Talkeetna #1

It was a beautiful day in Ketchikan this morning with brilliant blue, cloudless skies and mild temperatures (mid 50’s). Although excited for the next leg of our adventure, I think we were all a little sad to leave. We really enjoyed out time there and would love to go back someday.
We checked out, got a ride to the airport, and began loading the plane. We have done this so many times now, it is becoming a routine. I pull out all the bags and lay them on the ramp. Then, I do my preflight while Michele gathers clean clothes and repacks them in a new bag. I swear we haven’t purchased much of anything, yet the baggage compartment seems to be getting stuffed full. We’re almost “cubed out” as they say in airplane-speak (out of cubic inches, no more room for stuff).

Michele snapped a few nice photos as we took off and climbed out to the Northwest. Initially, we leveled off at 6,500 feet to enjoy the view, but I knew from the forecast that poor weather lay ahead. When I saw the clouds in the distance, we began our climb to 10,000 feet. We were on top of the clouds most of the way, but had to descend down into the clouds as we approached our planned fuel / lunch stop in Yakutat. We picked up a little ice, but it was nothing serious. I flew another instrument approach and we soon touched down to the wet runway under dark, gray skies in a light rain.

Yakutat would probably not be my first choice of stopping points, except for its location. It lies almost exactly halfway between Ketchikan and Talkeetna. The fuel pump there is self-serve, so I taxied right up to the pump. Michele and Sandy took the kids inside to get warm while Roland and I wrestled with the pump. We finally got it working and pumped 50 gallons into each wing tank.

After we finished fueling, we pushed the plane back away from the pump a bit (hard to push!) and joined the rest of the family in the restaurant. I wish I had my camera with me, but I left it inside the plane. This place had character! The sign out front said “Food, Shelter, Booze” and had a big, stuffed bear inside. We ate a quick lunch and then headed back out to the plane for the next flight.

We climbed back up to our cruising altitude and soon the weather began to improve. As we neared Anchorage, we were in the sunshine with blue skies above. However, there was a solid layer of clouds below. The tallest mountains poked out like islands in a cloudy ocean. I took a bunch of pictures from the plane as we headed inland toward our destination. We even got a glimpse of Denali (Mt. McKinley) in the distance as we began our descent.

Cameron had a fever last night and was not acting like himself today, so Michele and Sandy took him to see the doctor while Roland and I took the older boys and got checked into the hotel. The Talkeetna Lodge is BEAUTIFUL! It sits on a hill with a nice view of a creek and the mountains. You can see Denali when the weather is clear.

Before too long, Cameron was back with a bottle of antibiotics. After dinner, we went for a walk around the lodge and the kids had fun playing on the grassy hills. Cameron really perked up and it was great to see him back to his old self again. After a while, we sat in a grassy spot in the shade with a view of Denali and just relaxed for a while. It was really nice and I hated to end it, but it was getting late and it was time to start getting the kids settled for bed.

It’s really weird how it doesn’t get dark here. It’s 11pm as I’m writing this and its broad daylight outside! Good thing they have heavy curtains here in the hotel room. Tomorrow, we’re scheduled to take a ride on the Alaskan railroad and go river rafting.