We brought our own black slacks, socks, and shoes, and they provided the baby blue shirts, grey vests and ties. They also gave us black rainproof jackets with removable fleece lining to use as needed. After all these years Dan is tying a necktie every day! Mostly our job consists of booking tours and answering questions. Some days one of us goes to Talkeetna, a small Alaskan town about an hour away where we have an office. On those days in addition to selling tours we usually go to the train depot to get guests on and off the correct coaches. One day last week Dan was asked to drive a couple to Denali because to woman got sick and couldn't take the train. It's about two hours north of us. We are definitely in the wilderness!
On our days off we try to take the tours so we can describe them to the guests.
The Wilderness Jet Boat Adventure included time on the water where we saw many eagles flying and one in his nest. This is Isiah, a lifelong Alaskan resident, who took us on our tour. Usually they use a larger boat, but the water was too shallow the day we went.
He took us on the Talkeetna River for a few miles and stopped the boat for us to get off. We walked about 1/4 mile to an area where we saw a trapper's cabin, the furs he trapped, the cache where they kept the food away from the bears, and the pits where they cooked. Isiah described life back then in great detail. We were very impressed with his knowledge and ability to make the past come alive.
Here's a picture of the Trapper's cabin. Notice the grassy roof. It was made that way for insulation. Inside is a cot and some cooking utensils on a table along with some furs. I can't imagine living there especially in the winter.On another day we went for a ride on a covered wagon pulled by two horses. They came right down to the lodge to pick us up and took us up a dirt road to a spot where we had an awesome view of Mt. McKinley and the Alaskan range. After explaining about the mountains and the flora around us they took us to another spot where they had a campfire going. We learned how to pan for gold which is not an easy thing to do. Everyone found gold (of course it was planted), but it was a fun experience. We roasted marshmallows and made smores which tasted really yummy. They had some caribou behind a fence and we kissed it by putting a graham cracker in our mouth and leaning into the caribou. What a hoot! They had moose antlers which they put on our shoulders and took pictures. Before we left to come back they gave each of us a laminated card with the gold that we found with the saying, "As long as you bear this card you'll never be broke." So we'll make sure we keep it with us! Here we are at the covered wagon.
Last week we went to the Sun Dog Kennel in Talkeetna where Jerry Sousa, a ten time Iditarod finisher, keeps and trains his dogs for the race. He has 70 dogs of all ages including some puppies. Since there is no snow this time of year, Jerry devised a vehicle that the dogs can pull. They hooked up 16 dogs to his "Jerry Mobile" and took us for a ride. When the dogs realized that they were choosing dogs to run they barked and barked as if to say, "Pick me, pick me!" What a racket. It's a good thing they are out in the middle of nowhere. Here they are.
And here we are on the Jerry Mobile. After the ride Jerry explained the Iditarod, shared some of his experiences on previous races, and displayed his sled and a map of the trail.
In addition to taking tours off property we have tried to view various Ranger programs at the lodge such as talks about bear, moose, Mt. McKinley, and the famous 1964 earthquake. We also took a nature hike on one of the trails.
Misc info: The 15 ft pile of snow by our RV has now diminished to about 3 ft. After a beautiful week of temps in the 70's it has dropped back to the 60's with a little rain. They said that last year they had 34 days of rain in a row, so we won't complain. Today the sunrise was 3:45 am and the sunset will be 12:05am. It just doesn't get dark!
