Merry Christmas All!

And Happy Holidays from Talkeetna, Alaska.  Last Christmas we came up here too, a little over 2 hours from Anchorage.  Talkeetna is located at 62°18′41″N 150°5′13″W (62.311397, -150.087053)^[1] at the confluence of three rivers, the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna. The Talkeetna townsite was established in 1919 when the railroad surveyed and auctioned 80 lots. The average price at the sale was $14.25.^[2] Flightseeing, rafting, mountain biking, hiking, camping, fishing and hunting make up a large portion of the local economy. Talkeetna is a 2.5 hour drive from Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. The core downtown area is classified as a National Historic Site, with buildings dating from the early 1900s including Nagley's General Store,^[3] Fairview Inn and the Talkeetna Roadhouse.  Population = 772!  Talkeetna is close to salmon fishing areas and Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley). Tourists travel to Talkeetna each summer to fish, raft and go flightseeing.(All from Wikipedia!)  We come here to ski -- and because it's a neat place to hang out and not too far away! 

Skiing at XYZ Lakes

And we had dinner at the Roadhouse last night, a community potluck that everyone is invited to -- turkey & mulled wine put out by the owners, and everyone brought a dish.  We made pearl cous-cous with vegetables and there were lots of different dishes - potato dumplings from Klaus, and everyone's "special recipes."  Cookies, pumpkin pie and fudge for dessert!  We're staying in a wonderful house loaned by a friend, a big change from the tiny cottage that we were in last year.  Karen and her partner are up on the slope working, and look what we are enjoying! 

What a good frined!  In between skiing twice a day (very closely scheduled since the sun rises a little after 10 and sets about 3:45!), we have two jigsaw puzzles with us, this one that's completed of Ketchikan. 

Today we had a little pile of presents - no tree, but we opened them on the big island in Karen's kitchen.  

One of my real surprises was another of the Alaska Native sculptures that I love, a drum beater.  They are carved form soapstone and ivory by Edith Oktollik, a woman from Point Hope, Alaska, who is in her 80s now.  She began carving in 1978.  Brian bought it at Aurora Fine Art, where I "store" the rest of my sculptures that I don't actually own yet! Isn't she wonderful?!  

Today, for Christmas, we missed all of our friends and family, but we made the best of it skiing and eating.  We skate skied for about an hour and 20 minutes after it got light, about 11 am.  Back for soup, etc. and a rest (and puzzle doing), then out for an hour again about 3 pm.  The light was strange today, overcast and like it never really got to be daytime completely!  I was whooped by the time we stopped - we had intended to classic ski in the afternoon, but the conditions were better for skate skiing.  Christmas dinner I puzzled over - didn't want to cook a big turkey for the two of us.  We ended up with our wonderful shrimp in a shrimp cocktail and a very nice cheese fondue - I guess it DOES make a difference if you spend an arm and a leg on the cheese - and use wonderful white wine that you could just as easily have drunk!  

All in all, a great day, even missing all of the people who are most important to us.  There was live music in town tonight, but we were too tired (and full!) to move.  Love and best wishes for the entire holiday season to all of the people that we love and care about!