Moose Dropping Festival in Talkeetna

New friends at our church invited us to a little Alaskan town called Talkeetna (2 hours north of Anchorage) last weekend. Robert grew up there and bought the little house he grew up in. We were excited because it was the "36th Annual Moose Dropping Festival." On Saturday at 6 PM, they drop numbered moose poop on a target. The poop is painted white (not sure how they do that) and glued to a pin so everyone can wear their numbered poop on their shirts. Each dropping costs $5. We waited for the line to go down so we could purchase ours, but they were all sold out by the time we got there. The winning poop dropping won $1500 bones.

The town is at the base of the Alaskan Range with majectic views of Denali (Mt. McKinley). [too bad it's cloudy every day here and we didn't get to see it] Everyone who climbs Denali flys to the base camp from Talkeetna. It has 3 rivers that converge there and the Alaskan Railroad comes through. The town only has 400 people that live there but it's swimming with tourists in the summer months. Minus the moutain views, train station, and rivers, it reminded me of where I grew up in Gladeville, TN...softball field, town crossroads, small little market.

Here are some pics of our weekend. The highlight for us was the mule trip to the "beach" on the river where we fished (no luck), grilled, and sat around a fire.

Playing in the river.

The highlight of the weekend was riding on this mule. The sand on this beach was deep. Of course, Lindsay loved it.

Yes, that is Jacson on the back of a motorcycle with a random guy. This was at the parade and he was giving kids free rides. We were like, "it's Talkeetna, this is how they roll" and let him do it. (and I have no idea how do get this underline off)Loved this little store...love the locals in the background.

Ellie loved the store so much she jumped for joy!