The
Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
traveled to Talkeetna, Alaska
their first time here, but not their last time
June 29 - 30, 2009
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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Talkeetna, Alaska |
Below: The Two RV Gypsies arrived in Talkeetna for their first visit
here, but not their last.
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Below: This RV is just too cute for words
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Below: Karen Duquette loved the words on the back of the
cute RV "It's not where you go in life, it's who's beside you
for the trip". And of course, Karen always has her amazing husband
by her side. Now and forever! |
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 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. (more of Mt McKinley can be reached through the link at
the very bottom of this page) |
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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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| 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 Duquette 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 did not matter, because the food was amazing. |
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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
two RV Gypsies returned to Talkeetna on July 28th, just to eat both lunch
and dinner at Cafe Michele and to celebrate the anniversary of their first
date, 44 years ago. |
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Below: After lunch, the two
RV Gypsies informed Janus that they would return for dinner. The table
was all set up and reserved for them when they arrived later that evening
for dinner. The two RV Gypsies may be tourists but they sure were made
to feel at home at Cafe Michele. |
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Below: A wonderful bread pudding
- and once again, a very happy Lee Duquette with the decoration from the
bread pudding. |
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Below: Karen Duquette and Janus,
cook, server and son of the owner, Michele. Since Karen and Lee were celebrating
the anniversary of their first date 44 years ago, Janus gave them two
hearts to keep, and Karen will keep them forever. |
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