weird...
Our Journey, Thus Far (Part 3)
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