First night at the Talkeetna Roadhouse

Talkeetna

Talkeetna Roadhouse, Talkeetna, Alaska: I decided to take a couple of days off and come up to Talkeetna for a change of scenery. I'm staying at the Talkeetna Roadhouse, partly because of the low price, partly for the adventure, and partly because I always wanted to stay here.

I've never stayed in a "roadhouse" before, and so far it's pretty interesting. The room I'm staying in is very small, probably less than ten feet deep, and maybe 10-12 feet long. The bed is actually a bunk bed, and the mattress is very soft (not good for my back).

The room has a small sink, and there are four communal bathrooms, and three of those bathrooms have showers. I was really tired when I got here last night, so I was in bed before 10 p.m., but most everyone else stayed up late, probably until midnight, and I have to say, it was loud. The walls must be paper-thin, because I listened to their conversations as I dozed off.

The other people staying here are three young men, a young man and a woman, and two older men with big white beards. The only two that came here together are the young man and woman, who are boyfriend and girlfriend, everyone else was a stranger before last night. The boyfriend and girlfriend went outside around 9 p.m. last night, wearing their winter clothes and carrying all the blankets they could carry. I hope they went to spend some time out on the beach here, because that's certainly what I'd do if I were them. :)

The morning shower

This morning I was the first one up at about 7:30 a.m.. After letting the water warm up for nearly ten minutes (per the instructions of a note on the wall), the water finally got hot. The shower stall was very small, and the walls need some grout work, but it seemed clean, and there was a clean bath mat hanging on the shower rods that I plopped on the floor.

As I type this it's now 9:00 a.m., and everyone else is still sleeping, expect for a man and woman working in the kitchen. I don't know if the Roadhouse is open for breakfast this time of year, but if so, there's nobody sitting in the dining area.

Buy a shower

One other interesting note I saw hanging in the hallway: You can walk in off the street and buy a shower for $4. From what I've seen that includes soap and shampoo, which are in a dispenser in the shower, and it likely includes a towel as well.

As I type this, I also just learned that people can do their laundry here as well, though I don't know what the cost is.