Remember that time you spotted a bear in Disney World? Neither do we, but if you're curious, join us as we discuss unexpected sightings, solo Disney adventures, and a potential re-homing of the Muppets. We're also looking back at a conversation with a listener who's been with us from the very beginning. Oh, and don't forget to stick around for our debate over the Hatbox Ghost - Disneyland or Disney World? Tune in to find out which park wins our vote.
In the second segment of this episode, we leave the magical kingdom behind and embark on an Alaskan journey. We share our fascinating experiences in the town of Talkeetna, a lodge with breathtaking views of Denali, and a thrilling sled dog adventure. But it's not all about nature, we also talk about the mouthwatering food and drinks we sampled at the Denali Brewery and the unique experience of eating barley.
As our journey continues, we take to the skies, flying over the Denali mountain range in a small plane. The sights from up high are awe-inspiring and we share our emotions as we hovered over glaciers and snowy mountains. To wrap things up, we're eager to hear from you! Call in and share your own travel stories at 615-246-5823. Buckle up, it's going to be a fun ride!
Remember that time you spotted a bear in Disney World? Neither do we, but if you're curious, join us as we discuss unexpected sightings, solo Disney adventures, and a potential re-homing of the Muppets. We're also looking back at a conversation with a listener who's been with us from the very beginning. Oh, and don't forget to stick around for our debate over the Hatbox Ghost - Disneyland or Disney World? Tune in to find out which park wins our vote.
In the second segment of this episode, we leave the magical kingdom behind and embark on an Alaskan journey. We share our fascinating experiences in the town of Talkeetna, a lodge with breathtaking views of Denali, and a thrilling sled dog adventure. But it's not all about nature, we also talk about the mouthwatering food and drinks we sampled at the Denali Brewery and the unique experience of eating barley.
As our journey continues, we take to the skies, flying over the Denali mountain range in a small plane. The sights from up high are awe-inspiring and we share our emotions as we hovered over glaciers and snowy mountains. To wrap things up, we're eager to hear from you! Call in and share your own travel stories at 615-246-5823. Buckle up, it's going to be a fun ride!
Welcome. Welcome, welcome to the LTAD podcast. I hope everybody is having, or had, a great week. Today is Friday the 13th.
Mike:Spooky.
Jana:Spooky. Okay, today we are here with Erica Hello. And Mike Hello. And again, dana is not here, but she is not locked in a garage, this time Not this week she's actually on fall break down at Disney World having a great time with her family.
Mike:Yep, she is right here.
Jana:That is not Dana. Okay, so no, so it is gosh mid October.
Erica:What day is it? How did we get?
Jana:here, when did this happen in?
JillyBean:October.
Jana:It's gonna be Christmas. Christmas is going to be soon, but today we're not talking about Christmas. We are going to talk about more seasonal stuff Halloween trips and then non-Halloween stuff as well.
Mike:Y'all are going to talk about trips. We are, that's all y'all do is go on trips Everywhere, I mean.
Erica:It's a rough life. Somebody has to do it.
Mike:One of y'all has been gone every day for probably the last three months.
Jana:Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it's pretty consistent yeah. Except me, except for Mike, don't worry, he's gone places, just not all the places. So, okay, we do have voicemails. Oh, rise into the occasion. We asked for voicemails and we got them, and that's what we thrive off of on this podcast. So if you want to call and leave a voicemail, the number is 615-246-5823. Mike, who is our first voicemail.
JillyBean:Hello LTAD family. This is Julie Bean calling in for a trip report. I'm here, I'm on September 19th at Walt Disney World and I won. First of all say yesterday, the 18th, was an interesting day because I was at Magic Kingdom when half the park was closed because there happened to be a bear that was somewhere in Frontierland, I think it was behind. I finally heard some people say that it was behind Big Thunder Mountain. I heard other people say it was on Thomas Larrier's Island, but wherever it was, there was an actual bear that caused the whole half of the park to close for most of the day, at least until about noon, and then it finally started to clear up. And I had heard, I was talking to somebody who said that there were people lined up outside City Hall complaining and I was like why are you complaining? It's beyond their control and they're not going to hurt the animal. So but anyways, I had a great day. So I'm spending, I'm doing a solo trip to Walt Disney World and it's been interesting and it's been fun and I really enjoy it. I thought I wouldn't like enjoy it so much, but I'm really having a great time and even when you're alone, you cannot do all the things that you want to do. I'm going to have to plan another trip because I can't do it all and I'm so frustrated that I'm halfway through my trip and I still have so much more to do. But anyways, ltd family.
Jana:This is Julie being signing off by Did I not tell you that cocaine bear was a great idea? Which? Is so funny because the day that she's talking about Disney heard us.
Erica:Yes, September 18th is the day we recorded and we were talking about D23 and Country Bear Jamboree they have.
Jana:And here like an hour later there's a bear. Magic kingdom, there's a bear. They heard it and they took her idea, and now I deserve financial compensation for my idea.
Mike:What do you think they did? Bring a cage with a bear and drop it out there.
Jana:You never know. You don't know, maybe they just had him waiting. I think it was a phenomenal idea and I'm so glad that Disney took my idea and put the cocaine bear in the park.
Mike:I just think it's funny. People got pissed.
Jana:I do too. I really do. I'm not surprised. So I heard that it was also originally discovered on Thom Sawyer Island. But I read two things. One a cast member saw it in a tree. Okay, yes, I'm pretty sure that's legit. But I also heard that a cast member possibly walked into the cave on Thom Sawyer Island and saw it and backed out. But I'm not sure how true that is. But imagine if that were true. What if the park opened for all those people who got mad? What if the park had opened and the bear was off in that cave on Thom Sawyer Island?
Erica:and a little kid came running through upon that bear.
Jana:I mean calm on. But that would kind of speak back to my idea though, for the show. But I mean, some people would enjoy it, some wouldn't.
Mike:Yeah, I mean, I never first thought of it a wild animal, either an alligator or a panther.
Erica:Yeah, I say wow, look at that animatronic Like how would you know if it's a real bear or not? A genomyscope? Pettie, pettie dog, Pettie dog, pettie dog. I like Jilly Bean's voicemail I'm all for solo trips and I mean, yeah, I mean.
