Glennallen to Copper Center, Alaska – 19 July 2024

After 3 days in Tolsona we left for Squirrel Creek Recreation Center. This was a small campground situated between the fast flowing Squirrel creek and the Tonsina river. We visited a small roadside shop (basically an add on to the front of their house) across from the park, and were curious to find out what their advertised “Yac Yacs” were – apparently they had extra letters after making their sign and made it up – a good excuse to draw in curious people like us .  The owners were very friendly and took us to meet their Berner mix dog – Shadow.  They had been living there for about 2 years. We needed cash to pay the campsite and wanted to see if they could give us $25 change if we purchased some items.  There was some difficulty with their system at the time and the wife was unable to do that but willingly opened up the till and was going to give us $25. She suggested we return later so her husband could sort it out.  We politely declined but were amazed at the trust she put in us.  Later we went for dinner at the nearby Tonsina Lodge – an American/Russian restaurant owned by a Russian family. They were able to take payment for the campsite so that got sorted out. The vegetarian options on the menu were not available so I settled on a Salmon Burger and Derek had a Beef  burger and we both had a beer.  The food was ok but very over priced.The restaurant was decorated with Russian items including those very old paintings of Russian aristocrats. Later on researching Russians in Alaska, I found out that Russia owned Alaska between 1732 and 1867. Alaska’s fur trade was attractive as overhunting in Siberia had depleted stocks. In 1867 the fur trade began to fail, so Russia sold Alaska to the US for $7.2 million. The American government offered existing Russian settlers the option to return to Russia or stay. They then opened English schools and began a program to Americanize Alaska. Today only 1% of Alaskans have Russian heritage. Apparently there is a Russian town near Homer. I hope we get to see it when we are in that area.

We returned to the small shop on the way home to tell them we had sorted out the campground fee and purchased some items from their shop. We learned they had a Bernese mountain dog and she kindly took us to meet Shadow, who was very excited to say hello.  Such nice people!