This year, Rob took me camping up north. We spent the weekend up in Talkeetna, officially to look at some property he’s interested in but really just to get out, pitch a tent, and ride our bikes a bit.
Our campsite was at a campground right near the Susitna River. The season is a bit early, so there weren’t very many other campers nearby. We did manage to gather a few of them at our fire though: one girl camping by herself – a guide employed by Parks & Rec – and another couple of girls up from Wasilla “just getting away”. We all stood around the bon fire (Rob can’t have just a little fire, it has to be a huge, impressive one) roasting marshmallows and telling each other our stories.
The weather was great: slightly overcast, but still nice and warm during the day with just the right amount of chill during the night to make you really appreciate your sleeping bag. I had been told that break-up was still going on up there so had come prepared for muck – but honestly it wasn’t bad at all. I barely got my shoes dirty!
Camping in town meant that we didn’t need to bring a lot of food with us: we ate at the brewery for dinner and walked down to one of the lodges nearby for lunch the next day. We did bring our breakfast with us, though: hot oatmeal cooked in our cups with water boiled in Rob’s new flash-boiler thingy that he got himself from REI. I don’t remember the actual brand name of the thing – but man, its way cool. It only took a minute or two and we were both not only enjoying our oatmeal but also drinking our morning cup of tea & coffee.
Talkeetna is a very bike-friendly place with a trail leading all the way thru town and on up along the Spur road all the way back to the Parks Highway. We didn’t go all the way out to the Parks, however. I have to admit I was very intimidated by the huge hill just out of town so turned around right there and headed back the way we came. I’m just not that good on my bike yet. I’m sure Rob would have had no problems at all, but he was a gentleman and let me dictate the course. We did explore a bit off the main road, in and around some of the subdivisions back behind the airport, though. That was fun, especially when we found ourselves at the corner of F Street and Beaver.
“Ha! Look at that!” I said, “We’re at the corner of F and Beaver!”
Okay… so my sense of humor tends towards the gutter sometimes. What can I say? We had a fund weekend, regardless.
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