LONG DAY ON THE BUS

Today is mostly a long drive (238 miles) from Seward through Anchorage and then on to our stop for the night at Talkeetna.  Frankly, there’s not a lot to see along this route, so having a well-charged Kindle or the like was a necessity.  We were to be picked up at Windsong Lodge around 10:45 am, so we could sleep late and then wander over to the building housing Resurrection Roadhouse, the lodge’s captive restaurant, which was pretty nicely situated.

Off to the left of the above shot was an even prettier view:

I still can’t believe the great weather we had.  For the strenuous bus ride, it was necessary to fortify to the max.  Loni had steel-cut oatmeal, but I succumbed to the siren lure of Macadamia nut french toast and bacon.  Hey, I’m on vacation!  Have to say, the best French toast ever, but I confess I couldn’t finish.  On the right is the reverse view from the restaurant.

The bus was called the Park Conx Bus and I have no idea what that name means, but it was adequately comfortable, but certainly not luxurious.  We got our bags loaded and settled in for the first leg, a little over two hours to Anchorage where we would have time for lunch and a very quick dash into the Native American Culture Museum.  We wished we could have spent more time there, as the Native Tribes exhibits were quite nice (see glass cases below).  The third floor was devoted to the history of baseball in Alaska.  Apparently, it was quite the thing.  Who knew?  As for the other shot, well, you gotta give ‘em an “A” for honesty.

We had a quick bite in the Museum’s restaurant, which wasn’t bad (soup and salad), and got back on the bus for the longer slog up to Talkeetna.  Like I said, there wasn’t much to see or report on for this segment.  Loni thought the flat marshlands we were passing through should have been prime moose country, but alas.  There were sled dog trails running beside the highway.  According to our driver (hmmm), the Iditerod Race is an homage to the hardy mushers who took diptheria vaccine to Nome during an outbreak.  After the marshes, we were largely driving through tree tunnels that blocked any view.  We were very happy to finally arrive at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, whose principal claim to fame was supposed to be a knockout first view, weather permitting, of Denali, as Mt. McKinley is now officially known.  Although the lodge was quite nice, we settled into easy chairs to look out through the windows at, largely, . . . clouds.

Loni insisted I take a picture of the map of the mountains, as the forecast was for rain the next three days and we might not see anything at all.  As you can see, the map hasn’t caught up with the new naming of Denali.

Loni has been looking for moose ever since we hit Alaska.  Don’t know what her mania is, but she really wants to see one.  We had dinner in the lodge cafe, just hamburgers and fries and, of course lava cake with homemade coffee ice cream.  Well, I was happy!  But Loni was as well.  She finally sighted her moose.