Celebrating in Talkeetna

Dear Family and Friends,

Denali or Mount McKinley

Kitty writing this week. After another busy week at the temple site, we took a little break. For our 49th wedding anniversary we spent a couple of nights in Talkeetna AK at the Lodge there celebrating. We had a spectacular view of Denali or Mount McKinley from our room. That is a rarity because it is almost always shrouded by clouds. There was still plenty of snow on the ground and only a little green grass around the heated sidewalks. It's roughly a two hour drive north of here. 

Denali, federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft.

We had a nice dinner at the restaurant there, again overlooking Denali. We saw a stuffed bear in the lobby that was shot by a 10 year old girl. If we ever see one here in the wild, I hope we're in the car with an easy way to leave quickly. It was truly massive. The bullets she used were made at Barnes Bullets in Mona, Utah, where our neighbor in Mapleton, Alan, works. Small world. As missionaries, we aren't allowed to carry weapons:) We do have bear spray in the car and on our bikes, but have never used it.

Farrell on hike.

Mushrooms on tree.

Mushrooms on tree stump.

The next day we drove further north to the Denali Stake Park. It was still snowy, but we did take a nice hike and saw lots of mushrooms and an eagle. I lost one of my shoe grippers right off my foot and didn't even notice until we went back to the car. The ground is frozen on top and sometimes we would step and fall into a hole about 8" deep. It was a little unnerving. I asked Farrell to bring the bear spray. He didn't think we needed it as the bears were probably still hibernating. But hibernating where??? He put it in his pocket and I tried not to get too far ahead or behind him. We did see lots of moose prints and scat. Another massive animal I don't want to meet in the wild! 

Kitty at Susitna River.

Talkeetna Lodge lobby w. fireplace.

Selfie w. Denali in background.

We spent some time walking around in the small town of Talkeetna. It's full of old fashioned shops. They make most of their money in the summer. This is the shoulder season and the tourists have just started showing up. Many of the shops weren't open yet. The Susitna river that flows by had huge ice chunks in it. We stopped on our way home for some pizza and pastries at an artsy little place. It was nice to get back to the lodge for a bath and a comfy rest in their new beds. Apparently the mattresses, bedding, and towels are all new. The front desk said we were the first ones to use them in that room. Next year they plan to replace the couches and chairs in the rooms. They told us from mid-May thru the end of summer the place is full. There was live music Friday night, but it wasn't my style. We did have a great mountain view from our window, it was peaceful, and a nice break. I appreciate being married to a wonderful man and father of our beautiful eleven children. It hasn't been all smooth sailing, but I appreciate having him by my side though it all.

On our way home the next morning we stopped at the Kahiltna Birch Works. They gather birch sap from the surrounding trees and make Birch Syrup. It tastes like maple syrup mixed with molasses and is 4x the price. One liter cost $60. Farrell said he didn't think he could enjoy his pancakes when the syrup cost that much. It was interesting, they had samples, and we bought a cute Frontiersman sourdough hand towel we will use to cover Farrell's real sour dough starters. The lovely young lady behind the counter had her 5 month old daughter, Lily, laying in a porta crib right inside the door. Her dad came in and picked her up and it was definitely a family owned business. You could look through a window at the processing equipment. A batch size is 10,000 gallons of raw 1% sugar sap that they reduce down to 150 gallons of 67% sugar syrup. The sap was running while we were there and it was worth a stop. They either collect it in individual buckets or in batch through blue tubing strung from tree to tree. The sap runs over a very short two week season divided into three distinct levels of quality -- early, mid and late. The flavor gets stronger as the season progresses.

Hope you had a great week. The temple is going great. We had the last large concrete pour on the main floor last week. The weather has been very cooperative for the most part. We are grateful to be here in this beautiful place. Keep in touch. #Think Celestial

Love always,

Elder & Sister Badger