The Backpacker

Thursday, July 16, 2009 –Denali National Park to Anchorage

After a week north of Anchorage, it was time to head south to the Kenai Peninsula for the second half of our trip. We went shopping in Denali Village so Aaron could buy an Ulu knife, and then we were on our way.

The first stop of the day was at Wal-Mike’s in Trapper Creek. A family friend told us Wal-Mike’s was not to be missed, and I suppose it wasn’t. Wal-Mike’s is a classic roadside antique/gift/junk shop. There was a wide variety of “treasures”, but I think our expectations were set a little high. I’m sure the inventory rotates considerably, but when we were there it was mostly a collection of broken junk. The kids got bored very quick and Aaron was hungry so he went to the RV and “invented” the peanut butter and bologna sandwich. Who needs jelly when you have bologna?

Wal-Mike’s has great reviews on Google and several travel websites and if you’re in the area it’s worth a stop, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit.

We stopped over at a commercial RV park in Anchorage for the night. It was time to do laundry and hook up to campground power instead of running the generators for a night. The movie version of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came out while we were on our trip, so the younger crowd (yes, that included me!) went to the movies and then out for pizza.

We went to the Moose’s Tooth for pizza and had the Backpacker – spinach, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, kalamata olives, feta, provolone, and garlic oil. I’d hesitate to call it the best pizza I’ve ever had because pizza styles can be so different. It’s hard to compare New York thin crust to Chicago deep dish to something like the Backpacker. But it’s definitely among the very best I’ve ever had. Over 11 years later I still salivate when I think about that pizza (like now while I’m writing this). I would love to go back to Alaska some day to see the sights again, do some backcountry hiking, and so forth. But I would even more like to go back to get another Backpacker.