I am writing this on Wednesday, 9/4.

Yoga at the Yurt (Where’s my treat?)

We started the day out with a light breakfast. (Raspberry-chocolate chip scones. Yummy!) Then we went off to find the Yoga Yurt. They often don’t have addresses around here. They’ll say “Go to mile 10 of the Talkeetna Spur Road, turn onto Pow Wow Road. and go 1/4 mile. You can’t miss it.” We didn’t miss the yurt, but the dog sure did miss the treat we didn’t know to bring. It rained heavily all morning, but listening in the rain from inside the yurt while doing yoga was quite pleasant. After yoga, we took care of such prosaic business as grocery store food and gas for the car. By the time we got back, it was Noon.

XYZ Lake

Talkeetna has 3 lakes. Their names are “X”, “Y”, and “Z”. Nobody seems to know which lake has which name, but the lake in the center has a trail going around it. The rain had stopped, so we went out to walk around the lake. When we got there, the rain started up, then got quite heavy, and we went back to the car. Once we were in the car, the rain stopped and we decided to try the hike. Persistence pays. We did the hike with a minimum of rain.

A Pond near the Lake

We spent some time resting when we got back. Then it was off to the Wildflower Cafe for dinner. This restaurant is in downtown, which is to say it’s a reak short walk. Their chef is supposed to have been the chef for President Bush, Sr. Personally, I’m skeptical because he serves broccoli, and we all know what Bush thought about broccoli. Whatever the story about the chef, the food was excellent. It’s real good food in a real informal atmosphere. (Our water was served in real Ball jars.)

This evening, we are sequestered in our room, enjoying a bottle of genuine Alaska Strawberry Rhubarb wine and some Planter’s cashews. The wine is about as good as it sounds, but hey, we’re in Alaska. I guess if I had to live through winters where the temperature dipped to -30, I would come to think of this as good wine along with about everybody else around here.

Lake XYZ

While hiking around the lake, I was able to get most of the pictures I missed in our hike yesterday. They’re posted as small pics below because they are yesterday’s news. If you want to look at any of them, just click the pic to make it bigger.

1. Don’t eat the mushrooms with gills in the bottom. Eat the ones with a smooth bottom with dimples. 2.  This prickly plant has sharp spines on the bottom of the leaves. The spines are barbed. If you grab one, you will feel very uncomfortable until the spines drop out in about two weeks. 3. This plant contains silica and makes an excellent scrub pad for pots and pans. 4. Once a year this “pipe cleaner” plant grows a seed pod top which ignites very easily. Early photographers used these seed pods to create their flash.

Mushrooms

Prickly Plant

Scrub Brush Plant

Pipe Cleaner Plant