Talkeetna's "Moose Dropping Festival", July 11, 2009

Before we left Wasilla, we decided to take another side trip. This time we chose to drive the Jeep to Talkeetna, about 75 miles north to see what the town was like. It is a tourist town with all kinds of flight, white water & wildlife tours. It has a small airport with one dirt runway between the trees. It is also the staging area for climbers of Mt McKinley. When the climbers are ready, they fly them from Talkeetna and land them on the glacier part way up the mountain.

On the way, we accidently scared a moose cow with two calves. She and the one calf ran across the road and disappeared in the brush. Unfortunately the second calf got scared and did not run with mom, but ran back into the woods on the opposite side from his/her mother. We had completely stopped so we did not make the calf do that. I sure hope that second calf got back to the mother.

This is the second moose calf as he separates from his mother.

We arrived in Talkeetna a little before noon. We were just in time for the "small town parade"! It was fun to see all the floats and the moose they decorated. This one has an airplane on it.

This is a royal moose, (See the purple robe!) the king of the moose drop! They sell painted actual moose droppings (Turds, Scat, etc.) for $5.00 each and then they record the number and your name & address. At 6 pm, they take all those droppings and let them drop from a hot air balloon over a target. If yours gets the closest or the farthest on the "drop" to the target, you win the money prize. (Sob..we did not win! :-) )

This woman's husband made this 4 wheel cycle for her. It had a motor but that was only for an assist on a small hill.

This must be an old antique tour bus from Denali and it was a Checker Brand, made by GM. Most Checker automobiles were used as Taxies throughout the US. Never saw a Checker Limo before.

Alaska is celebrating 50 years of statehood this year so that's why the 50 on the sign. Alaska was made a state in 1959.

What a group! This is the Red Hat Society of older women! "...and when I am old I shall wear purple!"

This shortened VW Bus could turn on a dime, and did! It, too is celebrating the 50 years of statehood.

Ignor the people, or laugh if you want, but read the sign! Isn't that hilarious! This place is really SMALL. (sign reads "Welcome to Beautiful Downtown Talkeetna")

This is an all stainless steel Delorean with "gull wing" doors. How often do you see one of these?

This is the Delorean's back end where you can really see the gull wing doors.

One float seven had an old timey band!

These were serious & proud bag pipers. I think they were the oldest bag pipe band in Alaska. I do love hearing bag pipe music!

They do have to show off their snow plows as well as their fire engines & emergency vehicles. Otherwise the parade would be too short. These come from all the surrounding towns, also.

This inn & saloon is old, built in 1923! For Alaska, anything built before 1940 is considered really old! The state did not open up to many people until the Army built the Alaska Highway during World War II. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon and is about 1,440 miles long. It was completed in 1943, all dirt road.

This is another old building, Nagley's Store. It is a general store.

This little girl is sitting behind her mother in a booth, eating ice cream. Alaskan's consume more ice cream per capita, than anywhere else in the USA.

At Talkeetna Roadhouse you can get a room, eat a meal and even buy home baked goods!

This is a more modern log cabin which houses a flight tour business. There are several of these in town. It makes for a nice atmosphere to see all the log cabins.