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The two RV Gypsies went to Talkeetna, Alaska June 29, 2009 |
 The Talkeetna townsite was established in
1919 when the railroad surveyed and auctioned 80 lots. Half of the lots
already had improvements on them. The average price at the sale was $14.25.
The historic village of Talkeetna is nestled at the base of Denali
(Mount McKinley), North America's tallest peak. Talkeetna has a
panoramic view of the Alaska Range that can be enjoyed
and photographed from several places throughout the town. Shock
waves of the "Great Alaskan Quake of 1964" rocked Talkeetna, the same year that the road from Anchorage to Talkeetna was completed,
thus marking change and an end of dependency on the railroad. |
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Below:
Photos from the beach area of Talkeetna - Day 1 - Mt McKinley (Denali)
which was completely covered by clouds and could not be seen at all. |
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| Below: Three rivers, the Talkeetna, Chulitna, and Susitna, converge here to become the Big Susitna drainage. The word "Susitna" in Den'aina Indian language means "Sand Island River". The name "Talkeetna" loosely translated, means "River of Plenty", or more literally, "Place where food is stored near the river," meaning a place where a food cache was located. Chulitna means "River of Big Leaf Trees". The Den'aina Indians were an Athabaskan subgroup who inhabited the Upper Cook Inlet drainage. – For some local residents Talkeetna simply means: "Where three rivers meet". | |
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| Below - Day 2 - Mt McKinley (known as Denali to natives) is visible with some clouds. They say only 30% of the people get a photo with the peaks of Denali showing. On day 3 the two RV Gypsies got even better photos. There are lots of photos of Mt. McKinley throughout this website, including some with NO clouds at all. | |
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| The 4th annual "Moose on Parade"- large, uniquely designed and decorated 4-foot high to life-size moose "on the loose" were all over Talkeetna. They will be in the parade during Moose Dropping Festival and be auctioned off after the parade on July 11th. The two RV Gypsies did not stay in Talkeetna long enough to see the parade. | |
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 Karen
Duquette tried to get the moose to mush - Good luck girl - LOL |
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Below:
A giant hamburger at the West Rib Pub & Grill in Talkeetna,
Alaska - This hamburger has often been featured on the food channel
on TV. Karen saw that someone at the next table had ordered the hamburger,
so she asked the man not to eat it until after shoe took a photo. Then
other people in the restaurant got up and took pictures too. The food
was good here, but the two RV Gypsies preferred to eat at Cafe Michele
which is featured below. |
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Below - The favorite Alaskan Restaurant of the two RV Gypsies in all of Alaska. |
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| On June 29, 2009 the two RV Gypsies, who are fast becoming professional travelers, ate at Cafe Michele in Talkeetna, Alaska. The food was a bit pricey, but yet quite reasonable for the quality and quantity of the food. The server, Janus, was professional, personable, fun, and an excellent server. Janus sometimes served as the chef, as well. The atmosphere was very nice. Therefore, this restaurant got an excellent rating in the opinion of the two RV Gypsies. In fact, the food and service was so good that the two RV Gypsies ate there several more times, despite the price. | |
| Their website says that this restaurant was voted one of the Top Ten Restaurants in Alaska, 2001 by the Food network and they were featured on the Food networks's "best of..." "Places to Take Dad", 2002 | |
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 A strange thing happened: Karen was able to photograph
some of the food they were served, but one main menu item was unable to
be photographed. The camera would not allow Karen to take the photo. Yet,
when the salt shaker was put in the same spot as the dinner plate was, the
camera snapped the photo. Then Karen replaced the dinner plate in the same
spot the salt shaker was and the camera would not take a photo. The dinner plate
was moved in every spot of the table, but the camera refused to allow the
dinner plate to be photographed. Every setting on the camera was tried,
but the camera would just not photograph the main course that day. WEIRD!
It didn't matter, because the food was amazing. |
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| The two RV Gypsies returned to Talkeetna on July 27th, just to eat both lunch and dinner at Cafe Michele and to celebrate the anniversary of their first date, 44 years ago. Photos are posted as item #24 on the Alaska travel map. | |
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Below: This RV is just too cute for words |
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Below: Photos taken from
the moving RV while traveling from Homer to Talkeetna. Karen Duquette
loved the Batmobile. |
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Below: Houses along the way |
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Below: Houston's very small fire department. |
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Below: An RV that repairs cracked windshields. This is a must in Alaska. The two RV Gypsies ended up with cracks in the windshield of both their RV and toad during this trip. |
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