Mike:It moves, so fast.
Jana:It moves so fast. If you recall, a couple of shows back, we talked about Golden Horse Shoe versus Diamond.
Erica:She's the one that has the question.
Jana:So, but I think she was referring to Hoop2Do and we covered that with her prior to traveling everything, but that's where that topic came from. So Jilly Bean has been a Elthead listener literally since the beginning 2005. We're sorry We've met her. We watched her daughter grow up, we spent time with her, we've talked to her. So we love Jilly Bean and it's been a long time, but she hasn't been to Walt Disney World in years. So a solo trip, jilly Bean, is fantastic. I love solo trips, me too. You kind of just get to free roam and do whatever. Whenever you can sit, you can stare, you can go off in La La Land in your brain, you can ride, you can enjoy, you can soak in everything that's there. So I'm glad you got to go, me too. Super fun. And thank you for the voicemail as well, jilly Bean, and it's really cool that you were there during the Bears. So I'm glad you got to experience our attraction idea. Hey.
Lauren:Elthead crew. This is Lauren from a national also known as one of your agents, Janna. I have thoughts that I need to share about the most recent episode about the D23 destination event. So, janna, you cannot say in canto it's killing me, it is incanto, incanto. So figure it out that was incanto. I'm getting the same feedback on WW pricing as you are, from them being a little bit expensive. I get it, janna, I'm totally with you. It is kind of high for a lot of our families, the families that are booking right now. They're going to the first time with their children A lot of times. One of them has not turned three yet, so they're able to kind of take that pricing and kind of go, okay, we'll get one child who is under three, so it's not as expensive as it's going to be in probably eight years. So that was something. So test track announcement I totally did not see that happening, like legitimately did not see that happening. Maybe I'm just living a whole or something, but with test track I'm excited. I can't wait to see what they choose to do. I feel like we're going to see maybe something electric, maybe do electric vehicles more electric vehicles than maybe we've seen before. I am super excited about the Soren over California return for the 100th birthday. I really, really, really, really hope that they bring back all the snow tube and not just throw the video up. I'm going to find out soon. I'm going to be there very, very soon. I kind of like the idea of moving the Muppets. Erica, I like this, especially if they're not going to move forward with Mermaid, like if Mermaid's not going to come back, then maybe they could retool that theater to be the Muppets or something, because it's already a theater, the show is there and there's our two minute limit.
Mike:Is there a follow up?
Jana:Okay, go ahead and play that.
Lauren:Hey guys, it's Lauren with Main Street Travel calling back to finish out my thoughts. Erica, I think I'm on board with the idea of moving Muppets to the Mermaid theater spot. I think I'm with you. Maybe that'll happen. If they're not going to remermaid that, then at Hollywood Studios, of course. Then the hot box goes to me. I think it's great to have it at Disneyland. However, I don't really know that having it at Disney World is necessary. So that's just my thought. There's some things that I would love just to have it Disneyland. Just keep them there. It's going to be great. Another thing that I thought about while I was listening to your recap was the Country Bear Jamboree announcement. I'm sad there's not going to be another liver, lip, lip or whatever his name is, and no blood on the saddle. It's going to have this like. I'm going to have to go back and do this attraction one more time before the show changes. And then I really love the comment that one of the guys should be called Broadway Bear in the fan community. Maybe we could make an alternative bear where it's like the Petal Tavern Bear, and that could be something, because they're they're all over the place, especially on lower broad in Nashville. So if you're a Nashville Bay, I understand what a pedal timer is. There's all kinds of fun things to do in Nashville, including that. So, guys, thank you so much for hosting the podcast this week. It was very, very enjoyable. I hope you have a great rest of your week. Okay, there's so many things to unpack here, but,
Jana:let's start with this pedal tavern. Pedal tavern bear. Can you imagine standing in frontier lane and a pedal tavern coming past and people going whoa holding their beers up?
Erica:Oh, like the woo girls, like the woo girls, you see these down to all the time.
Jana:Okay, I'm for pedal tavern bear and, lauren, you didn't mention that my bear character, cocaine bear, made an appearance in the park. Like that is something to talk about as well. But speaking of pedal taverns downtown Nashville, lauren, remember, I am born and raised Nashville and I say in canto, in can.
Erica:Say pajamas, pajamas, pajamas pajamas.
Mike:We could go around with it all the time.
Jana:But if you noticed Erica in the middle of her voicemail, I pointed at you because she said we don't necessarily need a hat box goes to a Disney world because it's at Disneyland. But it's so good and it's something that it's something different, it makes the parks different and it gives you yet another reason to visit a different park. If the parks are mirror images of each other, I'm only going to visit the one that's easiest for me to get to. So thank you, lauren.
Erica:I kind of want to dress up as a bear and go down a Broadway and like shoot video.
Mike:We're the only ones who we totally should do that.
Jana:Let's Lawrence out there.
Erica:It's Halloween time we could get away with it I mean I got to go Halloween costume shopping for Riley. Tomorrow I might look for a bear soon.
Jana:If you find one, let me know, because we're gonna go. We're all gonna do this for me, dana. We'll get everybody who wants to go, we get juice and everybody else, and we're gonna go downtown Dressed as bears and we're going to bring Lauren's petal tavern bear Dana can sing.
Erica:This is an amazing idea. This is gonna be so good.
Jana:We have a whole new attraction in Nashville, yeah, all right. Well, thank you, julie being, and thank you, lauren, for the voicemails. That was super entertaining. And if you would like to call in and give us your thoughts and ideas and things in a voicemail, or just disagree with us or tell us how dumb we are, that is absolutely fine. Give us a call at 615-246-5823 and keep in mind we have discovered there is a two-minute limit, so time yourself if you're gonna say something for a while, so you can hang up and call back and complete your thoughts. Uh, 615-246-5823, we would like to hear from y'all. Okay, erica, yes, would you rather be oh okay, dumb or wicked, oh wicked. Mike, would you rather be dumb or?
Mike:wicked. What if you're already one of them?
