An old mushing sled - no longer in commission
This creative sign welcomed us to
Talkeetna's funky downtown
Gary Sloan performs at the Fairview Inn
Day 10: Sunday, July 30, 2006
Dog Sleds and the Fairview Inn
We hadn't quite gotten our fill of Denali National Park, so we headed back over there for one more trip. This time we didn't catch the shuttle to the interior; instead we just hung around the visitor center. The visitor center is packed with some amazing exhibits about the wildlife and the landscape. We checked those out then watched a short film about the changing seasons in Denali. Our plan was to catch a bus over to the kennels where they keep the sled dogs so to kill some time we took a short walk along some well established trails.
It was time to catch the bus, so we took a 10 minute ride over to the kennels. It's here that the Denali rangers keep a large pack of sled dogs. These dogs are used to pull sleds while patrolling the park in the winter. Mushing is a tradition that has been going on for about 3,000 years, as evidence suggests. We got to spend about 30 minutes walking around and petting the dogs - each one with a unique name: Orca, Chulitna, Tulee, Keta, et cetera. The dogs were very friendly and adored the attention. After petting time was over we watched a short demonstration of the dogs in action and got to learn more about the mushing tradition.
After the dog sled demonstration we hung around the park a bit more checking out the Murie Science and Learning Center. After we'd had our fill of Denali, we loaded up the RV and headed south about 120 miles to a town known as Talkeetna.
We arrived in Talkeetna at about 6:00 PM and found an RV park that had a couple of spots left. We made chili dogs for dinner and then were off to get a feel for the Talkeetna night life. We happened across a little bar called the Fairview Inn. This place had personality. Not just the building, but the clientele as well. It's the kind of place where an eclectic group gets together for a good time — anyone from the hard working local, to the overdressed tourist, to the underdressed tourist to the hard-core backpacker that just came off a two week stint in the back country (and smelled as such). It's the kind of place where the bartender was referred to as the "inn keeper" (we actually overheard an old guy calling him this more than once). The room was probably no more than 20 feet by 30 feet and cozily packed with moose antlers, bear skins and pictures on the wall of people who I'm sure died some time in the distant past. There was also a dog wondering freely around the bar looking for attention. I pet it once, then smelled my hand and decided it had gotten all the love from me that it was going to get.
The entertainment was just as good, though I wouldn't call it talent. We listened to a jazz artist and his pianist perform, a woman who sung songs in French, English and Frenglish, and then Gary Sloan headlined the night. Who's Gary Sloan you ask? Apparently he's really big in Talkeetna. We talked to his wife and during the winter they drive school buses to support their passion for showing people a good time at funky little joints like the Fairview Inn. Gary Sloan started the show with “Jim Dandy to the Rescue” and then wrapped up our night with “Let's Get Together...Come On, Come On, Let's Get Together...”