Butch & Kyle

Bob cooking breakfast.

Mama moose with her

twins.

Butch's house with Kyle on the porch.


A view of Mt. McKinley from the Talkeetna Lodge.

Biking with Butch & Kyle.




Wednesday & Thursday, May 25 & 26

Bob made egg and cheese sandwiches in our pie irons over the fire. Then we left the peaceful Wilderness Campground on our way to Talkeetna.

Not far down the road, we stopped to take pictures of a mama moose and her twins. We stayed till they finally walked into the woods.

The land changed again from rolling pine forests to a lot more birch in bright spring green with dandelions everywhere.

Traffic increased with more houses and businesses as we entered Palmer. We took the Palmer Wasilla Road to cut across to Wasilla and were amazed. We could have been in any town,USA with crowded roads, traffic lights and a mall. We stopped at a huge, new Target and after two weeks of woods, our senses were assaulted. We bought way more than we needed as it was there in full display. Wow!

As we left Wasilla (we didn't see Sarah), we saw students having picnics at the big parks on the many lakes as it was the last day of school for the summer. Three kids were on horses out in the lake swimming.

On the beginning of the drive to Talkeetna, we saw beautiful homes, small sad shacks, road work, and gravel pits. Then it thinned out and looked more like northern Michigan, with the addition of snow covered mountains in the distance. It was more beautiful as we went.

We followed Butch's directions and easily found his house off Talkeetna Spur Road on a gravel road named Sunshine. Their house is a nice looking, two story house with decks and a new metal roof. It was wonderful to be there a get a hug from Butch and his grandson, Kyle.

Butch had some work to do helping an elderly neighbor, so Kyle offered to be our tour guide and took us up to see the Talkeetna Lodge and also into the town of Talkeetna.The lodge had a breathtaking view of Mt. McKinley and we found out how lucky we were to get a clear view. There were tour buses there and lots of people milling around. It looked like a very lovely place to stay.

The little town of Talkeetna is a quaint, tourist town. There are lots of little log gift shops on the two main streets, a general store, a couple of bars, and a few cafes. There were a couple historical sites in old cabins set up with original furnishings so you could see how pioneers lived. The town park was full of people and different groups playing music. We walked through town and out to the Talkeetna River which also had a great view of Mt. McKinley. Bob and Kyle skipped stones while Ben wadded in to cool off and drink.

We got home just before Butch, fixed veggie tacos, and spent the evening relaxing and catching up. Butch's daughter, Kerrie called on Skype and we got to enjoy her son, Levon, who is two, darling, and pretty computer savy.

Thursday morning was a work day. Butch had to take a class and we needed to clean and do laundry. Kyle hung out with us and helped when he could. It was fun to get to know him. When Butch got home, he took us into Talkeetna for a fabulous lunch at the outdoor Wildflower Cafe. Bob had a halibut and crab meat sandwich and I had seafood chowder and a veggie roll up in terriaki sauce. Unbelievably yummy food!

We poked through some of the shops and met many people. Butch knows everyone and everyone likes him. It was fun. We walked to the train station to check the schedule for tomorrow's trip back into the bush to visit a family Butch knows and see how they live there.

Once we were back to the house, we got our bikes out and rode four miles on their great bike trail along the highway. We toured their new grocery store two miles down the road. They are beginning to have all of the modern conveniences. We met more friends of Butch's and laughed with them. All of their stories are so interesting.

We ended our busy day watching old neighborhood parts of my dad's old home movies that Gary had put on a DVD for us. Then we watched the movie, Radio, ate Peanut M&Ms and relaxed, but I'm always listening for bears.