Jana:Who are you referring to with that comment?
Mike:So I guess wicked.
Jana:I mean, why would you want to be done? So who is your favorite wicked character?
Erica:From the musical. What are we talking about here? Because I Go to musical you chose wicked over dumb.
Jana:So who is your favorite wicked character? Maleficent? Thank you, mike Cruella, cruella do deal. My favorite, of course, is the Evil Queen from Snow White. She's my absolute favorite. But I'm gonna tell you, I really really started appreciating Lady Tremaine a lot more.
Erica:Oh, my gosh recently.
Jana:I love her and I started, like my kids will get me. What do you call those? This collectible porcelain pieces? It's a very popular brand Homework no precious moments. No, I Can see the tag, as you can't pull the name off of it.
Mike:I'm just they're Disney, I don't know Funko.
Jana:I don't know, they're nice porcelain, whatever, but I've got the Evil Queen. And I've got Snow White with the Evil Queen, but they got me Lady Tremaine.
Erica:Oh, we're starting a villains collection.
Jana:We're starting a villains collection, Okay. So yeah, I think that's fantastic.
Mike:I want to get you the dragon and everything else, so yes, I'll take all the villains at this point.
Jana:I'm loving that. And there's a store right up here at the streets of Indian Lake that sells those those that brand that I'm liking, catch Gosh, can't remember the name of it pretty cheap to. We should go over there, they've got some replay toys replay toys. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, I want to not be mills.
Mike:it does it to you, mm-hmm. Yeah but they're top dollar over there.
Erica:Yeah, they're gonna pay that I'm right.
Jana:Yeah, so, okay. So if you would like to tell us who you prefer dumb or wicked we'd love to hear from you, and why. Why do you prefer wicked?
Erica:Why characters? Because I think all like, I don't know, maybe just cuz I'm old now and a little bit smarter, I guess I think they're just super Gosh. I don't know how to explain it. I think they're just really misunderstood. There you go Like, especially with Cruella, I didn't really like the character in, like the cartoon, like the movies and everything. But then once Emma was her name, emma Stone came out and did the live-action Cruella and like that backstory they gave her Fantastic. I could watch that movie over and over again and I don't watch a lot of movies but Maleficent. I don't care for her as a person, but Angelina Jolie, she rocked that role. She was.
Jana:Phenomenal and I've seen Maleficent but I've not seen Cruella with Emma Stone.
Erica:Oh my gosh, I've seen Clips of it, but I've not watched the whole thing.
Jana:It's so good. I think they're just super misunderstood and Mike, why would you choose wicked over a dumb character such as Dopey Dopey, so cute.
Mike:No, it's stupid. Why would you want the dumb character?
Jana:Because they're fun, and they are. They're a comic relief and they're forgettable. They're happy Dopey is not forgettable.
Mike:I'll never do a villain?
Erica:Well, everybody knows, dopey though.
Mike:Yeah, but everybody knows the villains to be true, which is why we need a villains park.
Erica:But I digress oh.
Jana:I know I want a villains part too. I think the villains deserve their own space or that. So I don't know with you, but I don't know. I thought of that question and I was like, okay, would I rather be dumb or wicked? I would much rather be wicked than dumb.
Mike:You got that covered.
Jana:You're. You're welcome, you're welcome. Okay, so today what we mostly wanted to talk about was I just got back from Alaska and I think on the last podcast I was about to go to Alaska. That was Friday the 22nd. And here we are on Friday the 13th and we're just getting the opportunity to, because when we go on trips like this y'all, our job does not stop just because I say this is a vacation and that was not a vacation. But even if it were a true vacation, my job does not stop. I don't get to take a day off. If the phone rings and I've got people traveling, you have to step up and assist them. I have had to assist people on Christmas Day. Literally on Christmas Day I've had to help people when everybody calls right. So and and? When we plan a trip and it's time to go, that's when the phone starts ringing the hardest.
Erica:Oh so yeah it's.
Jana:It's difficult to travel, but I was taking part of a conference that was held in Alaska and I Went. It was land only. I've never done just land, only Alaska before. So I want to tell you all about that trip because this is probably the number one best experience I've had across all vacations that I've taken, and I normally choose Warm, I choose a beach, I choose.
Erica:Jamaica and palm trees.
Jana:Yes, and the sunshine and the blue skies. Jamaica. I love the Caribbean Islands, jamaica being my favorite. I never voluntarily choose a destination that I would deem to be cold. Yay, finally, finally, we're going to the mountains, mike for years has wanted to do something other than tropical, whatever I mean. We've done Hawaii, we've done Caribbean, we've done Mexico. We've done all the things over and, over and over and over.
Mike:Now she loves the winter wonderland.
Jana:So lucky for me it was not a winter wonderland and that's probably the only reason I did enjoy it as much as I did. But you know to talk about the weather, to start off it was a. It was like a beautiful, perfect, crisp fall day. The highs were like in the low 60s. It was cold at night, don't get me wrong.
Mike:So before you left, we looked at the weather. Yeah, rain, rain, rain. And then the days you were there, it was Sunny sunny, sunny. Like you remember the day you left rain, rain, rain and it's, they said, most of time it's that rain.
Jana:Yeah, and it's very rare to get. It's like God said. Hey, jenna's going to Alaska and she hates cold weather. Let me clear up the weather so she can enjoy this.
Mike:She's not clothes. She bought jacket, boots.
