USA Part 13 – Coffee to get going

Before heading back home, I had one more place on my list to check out, and since it was close by, we drove over to Ship Creek Overlook. We found a place to park the car and saw a few folks fishing in the waters – they were literally standing in the middle of the stream on some rocks and fishing; there was even a family that seemed to be enjoying their outing – the father relaxing on a chair they had brought along with them, son standing next to him, a couple of kids running on the road. It was almost midnight, but there was still daylight! I had picked this place because it was supposed to be a point for salmon runs. Right now, we couldn’t see any fish, but just above the water, there were plenty of birds (seagulls) swooping low to the water and then taking off – they did this repeatedly – seemed like they were hoping to pick some fish from the water. The salmon run is a migration event in which salmon move from one location to another. And if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you will see hundreds of salmon swimming in the water. This is also a bountiful time for predators of salmon – easy to catch them in bulk.

As per my rudimentary research, we were very early in the season for salmon runs – another month or so later is the optimal time. We enjoyed the midnight setting with the background noise of water, as well as the whooshing sound of birds flying around. As we stood on a boardwalk looking at the seagulls, a random stranger who seemed a little suspicious asked us, “Do you have seagulls in India?” and walked away. Your body is in a state of heightened alertness at this hour when outside, and random strangers who seem to move or behave awkwardly make you feel uneasy. 

Sunset was said to be at 11:44 pm, but even at 12:30 am, there was still daylight – not bright and sunny, but more like the early morning daylight. In our neighbouring home, the kids were still playing in their backyard – obviously making the best use of the extended day!
Moorthy tried to stream the World Cup cricket highlights on TV, and I gave him company for a while, but sleep was hitting me – I jumped into the bottom bunk bed and dozed off almost immediately.

Sunday

The plan was that if we were up early in the morning, we’d hit Beluga point again for Moorthy to test his old professional camera. And coincidentally, both of us were up by 5 am. The other two were sound asleep, and we tiptoed out of the house to be welcomed by bright daylight. 
We revisited Potter Marsh and Beluga Point.
“The mist is better today.”
“It has cleared a bit, but it’s still there.”
“Yeah. Maybe this time of the year, it’s usually there.” There was this odd haziness around which you may faintly notice in the pictures – a mystery whose answer we would discover later.

Moorthy took a lot of shots with different settings, and we drove further down the Old Seward Highway – the scenic road is quite a lovely long stretch, but we decided to turn back since we would anyway do this route later in our trip. There were numerous clouds that added to the scenic beauty of the landscape (click images to expand). 

In search of breakfast, we landed at around 7:30 am in the same strip mall where the Indian restaurant Taste of India was located. There was a joint called Heidi’s – it was an American joint that was surprisingly fairly large. And there were already people having breakfast – a good sign, since we had come here based solely on Google reviews. The breakfast menu was typical of what you’d find (pancakes, waffles, omelettes, benedicts, etc.), but they did have a fair amount of variations in terms of meat. They even had omelette with Reindeer meat; this is something common in many Alaskan restaurants. We ordered a few items for takeaway and headed back home.

Our Airbnb place had plenty of utensils for cooking and serving a feast, including a microwave, dishwasher, and fridge. The food we brought was good, especially the omelettes, which had ample veggie stuffing. Only the French toast was disappointing because it was overcooked and slightly burnt in some areas. 
“You guys brought a lot of food,” Raghav commented.
“For all of us.”
“But I don’t have breakfast.”

We had forgotten that when ordering – but the one thing he needs, though, is coffee. He tried to make coffee using the coffee maker in the house, along with some packets of coffee and milk powder that he found in the drawers. But he didn’t like what he came up with. 
We ate all the food, including Raghav, and Rakesh ensured that we disposed of all the garbage in the big bin on the lawn before heading out.
“There’s not much cleaning they have to do now; we’ve already cleaned the place.”
“Can’t ask for a reduction in the cleaning fee.”
The cleaning fee charged in the Airbnbs when doing the bookings were pretty high. The property’s daily rate without it may appear low, but once you factor that in, it significantly hikes up the average daily rate.

The drive to Talkeetna is about 2.5 hours; we started around 9:30 am. Raghav kept searching Google Maps for a coffee shop on the way, and he found one called Jitters. It turned out to be quite a find – their tagline is “Where Coffee is an Art!” 

Thankfully, they had 4 sizes of coffee cups – the smallest was 8 oz (nearly 250 ml); I’m not a coffee lover, and so didn’t pick anything – instead, I got an empty cup and mixed a little from what Raghav and Rakesh bought. What’s unique here is that they have a bunch of syrups that you can ask them to add to your drink – and they have a lot of choices in this. They have a very lively setup. Even their cup has a nice colourful image of their logo. Whatever those two added as toppings gave the coffee a nice taste – even I liked the coffee, and the coffee connoisseur in our group was also very appreciative of it. A good cafe that’s about a 30-minute drive north of Anchorage.