Notes from the Road: Anderson

The Loosey Goosey gathering at Anderson was a fun time! Anderson is a little town north of Denali, and the city runs a camping area that was perfect for us. It’s almost always quiet there, except for the bluegrass festival they hold at the end of July. I met Dennis and Carol there a few days early, and folks started coming in. I think we topped out around 25 people, and folks came and went as they liked.

The campground has electric sites and a dump station, but is basically a gravel lot. There is a good size pavilion with tables and a fireplace. We collected a bunch of wood, but it was so warm the whole week that we never burned it. We left it for the next folks.

Happy hours were held.

Ed and Sandy hosted “eggs in a bag’. That’s where everyone donates omelet goodies, like cheese, meats, peppers, onions, etc, and brings their own eggs. These eggs are cracked into Ziploc bags, goodies are added, and the sealed bag is immersed in boiling water to cook. What comes out is an outstanding omelet, fluffy and tasty! A great way to feed breakfast to a bunch!

Some of the fishermen donated fish, and we had a Halibut, Salmon and Rockfish fry. outstanding!!!

There is a legendary steakhouse a few miles away, and we made a couple trips en mass. Outstanding steaks, I chose the ribeye, well over a pound, and cooked/seasoned perfectly! Damn, that’s good. I missed the steakhouse back in 2014, so it’s a special treat!

On the 4th, the town of Anderson had a BBQ, and we were all invited. it’s a friendly place, and we got a chance to get to know some of the local folks.

During our stay, some folks from town had a family pig roast in the pavilion at the RV park, and again we were all invited. Alaskan hospitality knows no bounds! We finished out the 4th with Texas smoked pulled pork and Casa de Eslinger magic beans.

By now you must be thinking that this Anderson gathering was some kind of frenzied food-fest, and you’d be hittin pretty close to home, fer sure! We ate a lot, and it was all very tasty, and everyone pitched in and made it great. However, we did occasionally do things that didn’t involve eating. I think…. let’s see,

Dennis and I rode the bikes around a bit, there were lots of good trails. We did daily walks, and everyone got to calling it “Mark and his harem”, as most all the gals walked, but I was the only non-lazy guy. Ed and Sandy and I went to the 49th State brewery near Denali, and the place deserves mention for it’s uniquely decorated pub, and the replica bus from that movie “Into the Wild”. The beer was OK too!.

I took the bike and rode to Nenana, about 25 miles away. If the name is familiar, it’s probably because Nenana has hosted the big ice-breakup lottery for like the last 100 years. They record the exact time that the winter ice breaks up on the Tenana River, and if you guess the day and minute right, you can win some big bucks! This year, 23 people split a pot of over $260,000. I’m not great at math, but that’s like a million bucks apiece. I got my tickets at the visitor’s center, an old sod-roofed prospector’s cabin. Right across the street, some young entrepreneurs were selling rhubarb lemonade, Hell, yes, I want some! Yum!

I stopped by the ice derby tower, the railroad station and museum, and finished up at the Rough Woods Inn, where the microbrewery sign hooked me in for a very nice pilsner! Great little town, and quite typical of the friendly Alaska folks you meet everywhere.