We made the drive into Talkeetna from Denali. We got a surprise at the RV Park. It seems that I made the reservations for JUNE instead of July! They were booked up but we are staying the two days in their overflow area (parking lot). Oh well. We are still enjoying the stay. We went to dinner last night in “downtown” but by then most of the stores were closed. We will be going back this morning.We decided to make the drive out to Petersville Road, leading west out of Trapper Creek. Originally built as a mining road, it is a popular destination for 4-wheelers and snowmobiles.The scenery along the road was typical Alaska, beautiful, strewn with beaver ponds, fireweed and taiga.We crossed over one of the larger creeks on a bridge.The open fields of grasses and ponds continued to amaze me. This is a vast territory.Here is one of the large of the ponds. This one was stocked by Alaska Fish and Game. I should have brought my rod!This historic roadhouse is located at the fork in the road, at mile 19. We drove to the right since it was for high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles. After reaching the Petersville recreation and mining area we turned back and took the left fork.Quickly (.2 mile) we came to this bridge, I started to go over it but Cathy noticed it was for ATVs only. I parked and walked it instead. This was the end of the road for most vehicles.In the morning we went to the Flying Squirrel bakery. We had tried this location on two previous trips and it had been closed. It was open so we just beat the crowd and had a breakfast of pastries.Cathy and I both had, amongst other treats, these wonderful potato and mozzerella buns. Cathy walked out with the rest of the stuff we ordered as these were very filling. We now have a lunch and maybe a dinner! Oops, we stopped at Denali Brewery and Distillery for lunch. They make a single barrel malt whiskey but had none available for retail (a very small batch).After breakfast and lunch we took a quick drive east to Trapper Creek to visit the Three Bears grocery store. After purchasing the necessary Monsters, we headed west on the Parks Highway to Montana Creek. There was bridge reconstruction going on so first we went to see the areas where Jason and I fished for salmon on a previous trip, then went across the highway to see the commercial campground. We did not notice a lot of difference between the commercial and the State Campground, so we decided that we made a good decision on the previous trip. We stopped at the library in Talkeetna (a very good library) and Cathy picked up a book by a Georgia author. After the library we headed into town. It was drizzling, keeping the crowds down, and we walked around the shops. This Airstream was polished to a great shine and repurposed into a restaurant.We walked to the Forest Service offices to see the Denali statistics. All Denali climbers must check in and get permits here before attempting the mountain. All of the rescue teams work out of this facility. Interesting to note that 70% of the attempts on Denali were summits while only 5 climbers attempted nearby Foraker with 0 summits. Foraker is about 3,000 feet lower than Denali but must be a tough climb! Also . . NO deaths this year on Denali.While in Talkeetna, we had to make the mandatory visit to the starting point of most climbing expeditions, this general store and pub.We continued to walk the downtown, watching two Alaska Railroad passenger trains pass through, and wound up at Aurora Dora. Dora is from Brazil and has taken remarkable photographs of the aurora, all within about 100 miles of Talkeetna. She offers photographing education trips, and knows the exact date and time of every photograph in her studio, of which there are hundreds. I finally broke down and purchased one of her photos. In the morning we are heading to Anchorage and have both Costco and Tidal Wave Books in our sights.
Travelling with the Schinglers 
Loved that town!
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Very beautiful pictures ššš
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