Alaska Review! Day 2--Anchorage to Talkeetna

We slept relatively well.   I will say that I woke a few times, which isn't anything new for me.  I did take a peek outside around 2 AM and was amused that it really wasn't completely dark.  Yup, the midnight sun is real! 😀  I think we woke up for real around 6 or 6:30.  Not too bad, considering we were adjusting to a four hour time change.

As I noted in the last post, we ate our breakfast at the hotel.  We made the day's sandwiches, packed up the room and headed out.

I outlined the plan for this day here.

First stop was delayed a bit when we saw a sign for Thunderbird Falls.  We decided to check them out.

But before we got there, we managed to find an interesting construction site.

 See those people suspended in the basket?  Wow!

Onward to the falls.

 

This is an easy 'hike' along a path.  It took us about 30 minutes, although we didn't head down close to the water, which you can do.  It says it's a mile, but I don't think it was that long, based on the number of steps my Fitbit logged.  We didn't put our hiking boots on, but we probably should have, since it was wet.  It's $5 to park, and you use the envelopes provided in the parking lot to pay.

 

There they are!

Back in the minivan and off to the next stop, which was close by...Eklutna Spirit Houses.

I knew that the kids weren't going to love hearing much about the history of this spot.  It didn't help that the mosquitoes were out in full force, even with bug repellent, and it was raining.  But we managed to have the tour ($12.50 total--$5 each for Chretien and I, plus $2.50 for Trust--the boys were free).

The tour guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the church.  One thing I did not realize is that Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox are essentially the same religion with a few cultural changes inserted.  She also told us that "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" pretty much got things correct as far as the religious aspects included in the film.

 This is the new church, and below is the old church.  You get to visit both on the tour.

Once we saw the inside of the churches, we were free to tour the cemetery on our own.  We did keep in mind that these were the graves of people, but it was a unique experience to see the colorful homes.

 

We stayed at the Eklutna Spirit Houses for about 45 minutes.  It really isn't a long stop, and if you are interested in some of the culture/history of the area, it's worthwhile.

I'm going to break up this day since it's getting long, and we haven't even gotten to lunch time yet.