Moose Sighting!

At long last, after THREE MONTHS of living in Alaska, we finally saw our first moose today!

We had the day off, so we decided to just pick a direction we hadn't gone and drive for a couple of hours. We ended up going through Willow to Talkeetna.

Well, there isn't a whole heck of a lot going on in the towns we passed by along the way. Winter really does shut most stuff down. Half the gift shops we passed weren't even open. They might open on the weekend, though.

Passed firework central; three or four gigantic firework stands bunched together near the road, all closed up and deserted now that New Year's has come and gone. I wonder if that's the only time of year they can sell them.

Talkeetna was pretty tiny and cute. We kind of drove in a circle looking at the sights buried in snow and headed back home. We stopped at the Sheep Creek Lodge and had a delicious, although expensive, dinner. I had Chocolate "Moose" Cake for dessert. It reminded me of those organic Trader Joe's truffles that we got as gifts from customers at the kennel. Very rich, not too sweet, decadent to the hilt. Logan shared it with me.

The restaurant was in a spacious log cabin and looked very cozy and inviting in the snow. It was also empty; no one but us and the waitress and the cooks. I know we prefer quiet restaurants to busy and noisy, but this was almost as bad because it made us feel conspicuous. But we still liked the place very much.

Along the drive we saw a moose checking out the edge of the road way ahead. A large black blob in the snow, we thought hey, cool! We'll finally get a good look at a moose that isn't a photograph! So we slowed down a bit in case she (?) decided to wander out in the middle of the road.

Well, along came a huge truck going the other way, so she turned around and rapidly lumbered off before we could get close enough for a real good look. But at least we saw one, so we know they really exist.

Of course, we saw our boss later that evening and he'd been out hunting. Said he saw 30 or 40 moose during the day. Talk about sucking the wind out of your sails.

But the evening was very special for another reason that I will disclose tomorrow with pictures. I have a new foot warmer! More to come...