ALASKA:  KISSIN' THE MOOSE IN TALKEETNA

 

I tried kissing a moose a couple of times.

I tried BECOMING a moose once.

And I even tried to dance with a bear.

But cousin Adele REALLY kissed a moose antler, and it wasn't pretty.

When we left Anchorage to start our land tour, we boarded the Wilderness Express train to go north.

Our cruise company (Celebrity, owned by Royal Carribbean) had private cars with a restaurant on the lower deck and huge windows on the upper.  It allowed us to walk during the trip, to look for moose and bear, and to learn a lot of info about Alaska from our tour guide.

Tom and his wife Rita

Our first stop was in the small town of Talkeetna.  It's often advertised as being like the town of Cicely in television's Northern Exposure.  Broad streets, quaint buildings, VERY low-profile and quiet.

Although 50 miles from Denali, it is the starting place for climbers, who fly in to Base Camp.  Talkeetna has a small museum that talks about the history of climbing...and also a cemetery that honors some of those who have lost their lives.  At least six men have died on the mountain this year.

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the town, and we were off!  The very very first tourist shop had a cute decorative garden of gravel, flowers, and several moose antlers laying there, and when Adele walked past this lovely decor, she slipped and fell!  FLAT ON HER FACE, wham!  Down!

Of all the impossible things to happen, her face hit a moose antler, and the point of the antler went INSIDE her mouth and punctured the inside of her cheek!

Did you ever hear of such a thing?!

It was large enough to be concerned about, and so a doctor was consulted, but they decided to leave it untouched.  The whole side of her face was bruised for the rest of the trip.

But you have to admit, there's a lot of humor to be found in it too.  Of course we were concerned about her, but it was hard not to laugh as well.  I imagine the doctor did--and went off to add it to the book he's going to write some day, called My Crazy Adventure with Tourists in Alaska.  Meanwhile, Adele got a lot of "ribbing" about moose every day.