Alaska

 Ward and I recently spent 10 days in Alaska exploring all we could in this magnificent state. We were hosted by friends I used to work with, whose graciousness made the trip better than we ever could have done on our own. Before I get down to the details of the sights we saw, let me tell you a little bit about Alaska (AK), in case, like me, you didn't know much about our 49th state.

Before visiting Alaska, I knew it mainly as a big state in the far north. I didn't realize how big the state was until I saw it superimposed on the lower 48 states. And over 80% of the communities in this vast state can't be reached by roads. In fact, Juneau, Alaska's capital, can't be reached by driving. You either have to take a boat or a plane to it.  BTW, Alaska has the highest percentage of people with pilot's licenses in the US. We stayed in the lower part of the state and drove to most places. 

AK is so far north that the northern third of the state lies within the Arctic Circle, where the sun doesn't rise on the winter solstice and doesn't set during the summer solstice. Thus, the nickname of the Land of the Midnight Sun. Our home base was in Anchorage, and while we didn't have 24 hours of daylight, we did have 20 hours of daylight with just 4 hours of dusk. 

That took some getting used to for us. The extra daylight was good at times, but confusing at others. Our internal clocks were unsure of what was happening. Added to the confusion was the four-hour time difference with Maryland. By the way, the entire state of Alaska is in one time zone, the Alaska Time Zone. However, despite being someone whose body clock is highly attuned to daylight and darkness, I managed to adapt. Ward is not as sensitive as I am in these matters, and he adapted readily.

Driving on the Parks Highway through the Alaska Range.

Decades ago, when I was in school, the people in Alaska were referred to as Eskimos. Today, that term is considered offensive by many, and the indigenous people prefer to be called by their tribal names. There are 229 federally recognized tribes in Alaska, each having its own unique identity. We saw evidence of these different cultures everywhere. 

Russian explorers were among the first non-indigenous people to arrive in the area. The US purchased AK from Russia in 1867, and there is still evidence of the Russian culture in some areas. In 1912, it became a US territory, and in 1959, it became our 49th state. Homesteading was still going on there as late as the 1980s, which surprised me.

The highways were lined with wildflowers.

Alaska is renowned for its vast landscapes, including towering mountains, active volcanoes, and frequent earthquakes. Many areas are still recovering from the 1964 9.2 magnitude earthquake and its subsequent tsunami. Mt. Spurr was rumbling and showing signs of a possible eruption while we were there, but luckily, that didn't happen.

So much more to tell, but I'll save it for future posts about the places we visited.

Note: I tried to be accurate with this overview of Alaska, but I may have gotten some things wrong because a 10-day visit did not make me an expert. In other words, kids don't use this post for a school report. 😀