With the extension of the car rental, we decided to head north towards Talkeetna to explore the mountain town that we were backpacking. We wanted to explore since we knew we wouldn’t have an opportunity before/after our hike. Brandi had gotten a recommendation for a place to eat while there called Spinach Bread which was our lunch destination.
Before we got to Talkeetna, we stopped in Palmer Alaska because that our last name. Well, Brandi’s last name and my maiden name. The drive was a very different view from what we saw going to Seward. There was construction most of the way to Palmer so it wasn’t picturesque.
We found the downtown area and walked from shop to shop to find souvenirs for Brandi’s family. We ended up stopping in a book store to find a public restroom and luckily they had one. And I might say, it was a pretty fucking cool bathroom at that.
Once we got and saw what we wanted to, we headed back to the main interstate heading toward Talkeetna. We did pass through Moose country but didn’t end up seeing any. Though they do keep track of how many moose died along the interstate from July – June which there were 15 that were hit and died from the beginning of July.
As we were driving, Brandi noticed Mt Denali in the distance. Super excited, we pulled over to get some rare pictures of the giant beautiful mountain. After doing some research, only 30% of people who try to get a view of the mountain do. It is typically hidden behind the clouds and therefore not viewable most of the time. We were very fortunate for the rare experience!
Finally arriving at Talkeetna, we were surprised at how busy the town was. We knew that it was a hippy mountain town but we were not prepared for all of the tourist that were there. We found a place to park and headed out to find our lunch spot.
We actually got lucky yet again as that was the last day that they were open because they were headed off to the state fair. We finished buying souvenirs for the fam and stopped in to the Denali Brewing Co for a drink. A girl ended up setting next to us who had driven from the US through Canada to Alaska where she was working for the summer at a zip line place. She had some funny stories about a squirrel who broke into their place and ransacked it along with video of a second attempt of a break in. She also had a video of a grizzly in their yard just walking around.
Since I had to return the car, we made our way back to Anchorage. We didn’t end up eating out for dinner as we had enough leftovers for dinner that needed to be eaten before heading out backpacking the next day.
katie palmer moore 