Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Are You With The Vampire People?

Springtime in the north demands that you venture out of the big city.  Out past the last Eagle River exit. Some say that is the end of civilization. Others say that is where the real Alaska begins. Huckleberry and I were going to find out. We were on our way to beautiful downtown Talkeena.
The skies were gray and the weather forecast was calling for showers, but non-found us. Our biggest worry was getting through Wasilla the hometown of the current spokeswoman for the koch brothers. Wasilla  is nothing but a  endless strip mall, after strip mall, traffic jams and Alaska’s outstanding example of what no joining laws and uncontroled population growth,  can do for you.  And if going through all that mess once weren’t enough we had to go back through on Sunday, Easter Sunday at that.


Semi Rural Alaska


After turning off the Parks highway on to the Talkeena road it wasn’t long till we found the Flying Squirrel Café Bakery.  What a delightful place it is. They bake all their pastries, breads, and Saturday night pizzas, in a enormous wood fired oven and unlike the wood ovens in town at LaRoma, Brewhouse, and other restaurants, they use real birch instead of glue logs.
The soup was excellent the pastries were grand and the coffee espresso. Viva la Flying Squirrel.


Nagleys Store Downtown Talkeena

Our accommodations in Talkeena were most splendid, overlooking the main street at Main Street Suites. We freshened up and ventured out, cameras on tripods, searching for the real Alaska shot. . One fellow smoking on a porch asked if we were with the vampire people? (I think he thought we were part of the Frostbite crew that had been filming another Hollywood movie in Alaska)  I splaned to him we are cultural anthropologists on a photography mission. He didn’t believe me and said he was calling the radio station.   Anchorage Press Story On Frostbite

Did we find the real Alaska? Don’t know. We did find a town with a youthful spirit, and citizens engaged in the community. All good signs that Alaska might still have a heart, that isn’t pathetic or red. Our mission is to keep on looking, and riding!


Local Artist At Work Down Town Talkeena





2 comments:

  1. Sounds like an awesome fun trip. The Flying Squirrel sounds great. Only one place in Arizona (so far) would I drive out of my way to get an Americano. OK, well, two.

    I often tell folks I am making a documentary when I run around with camera/video camera/audio recorder ... which I usually am ... but I may start telling them we are really vampires and see how far that gets us.

    Always enjoy living vicariously through your travels! Keep on blogging.

    --Liz @ Creative Liberty

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Liz. Always good to here from you...

    ReplyDelete