sholio: Autumn leaf frosted at edges (Autumn-frosted leaf)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2024-09-08 09:41 pm
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Travel update the last (probably)

Last full day of my fall road trip, which is good because I'm starting to receive plaintive "when are you coming hooooome" emails from the Beloved Spouse.

My previous places were pretty swank, but this cabin is appealingly rustic. Well, mostly appealing - it does have running water and the info on the place says that the water is "potable," by which you might guess "won't kill you but tastes terrible" and you would be correct. It was so bad that I went out at 8pm last night hoping to find a place that was open (which I did, a little convenience store at a campground up the road) and bought a few bottles of extremely overpriced bottled water for drinking and tea. I think it's all right for cooking and brushing teeth with.

The propane stove is so old that it doesn't have an igniter or a pilot light - there's a long-handled barbecue lighter to ignite the burners. I think it's distinctly possible that we had this exact stove when I was a little kid in the '70s. It looks just like it. (And I can't get over how much smaller it is than a modern stove, it's like half the size of ours at home. You can see the scale of the stove by the size of the teakettle, which is not huge, it's just a normal-sized teakettle.)

a harvest gold antique gas stove with a red teakettle on a burner

All of that aside, the place where I'm staying is behind an airstrip used by a flightseeing service (not too busy, I see a few planes a day) and the view from the kitchen table looks like this:

a bay window composed of three individual windows, all showing a view of orange and green autumn woods

That's the view out the window, not paintings!

It was cold and rainy today, so I stayed in most of the day, worked on my Closer exchange assignment and did some business stuff related to my book launch on Tuesday. But later in the afternoon I decided to go for a scenic drive out to the Savage River hiking trail (as far as you can drive in a private vehicle on the Denali park road; the drive goes from the park entrance, which is a bit north of here, to Mile 14) and I had no regrets because it was STUNNING, peak colors and sweeping red and gold vistas. It was "I can't believe this is a real place and not a fantasy world" levels of gorgeous.

a vista of red foliage, distant spruce trees, and mountains half covered with clouds

red foliage around a winding river flanked by sandbars, with a bridge across it



This sign implies adventures ahead.

sign says "Moose rutting next 5 miles. Hiking and photography on road only."

After that I was going to be EXTREMELY salty if I saw no moose at all - but I did! It was a cow and a calf, their presence advertised by a large cluster of RVs and tour buses on the side of the road.

scenic red foliage with a cow and calf moose in the middle distance

One more scenic visa:

a winding gravel watercourse with yellow foliage along it, red beyond that, and mountains in the background

And tomorrow I drive home.
passingbuzzards: Birds drinking on a salt flat with monoliths in the distance (mtg: ardkar waste)

[personal profile] passingbuzzards 2024-09-09 06:48 am (UTC)(link)

Your photos make me see what my dad loved so much about Alaska, ahh (he took multiple trips up there for hiking over the years, and I always wondered why he kept going back, since "frozen tundra" just had no inherent appeal to me at all, lol). The colors! Those huge sweeps of fog!

Thank you for sharing <3

liz_mo: (Default)

[personal profile] liz_mo 2024-09-09 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for sharing more. What appeals most to me is that you did it ALONE. I long for solitude in beautiful nature. It‘s the best balm for my soul and I don‘t get it often enough.
lyr: (Buffyhah: luthien_black)

[personal profile] lyr 2024-09-09 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for sharing the beautiful pictures! And also the picture of the moose rutting sign, which gave me a good laugh.
philomytha: Red Arrows flying in formation with rainbow contrails (Red Arrows)

[personal profile] philomytha 2024-09-09 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
Those landscapes are stunning - and yes, I might have thought the windows were a painting! Also the existence of 'moose rutting' warning signs is amazing.
black_bentley: (Default)

[personal profile] black_bentley 2024-09-09 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
Never thought "caution: horny moose in this area" would be a sign that existed, but here we are :DDD the scenery there really is incredible, it reminds me a bit of parts of the Highlands, but dialled up to 20 <333 safe journey home!
tweague: An image of an iron age spearhead with La Tene style decoration (Default)

[personal profile] tweague 2024-09-09 10:06 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much for sharing the glorious pictures, they are immensely soothing :D I can never quite get over the amount of *space* there is in the northern parts of North America! The landscape reminds me a little of the Highlands or parts of Snowdonia, but there's just so *much* of it. Even in the depths of rural Wales you're never more than about 15 minutes drive from a Costa Coffee...
mific: (Default)

