June23, 2018

The Road to Cicely, Alaska

Or maybe from Cicely, Alaska.  Cicely is of course the quirky fictional little Alaskan town that was the setting for “Northern Exposure.” There has been speculation about what the real model was for Cicely and yesterday’s Seward and today’s Talkeetna are included in the mix.  Skagway is also mentioned as providing some inspiration.

We have a real sit-down breakfast this morning.  Our $20 breakfast credit almost covers our two salmon omelets with avocado and hollandaise in the hotel casual café.  We are enjoying our very nice room and don’t get on the road until 11:00.  Talkeetna is about three hours up the Glenn highway to Palmer and then the Parks highway heading north.

We would vote for Talkeetna as the true Cicely but not today.  It is a town of 450 independent-minded souls in an old mining town 14 miles on a no-outlet road off the main highway.  It is hard on the Susitna River and allegedly moose on main street are not uncommon.  It also is famous for electing a cat as mayor and our host here proclaimed the cat to be, on average, one of the better administrators the town ever had.  It is also a base for sightseeing flights to Denali, about 140 miles away.

But today, a nice June Saturday afternoon, it is home to a couple thousand tourists and the parade of the big white elephants (tour buses).  There is entertainment in the town park, bar patios packed with folks and the feel of a state fair.  It might be Cicely in February but not today.  There are some true characters around, but in this setting they feel like they are just actors in the play.  There are also a lot of “Pride” signs and rainbow flags which seem either out of place or in keeping with the live-and-let-live you might imagine in this part of Alaska.

We check into our cabin at Denali Fireside about a third of a mile from the center of town.  Our desk host is a jack-of-all trades from Montenegro.  We interrupt his cleaning of the rooms and later he will be out with Don, our host, building a new cabin on a back corner of the property.  It is an easy walk into the center and we explore for a couple hours spending some time in the park and more time on a bench on Main street watching the action.  We expected a more rustic experience, but so probably did everyone else who is here today.

We go next door to “Latitude 62” for dinner and grab a seat at the bar. John is still in beef mode and has the Saturday special prime rib with mashed potatoes.  Mary has the “Wendy’s Dinner,” a bowl of chili and a loaded baked potato.  Next to Mary is a transplant from Boston who was moved to Anchorage as a Walgreen’s manager.  She is very chatty about her life in Anchorage and her visits to Talkeetna to visit a friend.  The owner of the restaurant makes an appearance.  She is about 60 years old, 6’2” and about 240 lbs.  Her personality is as big as she is and she definitely makes an entrance as she works the room.  Maybe we have finally found Cicely, Alaska.

Back to our cabin.  We are 100 feet from the main rail line between Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage and have been warned that there is a midnight train.  If it passes through, we are unaware of it.  Must be the mountain air.

Today’s Question:  Would the people of Talkeetna be happier if we all weren’t here visiting, or are they now too dependent on the tourist dollars?  Four months of noise and cash is probably a fair trade-off for 8 months of quiet.