Jana:I'm all kinds of stuff preparing for this trip, expecting to be cold because I knew the majority of the activities were going to be outside. Oh my gosh, it was beautiful. I never put my jacket on. Not had on long sleeves, but I never put a jacket on. So it was fantastic. But to make a long story short, nashville, seattle, seattle, to Anchorage, alaska. We started there just for the night the next day this is where my trip starts we got on the Alaska Railroad and we took the train to talkeet now. Now, the train itself is an attraction and it's a cool, cool experience because the Grand Canyon. It is in the fact that you're just going through mostly Wilderness and there's not a like you do go through town, so we'll be wrong, but in between you just go through these areas of nothing and it's beautiful. You can see Denali, the range from, and there was even a part on the train where they stopped the train Just so we could get taking the view of Denali and over the little area that we were in. That's so cool. You can see bears. You can see moose now we did not see either, but the, the man who drives the train, what do you call him? A conductor? The conductor, he saw the bear and he stopped the train so we could all see it. But the bear took off and it got off into the woods before we actually got to see it. But he saw him. There's a dome car so you can go up into the dome car and sit where the entire ceiling and down the sides is made of glass. So it's a beautiful, beautiful view. The seats are super comfortable and there was a dining car and there was two dining cars. One was kind of like a cafe, like a quick service, for a lack of a better term. You know, disney is a quick service when you walk up to the counter, take your food and go find a seat. And then the other was a like a table service where we sat down and a Host took care of us at our table, brought our food, all the things. The food was delicious on that train. It was fantastic. So the train itself is something I'm glad I did and if I went back I would want to do that again. So the train dropped us off in talkeetna and so we started the area in talkeetna, in downtown talkeetna now talkeetna is this tiny town in Alaska. The population was like, I think, two or three thousand. It's not a whole lot of people. Their downtown area is no longer than main street USA at Magic Kingdom or Disneyland. It's a very Short stretch of road, it's called Main Street and you've just got all these little businesses that sit around and the majority of them were like gift shops. You go to Alaska and a lot of time you get to see the northern lights. There's a little shop there called Aurora Doras and what she does is she goes out and she takes beautiful photos of the Northern lights and she sells them in her little shop. It's called Aurora Doras. You can look up online. It's amazing. But there was a couple of bars and when I say bars I'm talking just. It's not like going to a metropolitan area downtown with this big fancy bar. It was like a little log cabin and they had built out on the porch and put some stuff out on the yard and it was. It was a bar. I love that and there was a pizza place and then they had their general store in. The general store acted as the general store for the community and there was a few groceries in there and Supplies and things that they might need. But it was cool to go in there too. That building in the general store was actually built However many years ago I can't remember, but they loaded that entire building onto a float and floated it up the river and put it in Place there in Tokyo. So we were like we're going back into the 1800s, that that kind of history of that building. So Talkeetna had some more historical things and they had like a trappers cabin that you could go and look at the trappers cabin tons of history up there. It was just besides the, the little stretch of Main Street. It was all dirt roads, so it was really neat. I got me a sweatshirt. I got Michael hat that he's not wearing today. Rude that, but that's where I got. The majority of my souvenirs were right there in Talkeetna and the people who live and work there just nice and Kind of like coming to Nashville. Just people were nice and they were happy that you were there and they were happy to offer you tips about the area or suggestions for activities or you know what do they do in the middle of the winter? Because that's a big thing. What do you do in Alaska in the middle of the winter? Well, they live in it and they, they, they bunker down and they, they do it just fine. So I love the little town of kept talkeetna. It was very, it was very sweet and there's a movie that they used part of that from or a TV show that they used part of that street from, and I can't remember what they said it was now heard of people just going up there just to see that.
Mike:Oh, I would go there just to see downtown talk.
Jana:That's worth seeing now. Look, it's not a half-day event, I wouldn't even say it's a quarter-day event. I'm talking two, three hours and you're done, depending on how much time you sit at the bar.
Mike:So there's people going all the way up there on a plane ride or a boat or whatever else just for that, just for downtown talk, even a quarter-day event probably not.
Jana:Most people are probably don't go. I mean, there might be a few people there who's up into town. I would go back and spend a day in talkeetna, just that little downtown area, but most people are not gonna sit in talkeet all day long.
Mike:I think I've heard of it many, many times, but maybe I have it. Maybe it's just a new thing, just from you, but it sounds like something I've always heard of people going to. I don't know, I don't know. That makes sense, it just.
Jana:But it's. You know, if you were in Anchorage and you hopped on the train, you could go up there, yeah, or even it was just two hours from Anchorage via car for via train. So maybe instead you would do a car and drive into talkeetna, spend a few hours and then head back to Anchorage or Continue on the road wherever you're headed.
Mike:So the appeal is northern lights, you can small town, but you can see northern lights everywhere.
Jana:So the appeal to talkeetna is all kinds of stuff. For example, we stay right there at the talkeetna lodge. It was five minutes from that downtown strip of tell, downtown talkeetna, and our talkeetna lodge is 60 miles from Denali. And because it was such a Beautiful, clear, clear day and if you have not been to my social medias and seeing the pictures, we could see the top of Denali, the highest range For three days straight. It was beautiful clear. When we first got there was a little bit overcast. It had been snowing on that mountain. We were at the lodge for an hour and that moved out and we all happened to walk out for dinner and we saw it and everybody was like, oh, so dinner got delayed because everybody was outside taking pictures and doing videos and stuff. It was the absolute most gorgeous view. You know I love a palm tree view. You're not gonna. You'll never beat white sand and blue water for me, but that was beautiful and it's almost like, if you're the type of person that I am, that you're just stuck on a particular type of vacation Because you're my soul calls to the ocean. I don't know why, maybe I am Moana and spirit. May I to feaky, whoever that might be. Oh my gosh to feaky. What is her name, it's not rough, it's not to feaky. What is it? It's something I'm close. What is it to featy? See, I was close, one letter off Lordy Lord Anyways. But what I realized is how much I enjoyed something completely opposite of what I thought I was gonna enjoy sounds familiar, right. Okay, so we stayed at talkeetna lodge. The food in this lodge is phenomenal, it was so good. The rooms, however, are very, very basic, clean, pristine, but you've got a bed and a table and a chair and there is not much fluff, and by fluff I mean decoration.
Erica:I'm gonna stop you because I have a question about that. So you've talked about like some resorts and whatnot, even at sandals being kind of basic, yeah, like post pandemic right, and whatnot. So do you feel like for Alaska, more specifically with this resort, maybe because the views are so incredible they don't need all the fluff in the rooms Do you think that's a possibility?
