31 May 2016 at 3:41pm • Talkeetna, AK
Today I drove a big yellow taxi to a town where the mayor is a cat. It's been a big day.
Here I am, updating Facebook while sitting alone at the Fairview Inn. It's (of course) a Notorious Bar, but I've lost my companion while Joe is at work. There are five of us sitting sporadically across the small bar; besides the bartender I'm the only girl, and probably the only one under the age of 50. The street outside is hopping with tourists, but inside is muggy and quiet. As I'm reading my book (about bars, of course) a gangly looking man with lopsided glasses walks in. "TONNNNYYYYYY". I am also the only one who doesn't know Tony. The other silent bar-goers start yelling tales of their lives across the bar as I creepily listen in. If only to be a regular in a bar in a town with a population of 876 in the middle of Alaska... where the mayor is also a cat.
A few beers later, I find myself wandering the dirt roads. A treasure trove of green ferns lead me to pure, unaltered silence among the river and mountains. Mt. Denali, the highest peak in North America, sparkles in the sunlight from 60 miles away. How wild is it that something like that caliber of beauty exists in the world and somehow I get to exist right along beside it?
