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Friday, July 31, 2009

Weeks 8 and 9

Yikes, sorry for the slow update but I haven't had much computer access in the capacity where I could make a good entry including photos.

Mom came and visited. She arrived Saturday, July 24 in the afternoon and hung out in town until I finished work at 6:15. She rented a car while visiting--a red PT Cruiser. After work we went back to the house because she was exhausted. The next day, Sunday, we went downtown to the Weekend Market and bought some gifts for people back home and had a delicious sourdough fruit waffle--so good. Afterwards we motored down the highway to the Wildlife Conservation Center. It was a lot of fun, even if the animals weren't in the wild. Then we went out to dinner with my friend Tuck at the Spenard Roadhouse which was SO delicious.


Moose at the Conservation Center.

Monday I had to work so mom hung out around the town and did errands. She picked me up from work and we went grocery shopping for our adventure the next day. We got trail mix and other goodies for the car and for snacking on the bus ride into the park. That night we cooked dinner--pomodora and spinach.

Tuesday we woke up bright and early and hurried to Talkeetna, a VERY cute down 2 hours north of Anchorage and 2 hours south of Denali. It was such an adorable little town. Touristy, yes, but in the cutest way possible. We got to our sled dog kennel tour just in time at 10am. They took us to the kennel and hitched the dogs up to a cart then divided us into three groups so we could all have a ride. It was a lot of fun. It's hard to describe the event because it's so awesome but I have pictures so you'll get the idea.


Dog cart ride!

After the ride they gave a little talk about the Iditarod (the kennel was an actual Iditarod musher's) and drove us back into town. Mom and I then sought out lunch, eventually finding it at the Talkeetna Roadhouse (odd how anything with "Roadhouse" after the name makes the food better...) in the form of TO DIE FOR berry pancakes. Oh my god--I want some right now. After eating we finished our drive to Denali and checked into our cabin at the Salmon Bake (or, "the Bake" for short), a restaurant that also has a couple of cabins in the back. The lodgings were indescribable--not bad or anything, but certainly different. It was like camping in a room instead of a tent. We had delicious salmon at the Bake and went to bed.


Our luxury accommodations at the Bake.

Wednesday we woke up early again and went to breakfast at the Bake. Then we headed into the park for our shuttle bus tour. It was an 8-hour roundtrip tour and it was amazing. I didn't really feel the need to see wildlife but everyone else on the bus did. I wanted to see the beautiful landscape. Basically, I want to build my dream house in the middle of that park. It's the perfect landscape for me: trees, mountains, and open plains for galloping on a horse. We did end up seeing wildlife: 4 bears (3 of which were a mother grizzly and her 2 cubs) and 3 dall sheep. We got back to the car around 6ish and went back to the Bake for dinner (again).

Thursday we got up early (again) and went back into the park to catch the sled dog tour. Denali uses a dog team to patrol the park during the winter. They don't race so the dogs are completely different builds--big and stocky while racing dogs are small and sleek. The dogs were pretty friendly and we got to pet them. They also did a demonstration. After the tour we got in the car and speedily drove home, having an appointment to make. One of Mom's coworkers is from Alaska and her brother-in-law here is a pilot. Mom and I called him after her coworker said he'd love to give us a ride in his plane. I don't know how I did it, but we met up with him and he flew us on a harrowing ride around the mountains that border Anchorage. Again, it's another experience I can't accurately begin to explain. I definitely kept seeing our deaths but everything was fine.


Inside, before take-off. Drew on the left, Mom on the right, me in the back.

Pretty, but scary!

Friday, Mom's last day in Alaska, I had to work. She came and visited me and saw my museum--I'm glad she got to see me in action. I can be pretty impressive when I work at the front desk and say my spiel. After work we went out to dinner at Leroy's, a diner similar to Jackie's but without the breakfast food spread. Then mom dropped me off at the house and went to fly back to Maryland. We had such a great time and I'm so glad she was able to come and share some of my Alaskan adventures with me. I will never forget it.

I went camping Saturday night and Sunday with my friends (it was awesome but this entry is too long to go into detail) and worked all week. Wednesday I started house-sitting for a coworker at the Museum (didn't I mention I was going to house-sit? No? Well I am). It's a little condo on the east side of town and it's pretty nice to have a place to myself. She has the weirdest cat, though. Oh well! I'll be house-sitting for 12 days (until Aug. 10) so stay tuned to see if there are any more stories.

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