lickity list

Day 12 . Talkeetna

Talkeetna is just a small spit-in-the-bucket kind of town south of Denali. It was roughly the halfway point back from Denali to Anchorage and from the train it looked a few dirty buildings that had nothing to offer.

	Actually hitting the pavement in the small town proved otherwise. Having grown up in a small town by the 'lower 48' standards, I would say this is true of most small towns: the highway/railroad views belie the true nature of the town itself. This makes sense - who wants a highway or railroad running through the most charming parts of town? But I digress...

Talkeetna held the biggest revelation of this whole trip: The Roadhouse. A small cafe and boarding house with surprisingly good food and was a magnet for both young hippies and cruise-goers alike. The aroma of good food was mixed with an inhale of someone who didn't believe in purchasing deodorant - but it gave the place a bit of authenticity rather than being off-putting. With only about 6 entrees, a few soup specialities, cinnamon rolls and brewed tea* as their main menu, this cafe seemed to be following all the rules of restaurants shows: small menu and good food - with an eclectic atmosphere. A quick trip down the hall gave a brief view into the bunk rooms and laundry services offered to the house guests, with amenities rivaling a maintained summer campground. The waiter was friendly and clearly liked to make friendly fun of tourists by answering the question "do you take credit cards?"** with "no, only seal skin furs." Poor guy, though, as well all looked at our table mates with a look as if to implore "do you have a seal skin fur?" We didn't have any furs and he quickly relented and they accept our credit cards.

*Good ice tea was really hard to get and most iced tea consisted of crap instant mix. Just saying.
**Side note: To defend my question - it seems there are some establishments that don't take credit cards, take a weird assortment of credit cards or have minimums, so I thought it a fair question. Especially since we had no cash and they wanted to be paid.