Jana:I think it's more so that a like Alaska is a frontier and it's rugged and they don't. You're right that they don't need the fluff inside the room because the room is not what you're there for. You're there for that view and I had a room with a view and it was gorgeous. So possibly I couldn't tell you exactly why they wouldn't, but I did ask Because everybody was kind of commenting on, because we're travel agents and we're very, very picky in particular. We do we do get spoiled in a sense that Destinations want us to come and see their stuff and they will invite us at a very, very good discount. So the whole idea that travel agents travel for free is totally false. We do not travel for free, but we are extended discounts because a destination wants me to come experience their hotel or experience their park or whatnot, so that I can come back and tell you guys about it, just like I'm doing now, and Decide help you decide if that's the right fit for your vacation, if that's where you want to go. So I did ask, as though all the other agents there are all lodges in Alaska, this, this, this basic and the answer is yes, because they just don't. You don't need a room. There was a TV, there was a bathroom, it wasn't like I was in an outhouse or anything but there was just no decoration. There were these tiny little 8 by 10 pictures on the wall which got lost in the wall, but that was it. There was no flowers, there was no bedrunners, there was nothing to make the room. How you would decorate your house at your home to make it beautiful. That was missing. But the room itself was absolutely fine. It was pristine was not luxury by any stretch of the imagination, but it was clean and the lodge itself was beautiful. It has the tallest freestanding fireplace in the United States is at the talkeet in a lodge. We asked them how tall it was. They didn't know. But what's fun about that lodge is, when they were building that lodge, the local high school football team came Down to the river, picked up the big river rocks and they loaded those up and put them up there and built. The fireplace was built very first. That was the first thing that went up there and then there's some other features that feature the rocks and Pintaging, because they've got like, you know, like a bear face and the rocks and stuff like that. So you know, like a hidden Mickey that had like hidden things on the rock design. So that was cool. So what did we do that night? What did we do? I don't remember, we'll get back to it in a minute. Um gosh, what did we do that night? But we were able to see northern lights from the lodge and on the backside of the lodge, just this big open wilderness, because it's going into Denali. Um, moose bear. There were trails you could walk and they did tell us do not go outside and walk around by yourself. Um, it's dangerous in Alaska.
Mike:Make sure you've got people with you because you're walking around magic kingdom, I know Get attacked by a bear.
Jana:Um, so we were warned about that. But there was enough decking and things on the backside that you just hang out out there. We could see northern lights from that. In the night that the northern lights actually came out, everybody was like waking up every hour on the hour trying to catch them, and I missed them by 30 minutes, oh man. And then the other people saw my was like what?
Erica:Oh my God, why did somebody knock on my?
Jana:door Like hello, but I literally missed them by about 30 minutes. But that's okay. Um, I am going back. I'm going to go back next year in September. We are um, that's rude, mike. You took my pencil because I keep tapping it on the table.
JillyBean:This is all here.
Jana:Stop it. Nobody else hears that. Um, we're going to take a group up there actually. So if you're interested, this is going to be it. I'm going to tell you right now it's not going to be a cheap trip. We are going to go and do Alaska and we're going to get all the experiences. This could potentially be considered a once in a lifetime, because I'm going to pack it full. There's going to be plenty of downtime, but I'm going to pack it with these experiences that I got to do because they were so incredible. Um, I can't remember what we did that night. I have no idea. If I remember it, I'll come back to it. So we did actually get to go and do sled dogs oh my gosh, I'm so jealous and we mushed the dogs and I chose this particular itinerary for the dogs. Like I wanted to do a sled dog. I wanted to mush the dogs, and you can do it even without snow on the ground, because they put them on carts with wheels and a lot of people look at these dogs and they're like, oh, the poor dog you're making them pull you and all this and all that. No, those dogs are so, so excited when they saw those sleds come out, those dogs were jumping up and down, straight up and down, like excitement and barking and pulling, wanting to get over there. But we pulled up to the place and I should have been prepared with the name of the place but I don't remember. But this is a place where they actually train dogs to run the Iditarod and many of the dogs in this particular I'm going to call it a camp have dogs that have not only run the Iditarod but have won the Iditarod multiple times. There was this one dog they called Prophet and they said he is the absolute smartest dog they've ever seen in their lives. They said he just naturally knew exactly what to do and they would trust that dog with their life out there or something more to happen. So Prophet was just a beautiful husky and there was. I bet there was a hundred dogs or more out there. And you know, a question was asked because we're out in the middle of nowhere, do the bears bother the dogs? Do the wolf come and bother the dogs? And the answer to that was because they're all outside on these runs and they all have houses, they all have cover and these dogs are incredibly well taken care of, like these dogs are their children, they're not mistreated in any way. But when you see it, those questions come across. And I'm not a huge animal advocate at all, I mean, I just have pets and that's great. But even those questions cross my mind. But they answered all of them and they were happy to answer them. Those dogs love them and they love those dogs. And they could look at any dog out there because to me they all look the same and they know the name of every individual dog. They all have a name, they all have their own little dog house with their name on the placard as well. But they asked if the wild animals would come and attack those dogs and the answer was no because they said, as a pack, those animals keep their distance so they were safe in. The weirdest thing happened. But we were sitting there and they were kind of giving us a tour of the facility and how they care for the dogs and their daily routines and all the things, and suddenly this one dog I don't know if it got stuck on its chain or what, it wasn't hurt, it was just stuck where it was at. Every one of those dogs at the exact same time went berserk Like they all just started barking and jumping and running back and forth on those chains. I was like oh my gosh, what is happening? What just happened? You would think that someone had came in and shot somebody or whatnot, but this one little dog was stuck in her chain and the woman stopped. She looked up, she looked to see which dog it was and she went over, she fixed it and everybody just went and laid right back down like nothing ever happened. Wow, they all knew that the dog was in distress and they took care of their own, so that was incredibly cool. There were puppies. Oh gosh and we got to hold the puppies.
Erica:They're so jealous.
Jana:If you want to see my social media, I run the Main Street social media and a lot of times I'll share what my agents post as well. Personally, that's where I post. So my Instagram is mainst travelco. My TikTok is the same mainst travelco and that's probably where you'll find those images quicker. But also Facebook is Main Street Travelco. Go look for those photos and everything. Super cool, those dogs were amazing.
