7/20/2020

After our usual morning routine of brushing teeth, new clothes, and overnight oatmeal, we headed off to the town of Talkeetna. Locals said it’s a super busy tourist destination but when we went it was basically a ghost town. It was kind of eery. We have been seeing first hand how hard Alaskan businesses have been hit by the pandemic.

A few places were open, though, including the Kahiltna Birchworks where they make birch syrup! We learned how they make the syrup (similar to maple syrup!) and sampled it it’s different stages. Delicious! It was a beautiful sunny morning we so enjoyed walking around the town and learning about its history as a precious gold mining town (which is basically most of the towns up here in Alaska).

After lunch we continues northbound and ended our drive at Denali State Park and stayed the night at Byer’s Lake Campground. The boys did some more mountain biking around a trail on the lake. So many wild blueberries!!! Yum! We also saw some Trumpeter Swans on the lake.

While I was cooking dinner the boys helped Daddy gather some dry grass and sticks to make a camp fire. They enjoyed s’mores galore for dessert! So happy!