Our destination today is Talkeetna, a small town about 115 miles north of Anchorage. Originally a miner’s camp, some of the old log cabins have been refurbished and now a quirky collection of gift shops, cafés, brew houses, galleries and tour providers provide an interesting place to visit. Busy with tourists in the summer, Talkeetna is very quiet in the winter. We have dropped off the hire car, so our transport is the Denali Star, operated by the Alaska Railroad. It’s only a three hour ride so I opted to just book adventure class seats, no food or drink included and just basic seating but big windows anyway. The Copper Whale Inn provided a bagged breakfast (we checked out at 6:45am – too early for their spread) and we eat that after checking the bags and before boarding the train.

Right on time, 7:45am, the conductor, dressed in an old school train uniform, calls ‘all aboard’ and we quickly find our seats. It’s pretty basic, nowhere for the bits and pieces we are carrying so, at first opportunity, we move up to the empty seats with a table..luxury. The trip to Talkeetna passes vey quickly and before we know it we are out, in the cold, drizzly rain.

First order of business is to find the Latitude 62 restaurant; this is where we are to pick up the key to our cabin. I have a map, but it takes a minute to orient ourselves. Trudging along with all our bags and rain dripping in,our faces, I’m glad to see the restaurant at the end of the railroad carpark. It’s friendly and rustic inside (think antlers, rifles and mountain pictures on the walls and a baseball game on the televisions above the bar) so we decide to have lunch. Enquiring about a lift, a local lady volunteers, saying, if they don’t mind dog hair, I’ll take ’em. We find out later Nancy is the manager of the restaurant and our cabin. We pile into her big, black suburban and meet Sammy, a wiry rescue terrier with one eye. He is very friendly and I catch up on some dog cuddles as we drive through the Main Street of town, it’s not long though until he resumes his customary position on Nancy’s lap.

Our log cabin on 3rd street is tucked in the surrounding bushes (as are most of the houses and many an old car around here are). Nancy explains there’s no wifi yet and she is having trouble with the satellite…it’s okay, we say, we have books. It’s cosy inside with a bathroom, kitchen and living area downstairs and a large bedroom and porch up top. We decide to wander the few blocks back into town to Nagley’s store, for supplies. This store is where the town’s mayor, an 18 year old cat named Stubbs, resides. It’s expensive, $8 for potato chips, but we find some wine, cheese, breakfast supplies and chicken pot pies that will do nicely. I poke my head into a few gift shops and the gallery and then we head to Conscious Coffee for an afternoon snack. A very hippy kind of place with organic everything, we take a seat outside under the tin awning. Soon, a couple with three girls join us at the table – Australians, from Brisbane. We get chatting and discover I went to the same high school as the guy…small world.

We pass a quiet evening, writing, reading and listening to music – the rain hasn’t stopped. At 10pm, I climb the stairs to bed, draw all the blinds in an attempt at darkness, crank open the window behind our bed, climb in and drift off to sleep to the steady drizzle on the roof and leaves.