A daughter travels to Alaska and feels the same magnetic pull her dad felt when he traveled north 30 years before.
Want to see what the weather is like at any given moment around Alaska? You’ll find the most comprehensive system on the FAA Aviation Weather Cameras site. Choose Alaska for the location on this Federal Aviation Administration resource to find out if your destination is sunny or overcast. It’s also fun to peruse places you’re not visiting, just to see what they look like. From Akhiok to the Yukon River Bridge, stations include popular tourist destinations like Anchorage, Talkeetna, Denali (still called McKinley on the website), Homer, and Ketchikan. But try clicking on someplace you’ve never heard of—perhaps Nunapitchuk or Perryville or Chistochina. Bon voyage!
(from the February 2012 issue)
Planning a trip to Alaska? Or looking for somewhere off the beaten path? Here are some spots that should not be missed.
Remembering Talkeetna’s honorary mayor Few, if any, have left a paw print on Alaska quite like Stubbs. The rusty orange cat who served as honorary mayor of Talkeetna lost the last of his nine lives in July, and his passing was mourned by fans across the state and the nation. He was 20 years old. Legend has it that Stubbs was elected as a write-in candidate for mayor in 1998, despite the fact that Talkeetna, a town of 900 south of Denali National Park, is unincorporated and does not hold mayoral elections. Regardless of how he gained power, Stubbs rarely made controversial decisions in o ffice and his gentle leadership earned him national notoriety and media fame. He spent most days lying around his o ffice at Nagley’s General Store and taking pictures with the stream of tourists who would stop by for an appointment. Occasionally, he would pad into the…
Riding the rails in search of fresh hops.
[by Hudson Lindenberger]
Photos by Andrea D’Agosto I sat at the Talkeetna Roadhouse with three other women climbers after an attempted ascent of Denali. After two weeks of freeze-dried meals, our mouths watered in anticipation of home-cooked fare, and the aroma of freshly baked bread warmed the room. We replayed our failed summit bid of North America’s highest peak, the storm that hemmed us in and the staggering grandeur of the mountain itself. We needed a place to collect ourselves. We needed comfort food. And we were not alone. Conversations about trail conditions, hazards of wilderness travel and the weather have been taking place around tables at the Talkeetna Road- house for nearly 100 years. The Roadhouse sits on Main Street in Talkeetna, a community with an official year-round population of 876, located halfway between Anchorage and Denali National Park and accessible by road, rail and local air taxi. Founded in 1917, the…
