Well the appointment went well. My heart has returned to normal Sinus rhythm and the cardiologist said my heart and valves all looked like things were normal, except for the AFib. So he wanted to schedule a heart monitor for 48 hours and then a chemical stress test. We set it up for August 8, and he said I should be good to continue to enjoy our trip. We headed into Anchorage to pick up some coins Kathy missed at the Alaska Public lands Center, and the hospital called back and said I could pick up my monitor. We headed back there and finally got on the road to head to Talkeetna.
We arrived in the afternoon and the town was packed. We looked for a campsite and ended up at the VFW for $20. I took the pups for a long walk, and we watched the salmon fishing on the shore of the river. When I got back, Kathy and I were wanting to browse the cool shops, and then had some great local pizza. By then the town was vacating and we headed back to camp for a great nights sleep.
We decided to try some salmon fishing and hired a local kid who was renting poles and gear. He showed us how to fish, which was surprising without bait. The chum and pink salmon were running in the river and all we had to was wait for them to get hooked. Well it took me about 90 minutes and I caught the biggest fish I’d ever caught (I’m from AZ, not known for big stream fish). About 20 minutes later I snagged an even bigger chum salmon. We got our guide and he offered to fillet them, so we said why not. By the time he was done, we probably had 10 lbs of salmon.
I cooked two pieces in the oven and made cilantro lime Rice. This was the first time Kathy had experienced Freshly caught salmon and she loved it. We shared some with the pups as well. We have 6 more salmon fillets in the freezer.
Since we decided to stay two nights in Talkeetna, the next day we got up and did some shopping/browsing through this quaint little town. It turns out it’s pretty barren the morning, but the train stops here and unloads cruise ship passengers as well as folks coming from Fairbanks and Anchorage. So the town fills up for the day and then at about six or seven at night. It shuts down again, similar to Skagway. I wanted to do a bit more fishing, and since the Alaskan tag was still good until 2pm that day, I looked up Landon again and rented his poles. I did catch one small pink salmon, but decided not to take it.
We packed up around 2pm and made the long drive north to Fairbanks. We had a package to pick up from Amazon in Fairbanks that we had ordered two weeks prior. We had no idea at the time that would be spending so much time in Anchorage. So we camped at the University of Alaska Fairbanks parking lot, which amazingly had power so we could top off our batteries. Tomorrow we head to Teklanika Campground in Denali National Park. We’ve had reservations there since April. Teklanika is at mile 29 on the Park Road for some remote camping.
Here are some additional photos from the past several days. https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250801-03-talkeetna-and-salmon