On the road with a tour – Denali to Anchorage
Everyone seemed to enjoy having the morning to relax and/or explore at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge yesterday morning.
To avoid getting to Anchorage too soon, I offered the group a chance to go to the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer as well as the scheduled stop at the Iditarod Sled Dog Race headquarters in Wasilla, and as expected, everyone thought it was a good idea – unlike most of North America, New Zealand is still very much agriculture oriented.
At the Musk Ox Farm, we again had a very good guide, 15-year-old Hannah, who was born in Palmer and is both passionate and knowledgeable about musk ox and the farm operation. After modelling a nachaq for me (it’s knitted from qiviut, the beautiful underwool of a musk ox), Gay couldn’t resist buying it, and many raffle tickets on a $6,000 qiviut blanket were sold to other members of our group.
Doc and I gave everyone a few suggestions for dinner as we came into Anchorage, but we all ended up at Phyllis’s Cafe and Salmon Bake, 2 blocks from the hotel. The staff there quickly set up a line of tables for us (the dinner rush was pretty much over), and the food and service was excellent as always.
This morning, we took a 2½-hour tour of the city, now everyone is free to explore again. Tonight we have our last land-based get-together in the hotel conference room. For me, the tour ends tomorrow morning when everyone else heads for Seward to board the Summit, one of the top-rated ships on the Alaska run – sigh.
About The Author
