We got a little closer today; we visited Talkeetna. It’s a funky little town that is set up in the summertime like a several-block street fair. Lots of arts, crafts, people, brew, and tours.
The highlight for me? A 1948 Whizzer motorbike.
Second owner. Says it runs just fine (which was better than ours did in the 1950s and 60s. He got on it and pedaled really hard and it did start right up, and (almost) purr like a kitten. (A one-cylinder kitten.)
I remember it seeming bigger.
Only later in the day did we discover the vehicles in the mist.
Old abandoned cars, vans, and trucks buried in the forest, never to move again.
And then, serendipity. We passed a sign on the highway for Gigglewood Lakeside Inn. Well, who could just drive by and not go back to look at a lakeside inn named Gigglewood? Not us. I pulled the car over on the shoulder, waited for a break in traffic, and turned around. There, four and a half miles later, we drove up to their door.
A lady (Linda) sitting in the yard spotted us and came over to visit. Pretty soon we were out of the car enjoying her yard, and her life, which it turns out is a lot like ours. She used to live in Boulder. She has a grandson in Louisville and an Uncle in Lafayette. As Judy and I just uprooted and headed out for adventure in our VW Bus in 1968, she and her husband chucked everything and headed to Alaska. Same as us. It just took us a little longer to get to Alaska.
We could have visited for hours, except she had guests arrive, and we had to get home to empty and refill Henry.
And the answer to yesterday’s salmon identification; we have it on good authority that the answer is “Yes”. That’s a Sockeye Salmon. They’re the ones that turn red with a green head when they swim upstream to spawn.
Next question. Why are there so many kinds of Pacific salmon and only one kind of Atlantic salmon? Inquiring minds want to know…