Erica:The dogs were amazing. We try to get you to bring one back and you're like there are $40,000.
Jana:They are $40,000 per dog and you sign a contract because you're not allowed to breed them if you take one.
Erica:Oh, I actually, I like that. I'm on board with that.
Jana:So, but these are world champion. I did a ride dogs and they've got their bloodline in them and the way they breed them is that like they have this huge family tree on the wall, because you can't mix brother and sister dogs. So they're very careful with how they breed them as well the bloodlines. Like it's so amazing just how they care for these dogs. Okay, so let's get to the mushing part. So we got to mush the dog and you two people go at a time when person sits in the seat, the other person drives, and so we would take turns midway. But our dogs didn't want to go, they didn't want to mush, they wanted to pee in the bushes and sniffing and all this other stuff. So we were like, let's go dog, go dog. Well, halfway through, when we switched the dogs, get to breaks through the little three mile track and we switched dogs or we switched drivers and the girl who was following behind there was a girl in the front leading like the tour guide people and a girl in the back and asked her. I said how do I get these dogs to pay attention and go and whatnot? And she told me. She said, if you see them, because they would tangle up in their lines. Because there was, I think we had, four dogs and they would crisscross each other when we would stop and tangle their lines and she had to come fix them. I said how can I keep them from doing this? She goes, you go ready. So and she said E gall, he was. He was right, gall was left so you could give them commands, gall E, whatever, right. So we kind of took off again and we were coming to our second break. Well, as we slowed down and now these dogs started kind of whatever, and I was like ready and man, they came to attention. It was almost like a military we're an important person, the military walks in, everybody comes to attention. That's literally what those dogs did with that one word and just just so impressively smart. And sometimes you get on the trail and you have to slow down because somebody in front of you like the driver, the human, is usually the problem and in this case it was how do you slow down? You have breaks. It's like a bike. The back is like standing up on the back of a bike without the wheels behind you. You're the very back.
Mike:So is it pulling on the dogs, or is it?
Jana:the dogs are pulling us.
Mike:So it's slowing the sled down which is slowing the dogs down.
Jana:Yeah, so that's how you would go and stop, but the people in front of us would slow down and those dogs would kind of start moving and going off to the side to pee or what not. And I'd say I got to say it several times ready, boom, right back to attention. It was incredible. And then while you're actually going like while you're moving on the trail, that lead dog on the front left you can literally watch this dog look back at you About every two minutes for the next command, what's next? What do you need? And he watches me, the driver for the command of what you want that dog to do. That's so cool. It was incredible. That's so cool. I absolutely fell in love with those dogs. There's, there's so so.
Mike:I wonder how long it takes them to train that, or does it just? Is it just instincts it just from the other dogs they train?
Jana:Well, I do. I do know that they said that a dog can keep the other dogs in line, so I'm assuming that they will also learn from an experienced dog.
Mike:So they train one dog and he pretty much the leaders.
Jana:But they're literally practicing right now for the Adidarod. That's what the Drossleds are for, to keep the dogs all year round running. The Adidarod, I think, was over a thousand miles and they said those dogs live for it. They absolutely love it. So when they've got that, champion dog profit there.
Mike:So they're training with tourists coming up there and then, and then they go and Well, you know, it's Alaska.
Jana:There's not a whole lot of ways to make money, so that is a great way for them to bring money in and support the dogs and their families and things like that. So, but anyways. So after that we were covered in mud, head to toe covered in mud. My brand new boots covered in mud.
Mike:I haven't even seen them on since you got back. Did you throw them away?
Jana:No, they're in the house and I did wash them off at the lodge that night because the lodge had laundry. I did all did our laundry because we were covered in mud. I could not have put that stuff back in my suitcase.
Mike:And she did find out what the difference between water resistant and waterproof was.
Jana:Yes.
Mike:Her water resistant boots. She got her feet wet. No. I didn't I thought you said your feet got wet.
Jana:No, my legs, from everything was wet except for my feet. So from, like, my ankle, the top of my boot to my knee, I was soaked.
Mike:Okay, we'll scratch anything.
Jana:They were water resistant, yeah, but my feet were not wet. It was my legs above my feet, yeah, and I mean soaked. Oh yeah, you would think I had just walked through the water up to my knees. I was that wet and that muddy mud all over his head to toe, wow, so, but I would go back and do it again. Heart beat was phenomenal. I want to do it in the snow, I think that would be a cool and similar experience.
Mike:Could you handle that, because you know it's going to be cold?
Jana:I don't know if I could or not, because it's going to be bitterly cold in Alaska compared to Tennessee, so anyways. So after that we went back to the hotel, we cleaned up and then we went to the Denali brewery. They brew their own beer Wine, you name it, they brew it. We got to taste some of the little pieces of barley. You can actually eat barley like I see. It was super good. There was like a chocolate one and there was one that I don't remember what it tastes like, but it was good. And we got to see their distillery and all the things. And then we ate there. They had phenomenal pizza, salad, drinks, all the things. Mike would have loved the brewery. You would have loved the brewery. Probably Erica is the girl that you'll see sitting at the bar at the airport at 5 am drinking a beer, absolutely.
Erica:There are no rules at the airport.
Jana:But the brewery was really cool and we enjoyed. We were very tired but we still enjoyed that little tour of the brewery so we're glad we got to do that.
Erica:So I know you don't like fish or anything really, you only like catfish. Did you have salmon in Alaska? It was offered, I just didn't taste it Really.
Jana:I just can't stand that fishy taste. But it's not the same.
Erica:I have a cousin that lived in Alaska. She moved to Texas and she, her and my aunt would go fishing and then they would do everything with the salmon and everything freeze, wrap it like in that sucky bag and the vacuum seal bag and then ship it to us in California. Yeah, it was fantastic, I've got clients who do that.
