My Goal is Simple

Aside from the Alaskan food post I have scheduled for tomorrow, this will be the last Alaska vacation post. So if you’re tired of just reading about The Great Land, have no fear, it is almost over.

Jackie took us to The Reindeer Farm in Palmer on what turned out to be a  particularly blustery day. The workers informed us it was due to the glacial wind – the temperature was a good 20 degrees cooler at the farm. Crazy!

At the farm, we were able to pet and feed reindeer, visit a moose, and see a buffalo up close and personal. When I was a little girl, I used to think that reindeer were fictional beings created for the purpose of Christmas stories. I can’t help it, I grew up in Phoenix, AZ so my exposure to cold inhabiting animals was limited. While up in Alaska, we learned that reindeer are what most people call domesticated caribou. Learn something new each trip!

The reindeer were such gentle creatures and Weston couldn’t stop squealing with joy at the opportunity to feed them. They were docile around the little guy and followed him around because he was an easy target to get food from.

The antlers of reindeer are covered in a velvet that sheds before they fall off each summer/fall. Reindeer antlers are the largest of all relative-sized deer species and have two separate groups of points.

We couldn’t stop staring at the mountain set against the backdrop of the farm. It was gorgeous. The glacier causing the wind/cold was off to the left but due to clouds, I was unable to get a good shot.

Sadly, we didn’t get to see a wild moose this trip, but we did get to meet Denali, a bull moose at the farm.

Moose are also members of the deer family and the Alaskan Bull Moose is the largest species in the world. Weston thought the moose was quite friendly.

We have wild bison at the Wichita Wildlife Refuge here in Lawton so we’ve seen quite a few. But we never had the opportunity to feed one until Alaska. Again, we couldn’t get over how beautiful all the animals were up close and personal.

If you really want to get a feel for a state, attend the State Fair. As luck would have it, the Alaska State Fair started during our trip and we’ve never been known to turn down elephant ears. I have been to a fair amount of state fairs but I have never been to one with such scenery in the background. Seriously, it looks like we were attending a fair in a painting by Bob Ross.

It was your typical fair, just set against beautiful mountains.

I thought this was funny – a wine bar at the fair in a church.

Amen.

We also spent some time in Wasilla (yes, the home of Sarah Palin). Wasilla is a great little town and with a population of just under 8,000, it has a lot of amenities. Like a Target! Yes, ladies and gentleman, Wasilla has a Target. But Lawton (population ~ 90,000) does not. This fact baffles me. A lot. The picture above is over the lake that Ms. Palin reportedly lives on in Wasilla. News flash – she is not roughing it in the slightest. She has access to more than I do in Lawton, Oklahoma plus some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen.

On our last full day in Alaska, we were finally able to see Mt. McKinley in the distance. I don’t have a telephoto lens on my camera so these pictures don’t do it justice. We were on top of a mountain in Eagle River, which is approximately 200 miles from Mt. McKinley. The peak is at 20,320 feet in elevation, making it the tallest mountain in North America and one of the Seven Summits. You can also see Mt. Hunter (13,965 feet) in the center and Mt. Foraker (17,400 feet) on the left.

Little guy was quite cranky during this excursion so getting a family shot with Mt. McKinley was quite difficult. This one was the best of the bunch, which isn’t saying much. That being said, we couldn’t have asked for a better family vacation. Clay deployed shortly after Weston was born so we haven’t had many opportunities to travel. We went to Okracoke Island over R&R when Weston was a year old but other than that, our options have been limited. This Alaska trip is the first of many spectacular ones we have planned as a family. Thank you for letting me share our memories with you. Hopefully it wasn’t too painful. And don’t forget – tomorrow I am going to discuss the food we ate, which includes bear, caribou, and the freshest salmon I’ve ever had.

Talkeetna, Alaska is nestled at the base of Denali National Park. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Kinley in all it’s glory on the drive up to Talkeetna but sadly, that was not the case for us. Jackie has heard that McKinley/Denali (I will refer to the mountain as McKinley from here on out) is only visible 20% of the time and we fell into the 80% that did not see McKinley on our journey to Talkeetna.

We specifically chose that day to go to Talkeetna because the weather was forecasted to cooperate between the hours of 12pm to 2pm. Jackie took up to the top of the mountain by her house to see if we could see McKinley but the clouds were just too dense. McKinley should be to our right in the picture above.

This picture was taken just outside of Talkeetna, about two hours up the road from Anchorage. Again, McKinley should be visible but the clouds were just too much. I thought I could make out a peak, but it was probably just more clouds.

Talkeetna is a quaint little town that caters to tourist wishing to fish, raft, and flightsee around McKinley. According to Wikipedia, the population is 772 and the town is thought to be the inspiration for Cicely, Alaska, the fictional town in Northern Exposure.

One example of the quirkiness of Talkeetna – a shop owner told us all about the controversy surrounding The Moose Dropping Festival, an event that involves betting on varnished pieces of moose poop that are then dropped from a helicopter onto a target. It seems like PETA took the name Moose Dropping too literal and wanted to start a campaign to cancel the festival due to the misconception that the residents of Talkeetna were dropping moose from a helicopter. The shop owner said it took hours upon hours of phone conversation to clear up the matter. Sadly, the festival was cancelled in 2009 but there is hope to resurrect it in the future.

We ate lunch at The Roadhouse, a charming restaurant and lodge. I will go into more detail about our meal in the Alaskan food blog post I have planned. The Roadhouse is one of the oldest buildings on Main Street and President Harding is said to have stopped by in 1923, when Alaska was still a territory.

The tables are long and you eat surrounded by strangers who will become friends by the end of the meal. We ate lunch with a lovely couple who are from Alaska and were just visiting Talkeetna for the day. They were both children of military fathers who were stationed in Alaska during the 60s and decided to stay because Alaska is just that special. The couple enjoyed hearing about how Jackie and I became friends at Ft. Drum and appreciated how close friendships become with the military lifestyle.

We have been through a lot. Jackie and I talked about how fun it would be if Fran, Erin, and Briana were with us too. We’re all moms now and spread across the country so planning a weekend get together takes immense scheduling. But we’re committed. Our last Girls Weekend was March 2008 so we’re due for another one soon. Maybe this winter? NYC, anyone?

I keep telling Clay that I want to live in Alaska. At least for a couple of years. Forget about Hawaii, Germany, Japan, or Italy – I want Alaska. Luckily Clay has been bitten by the same bug. We’ve been assured that the winters aren’t any worse than the ones we experienced up at Ft. Drum and we’ve learned that we much prefer cooler temperatures and changing seasons. Will we ever have the opportunity to live in Alaska? Only time will tell. Will I dream about it? You betcha.