Talkeetna in March is a simply splendid place. The days are getting long, it's cold but not deathly so, and the rivers are all frozen and perfect for playing on! This shot was taken from cross country skis in the middle of the frozen Talkeetna River just above it's confluence with the mighty Susitna. On this splendid spring day (technically anyway!) the regular Saturday northbound Winter Aurora passenger train is swollen with the addition of a second unit and several coaches to accommodate a Japanese Airlines charter group. Normally this little train runs with just a single unit, one coach, one diner, and a baggage car. If you've never come up to Alaska in the winter and gone for a train ride, you owe yourself the experience at least once in a lifetime!