Jana:We'll send them up on vacation and this is usually people doing a land vacation, not my cruise people, because there's not enough time on a cruise and they'll do a day of fishing and then they go to a processor up there, they package it up, they ship it back and it's at home for them when they get there. But no, I just I couldn't bring myself to do it. And actually one night a couple of the girls who ordered that fish salmon, salmon, whatever you call it. I say salmon Like I don't know if they were offended by it. I said I thought it was undercooked, it was overcooked, I don't know, but I think it was just a lack of experience eating a fish. So I was. I had this big O filet steak. I was absolutely fine with what I ate. So next year that is the night that they all went out and saw the Northern Lights and I missed them. But it was okay. Northern Lights are cool and if I see them I might feel a little different about it. It didn't ruin my trip because I didn't see Northern Lights.
Mike:Well, I think you're already prepared to not see them when you go up there, cause that's kind of a rare thing to be able to see them.
Erica:Well, especially the time you went, because is it? It's what June through? Oh, but you did go in September.
Jana:It was September into September.
Erica:June through September, but August and September are like the high times for the Northern Lights.
Jana:Well, it also depends on where you're at in Alaska. So we were kind of we were within the major first belt, we were right in it. Anchorage was a little bit more outside of it, but they were seeing them in Anchorage too. Okay, so they're cool, but it's okay. Honestly, I think I probably would have chosen my sleep over getting up and staying up for three hours in the night, cause the next day we got up, we had some free time, we went back to downtown Taquitna, did some little shopping really cool stuff and we went back and we went.
Mike:You didn't even know the best part of your trip was coming up.
Jana:I had no clue that the best part of my trip was coming up.
Mike:Sorry.
Jana:So we went and we got on a little plane Like I'm talking a seven seater plane, nope, and it was an old plane. I want to say they called it a beaver or something, I don't remember, but it's a very, very old plane, like they flew these back in the 50s or something right. But they keep them updated, engines, all good, working. Whatever we boarded this little plane, there was a few people who were very nervous. I seemed to be fine, I wasn't scared of it, but it's a small plane, like a puddle jumper and people get really nervous in that situation. But we get on this plane and we literally flew 60 miles to Denali range. It was a crystal clear, beautiful day. Even the pilots, who fly this multiple times every single day, were commenting, because we all got headphones. We could hear the pilots talking and they were all talking with each other and they were being real sarcastic and making jokes about what an awful day this is to fly.
Mike:Can't see nothing out here Now. You had y'all had two planes.
Jana:Yeah, our group had two planes total and y'all were following each other.
Mike:That's probably neat.
Jana:Yeah, it was really cool and you could see the little plane go over. But what you also get to see is the people who live in the parts of Alaska that have no roads, but what they have are these little airplanes, and those houses are usually built beside water. So a lot of the people who live out rugged like that they either have a good trail to the train and the train. By the way, if we go back to the train we rode, it would literally just stop at a mile marker and people would get on and off the train.
Mike:I've seen that on TV.
Jana:And a lot of people are like wondering what's happening. I'm like, well, they live out there, so they will literally tell the people we need to stop at mile marker or whatever to get off, or they'll drop packages too, and people will be standing there waiting.
Mike:Yeah, so that was wild.
Jana:But then also a lot of people have planes. Now, the majority, the highest percentage of airplane owners is in Alaska, but the lowest percentage of licensed pilots also live in Alaska. People learn to fly from their family, friends, and they get a plane and they fly it. So you could just go over just the middle of nowhere and there would be a house besides some water, a little plane sitting on the water. So totally cool. But when we got over the dry land part to the mountains where the snow started covering everything, the blue glacier ice was like just a beacon of sunshine. It's so bright, so so beautiful and I go to the Caribbean so much because I love that beautiful blue Caribbean water. Those glaciers are the prettiest shade of blue I've ever seen in my life and they were everywhere and you could see like all four on this mountain. You could see like a little avalanche going down a waterfall here. No animals live up that high, there's no wildlife up there, but you're literally in the top of the mountains Yetis do live there. But we also flew over the base camp for those humans who just have whatever is inside of them that makes them want to climb to the top of a snowy mountain, which could cost you your life and it does. But we flew over the base camp, which nobody was there, but you could see the imprints and the snow where the tents have been picked up, and then we landed on this glacier. So, joe Ruth, glacier, both planes went down, we landed, we got out of these planes.
Mike:Did you know this was gonna happen?
Jana:I did not know this was gonna happen. We got out of these planes and now we're walking in the snow on this glacier. Some of the snow was up to our knees deep and there's a story on that I'll tell you in a second. But what I want to express here is this for some reason, and I don't know why, first of all, I had on like a little thermal shirt from Walmart. If you go to the women's section you've got we used to call them thermal underwear, but now you wear them Long Johns, long Johns. Now you wear them as the shirt, which is fine. I love them. And I had on the little puffy vest that's literally from Timu, timu, timu. That's all I had in my jeans and my boots, because they told snow would be deep. And I got out of this plane and just immediately the most giddy, happy, excited thing like oh my gosh. I am standing on Denali.
Erica:Well, think about how many people don't do that.
Jana:Well, and we also they also said that we were literally could call ourselves 5%ers, because it was such a beautiful, clear day. From where we were standing on this glacier, we could see the tip of Denali and I've got pictures of it on there. It's behind me in the distance. It's like this little triangle on the top of the hill behind my head, up in the air. That was the peak of Denali. That's how far up and close we were. He said we were five miles from the peak Dang. That's crazy.
Mike:Do you know how high y'all are?
Jana:I'm sure he told us, I don't remember. I know at some point I heard them say 22,000 feet and I think that's when we were in the air.
Mike:I'd been having a hard time.
Jana:Well, and speaking of that, you. I literally felt that. So maybe it's because I'm out of shape, or maybe it affected everybody. I don't think it affected everybody I know it wasn't just me, because I asked someone else. I said did you feel a little shorter breath up there? He was like, yeah, actually I did.
Erica:Well, that's what happens when people go climb the mountains and everything. It's that elevation and everything.
Mike:That's why them camps are down there. They can adjust to that.