[personal profile] mific 2024-09-09 10:51 am (UTC)(link)
Amazing colours!
lunabee34: (Default)

[personal profile] lunabee34 2024-09-09 10:56 am (UTC)(link)
That's the size of the stove we had in our first apartment. The kitchen was so small we could only stand in single file line in front of it. Lol

(Anonymous) 2024-09-09 11:02 am (UTC)(link)
The autumn colour is amazing. Glad you're having a great trip. The stove is very cute and old fashioned
umadoshi: (autumn leaves 3 (oraclegreen))

[personal profile] umadoshi 2024-09-09 11:14 am (UTC)(link)
Oh WOW, the color! *^^*
goss: Heart - sky (Heart - sky)

[personal profile] goss 2024-09-09 11:17 am (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous!!
hamsterwoman: (Default)

[personal profile] hamsterwoman 2024-09-09 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, the colors are amazing! and yay for the advertised moose!

That little stove is also reminding me of the stoves we had in the 70s-80s
sartorias: (Default)

[personal profile] sartorias 2024-09-09 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
THOSE COLORS!!!!!
scioscribe: men on cliff surrounded by ocean spray (biggles: flung spume)

[personal profile] scioscribe 2024-09-09 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Moose rutting!

Those photos are exceptionally gorgeous. I love the colors.
trobadora: (Default)

[personal profile] trobadora 2024-09-09 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
That's the view out the window, not paintings!

That is amazing!

All your photos are so gorgeous. What a landscape!
violsva: full bookshelf with ladder (Default)

[personal profile] violsva 2024-09-09 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
All of the photos from this trip have been stunning!

[personal profile] timespirt 2024-09-09 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
The stove is one of those small apartment stoves you would see in a small apartment in a big city. My neighbor actually has one and keeps saying she should get a full sized one. I'm amazed when I see 3 large frying pans on it and watch her juggle them. LOL

Alaska is so beautiful. Beautiful pictures, leaves changing already. My uncle lives on a mountain in the north east, he said the trees are already changing up there as well. Seems a little early though.

Hope you have a wonderful uneventful ride back home with more beautiful country to see.

leesa_perrie: icon of birds flying in orange sky (Birds Flying)

[personal profile] leesa_perrie 2024-09-09 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous photos!! And lol, that sign might be better to say 'stay in your car, and if you're hiking, maybe hitchhike instead'!! :D :D

My hubby is very glad when I get home from a trip away, though perhaps a little less plaintiff than yours!!
sgatazmy: angry chibi rodney square (Default)

[personal profile] sgatazmy 2024-09-09 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
That is so gorgeous!!!! All the beautiful
colors!
schneefink: River walking among trees, from "Safe" (Default)

[personal profile] schneefink 2024-09-09 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the beautiful pictures! :D
gattycat: (Default)

[personal profile] gattycat 2024-09-10 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, those pictures are just gorgeous! I can't get over the colours and the misty clouds. So atmospheric. I did laugh though because that stove is about the size of any I've ever had so now I'm wondering how big some people's stoves must be!? Good luck with your book launch!
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)

[personal profile] sophia_sol 2024-09-10 02:52 pm (UTC)(link)
your scenic vistas are amazing and so different from anything I ever get to see in my home landscapes! really enjoying all your posts about your travels <3
newredshoes: Domo-kun doing victory arms! (domo-kun | victory arms!)

[personal profile] newredshoes 2024-09-10 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
These pictures have been stunning, and I'm so glad you've shared them, thank you! I am not an autumn girlie, but I absolutely love these views -- in nature like this, I could be!
rabid_bookwyrm: Black and white illustration of an anthropomorphized margay cat (Default)

[personal profile] rabid_bookwyrm 2024-09-11 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for sharing these stunning photos.
aelfgyfu_mead: Early medieval English queen and king with Ælfgyfv Regina and Cnut next to figures; line drawing with colored cross (Aelfgyfu and Cnut)

[personal profile] aelfgyfu_mead 2024-09-14 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the photos! I just look at these with my mouth hanging open in wonder. Someday we're going to make it to Alaska, and now I'm thinking we should aim for autumn.