08.06.05 Talkeetna, AK

I rose early Saturday morning, completely confused by time changes and the sun coming up at an absurd hour. I walked down to the river and spent some time stacking rocks. Saw a bald eagle. Killed my first mosquito.

After the boys finally got up and had some breakfast, we walked around town a bit and discovered an interesting train several cars long idling on a side track at the town depot. We studied the train closely to figure out what all the big mechanical things were. After a short while, a friendly conductor named Chuck appeared and told us all about the train and invited us on board. He took pride in showing us every little detail. It was a 50s era passenger train that has been restored and is in use for passengers between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Chuck has been with the railroad 27 years. He was a great emmisary without really even being aware of it. You could tell he LOVED what he did.

We left Talkeetna and headed to the city of Palmer via an historic dirt road called Hatcher's Pass that goes through an area that was important during the goldrush mining era. The scenery was lovely. We stopped at an alpine lake along the way and I was able to walk all the way to the snow (which has a layer of red algae growing on it if you look closely). In my hand is a puff ball, which is a kind of mushroom we gathered to cook on the rental car's manifold later in the trip. We also stopped along the Pass to eat and gather wild blueberries.

Bruce and Shiree somewhere near the summit of Hatcher's Pass.

Stationed along the road is an old gold mine that has been preserved and restored to the point that it's interesting to visit. The name of the mine is Independence Mine. this was a mysterious tank or vessel that we encountered on our ramble about the remains of the mining town.

The mining buildings that made up the operation were spread out all over the side of the mountain, and as we climbed up to explore some of the outlying buildings, we noticed that there was a wedding taking place on the top of one of the nearby mountains.

Bruce picked his favorite gal and made a none-too-subtle pass. Well, maybe subtle in that she was about a half mile away, but flagrant besides that.

I'm guessing these folks are going to have some fabulous wedding photos. As long as the photographer didn't back off a precipice trying to frame a shot, that is.