Jana:Well, I first felt it in the air and then I guess I got used to it because you're just sitting there taking pictures in the plane. But when I landed and I wanted to walk and take videos and record, that's when I really felt that were you. It's almost like being if you've ever been in Colorado up in those mountains and suddenly you hey, I'm a healthy, fit person, but I feel short of breath. That's what it does to you. You're so high, but I cannot begin to tell you the feeling of just being there and how exciting that was and the way it made you feel by what we were doing and where we were and where our feet were. And you know I also remember standing there at some point and looking around at how beautiful it was. And you know I'm always like God everything you created on this earth is gorgeous. I don't think anything can be prettier than Caribbean. I'm like when I get to heaven I want to live on a beach and like that. But then you go and you see something like that and you're having the same reaction to it. First of all, it's surprising for you. You're like I never knew I'd like something like this it was. I cannot put into words what that felt like, and that is absolutely something that we're going to have on the itinerary for this group trip to. Alaska. If we do nothing else, that's what we're doing. I am going to make it optional because there's just going to be some people who want to go, who just can't do that. Fear is an awful, awful thing, but I wouldn't y'all remember that fear is a liar and if you can bring yourself to just bring yourself to get in that plane and go do it, you will not regret it. It's phenomenal, it's just phenomenal. So, to make a long story short, that wound up being the highlight of the trip. Not the dogs, like I thought the dogs would be. The dogs were cool. You picked that whole thing for the dogs, for the dogs, and I would go and do the dogs again, even if I didn't get to do the flight. That flight seeing to Denali and landing on Ruth Glacier, was absolutely the most incredible thing I think I've ever done in my whole life. It was so, so cool and I'm just happy and thankful that I got to experience it. To be real honest, so I love Alaska if it's warm.
Mike:So after that, I'm looking at pictures of Ruth Glacier.
Jana:Gosh, I don't know. I can't remember everything we did, because there's something else that we did. We did the dogs, the brewery, we did talkeetna, we did flight sing.
Mike:I went back to Anchorage.
Jana:Yeah, but I think we did something else up in talkeetna and I don't know why, I can't remember this, but anyways, if I remember it we'll talk about it another time, but anyways. So at that point brewery, we did that we got on a bus and we went back to Anchorage and that's kind of the not the full end, but that's pretty much the end of the most exciting parts of Alaska, because then we went into conferences and class time and learning and all the things. A couple of those nights we did get some free time and we took the train again in the opposite direction. So we got to see the water and we were seeing beluga wells and the goats up on the mountain and stuff like that. And then another day we took a bus over through is it Prince William Sound? Yeah, through Whittier, I believe. And when you you have to go through a mountain it's a two mile long tunnel through a mountain to get to the other side where I think the the, the population is 200 people. They said they all live in this one building over on the side that you can see. It's crazy, but they all live in that building. But when you go through the tunnel that's also the train tracks. So you're driving across the train track to get over and we got on a large catamaran and we got to sail around and do the glaciers. So if you want to see something cool, go to my social medias and look, because we saw a glacier, a calve and just a whole chunk of it came off.
Mike:Yeah, you can hear in your voice. You were kind of excited.
Jana:It was so cool. Again, I'm sitting there thinking this is a giant chunk of ice and I'm like enthralled with this. It was so huge, it's always moving. Like we went to this first glacier first and this little rock it looks like something got held in my hand because we were half a mile from the glacier where you have to stop and it fell off and the captain came on and he said, yep, that was about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and we're like okay. And then we moved to this other glacier and it was honestly perfect timing, right place, right time.
Mike:I just I can't imagine what's trapped in that ice. I know.
Jana:It's been there for you. Know you, when you hear it, get ready to like break and fall. It sounds like a shotgun. It's just this pop and it sounds like a shotgun. And the first time we heard it was at the glacier where the Volkswagen bug fell and all that. So when we got to the other glacier now you recognize it and you we heard a big one and he was like oh, this is going to be big, y'all be ready. And it's funny, cause everybody will rush to the side of the boat and that stuff fell in the water. There's video on there. The video does not do it justice as to how big that the ice came down was. In person you get a better feel for it, but on video it doesn't do it.
Mike:It was just incredible. So is that close to the Prince Edward sound?
Jana:We were in Prince William, sound Prince Edward, prince William, whichever it is, I don't know.
Mike:But that is where the Exxon bowties must have opened.
Jana:And can you? Imagine that just full of oil and well, it's just you're surrounded by glaciers and stuff, so it would just have been trapped in there, but it's clean and there was tons of wildlife there was a lot of money spent to clean it up. And we saw the big seals. I got a video of the big seals just resting out on this little rock island as we drove past them. There was a bear on the shore. So Alaska is pretty amazing, let's go.
Erica:It's not something I would have just chosen.
Jana:Unless I had a reason to go there, such as a conference, I wouldn't have just chosen that. I would now, over and over and over again. Alaska is incredible and I encourage everybody. If you listen to this podcast and you are a Disney person, let me encourage you to break the habit a little bit. Take a year and do something different. If it's not Alaska, it could be anything. I know when I first started traveling, we were just Disney, disney, disney, disney, disney, disney, disney, right. But when I started doing non-Disney things even here in the USA, these 50 states there are incredible things in this world to see that are not Disney, and if all you're doing is Disney, you are doing yourself a disservice. You are doing your children a disservice. There's so much to see, experience and learn, even right here, that you can do in your car, in a road trip at any given time. There's affordable ways to see this country. It's going to be a little bit difficult. You're not going to get there by car. Oh, you can, well, you can, but it's going to be a long, long drive, so I would not encourage it unless you've just got all the free time in the world. A lot of people literally sold everything and live in campers and do this and there's a reason they're doing it and I get it now. I completely get it.
Mike:Can we run Main Street from Alaska in a camper? We sure could. Okay, let's go?
Jana:We sure could. We're going to need that satellite thing from Elon we got that already.
Erica:Okay, perfect, starling, yes.
Jana:I hope you enjoyed my Alaska Tales, tales from Alaska, my Alaska adventure. But I think we've been on here for a while now, so we're going to cut this show off and we will see you guys next week, remember, if you would like to call, leave us a voicemail 615-246-5823. There is a two minute limit.
Mike:Again. I'm going to try to change that, Okay 615-246-5823.
Jana:We'd love to hear from you guys and we hope you have a fantastic weekend.