Gustavus Proper

Gustavus is flat compared to the rest of southeast. The land is covered with meadows. This time of the year there is green grass and blue lupine everywhere! Gustavus is actually on the mainland of Alaska and since a lot of the glaciers have melted or receded there are actually moose living here. We almost ran into one on our drive from Bartlett Cove into town! What a surprise - and it was so fun to see a moose - but not at such a close range!

Susan met us at the main road in the Mule! We drove in partway on her road and then walked the rest of the way through the mud on the new part of her road that she's having built to their home on the Salmon River.


Gustavus is Green...and the soil seems fertile - everyone has a garden and we got to sample some of the fresh produce during our stay. We enjoyed a great dinner at the Gustavus Inn, a famous inn and restaurant in town. They grow a lot of their own produce and we enjoyed fresh greens in a salad with a homemade vinaigrette, homemade rolls, a mixture of steamed carrots, green beans, and beach asparagus, a delicious halibut/cheese dish (I can't remember the name they called it) much like a dish my mom made, and homemade fresh rhubarb pie. YUM!

Here's my mom's recipe:

Marinate halibut fillets overnight in white wine (we don't always do this and it doesn't seem to make that much difference so you might want to just save the wine and have it while you're fixing this dish!)

1/2 c chopped or sliced onion
1-1 1/2 c mayo
1-1 1/2 c sour cream
1-1 1/2 c shredded cheese
garlic
black pepper, to taste
wine
cracker crumbs

Rolls fillets in cracker crumbs and place in a baking dish. Mix mayo, sour cream, part of the cheese, wine, garlic, pepper. Spread onions over halibut, then the mayo mixture and top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle top with paprika.

Bake for 40-60 minutes at 350°.

We sometimes add sliced mushroom, thinly sliced cauliflower or other veggies and have used different kinds of cheeses to vary the taste. YUM!!

This was taken at the Inn at the entrance to the garden - because there are moose around they have a large fence and other deterrents to keep the garden for the patrons of the Inn.


View from the front porch - looking towards the Excursion Ridge (in the clouds) and the Salmon River. River - more like a very clear creek. Gustavus used to be called Strawberry Ridge because of the abundance wild strawberries - we did see a lot of strawberry plants and a lot of them had fruit or flowers - Susan told us sometimes that sometimes the berries are everywhere!


The homestead


The bath house (with loft) where we stayed very comfortably. The view from the front door looked out over a slough with the bank filled with sitka roses and lupine.


We thought we should get out a take a nice long walk and enjoy the rain-free day so we headed off through the meadow towards town. We got to the "four-corners" where if you go left you go past the corner "mall" and down to the liquor store; go straight to the school, library, and airport, right to the grocery store, golf course and city dock. and if you turn around...well that takes you back to the place you came.

We made it down to the city dock and walked to the end. What struck me was how much sandy beach surrounded the area. We didn't take the time to walk it but it seemed to go on forever.


By the nine-hole golf course...

Here's us with our hosts: Susan, Lillian, and Tipper - thank you so much - we had a great time!