Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

• Alaska Highway
• Alaskan Sunrise
• Along the Yukon Trail
• April in Fairbanks
• Azure Blue Alaskan Skies
• Daytime in the Night Time
• Klondike Waltz
• Land of the Midnight Sun
• The Last Frontier
• North to Alaska
• Some Night in Alaska

Quotes

• Even Wyatt Earp had a tough time with Nome. (David Lamb)
• In one line of his poem he said good fences make good neighbors. I'd like to think that Alaska and British Columbia working together can prove that we can be pretty darned good neighbors without fences. (Dan Miller)
• It was a bull moose, walking right through town. I had been to Alaska before, and I've seen moose, but that was a hell of a deal. That's not something you see on your average recruiting trip. (Dave Arnold)
• To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world. (John Muir)

Alaska Symbols

• Nicknames: The Great Land; The Last Frontier; Land of the Midnight Sun; Seward's Ice Box
• Motto: North to the Future
• Song: Alaska's Flag
• Land Mammal: Moose
• Marine Mammal: Bowhead Whale
• Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
• Fish: Chinook Salmon
• Insect: Four Spot Skimmer Dragonfly
• Tree: Sitka Spruce
• Flower: Wild Native Forget-Me-Not
• Fossil: Wooly Mammoth
• Gemstone: Jade
• Mineral: Gold
• Sport: Dog Mushing

Facts About Alaska

• Capital: Juneau
• Residents: Alaskans
• State Name Origin: From an Aleut word "Alakshak" meaning something similar to "the mainland".
• Admitted to Statehood: 3 Jan 1959
• Order of Admission: 49th state
• Length: 1,480 miles
• Width: 810 miles
• Area: 663,267 square miles
• Size Rank: 1
• Number of Counties: 27 boroughs and 11 geographical census areas
• Coastline/Shoreline: 5,580/31,383 miles
• Lakes: over 3 million lakes (the largest, Lake Iliamna, encompasses over 1,000 square miles)
• Streams and Rivers: 365,000 miles (more than 3,000 rivers)
• Geographic Center: 60 miles NW of Mt. McKinley
• Mean Elevation: 1,900 feet
• Highest Point: Mt. McKinley, 20,320 feet (highest point in North America)
• 17 of the 20 highest mountain peaks in the U.S. are in AK
• Lowest Point: Pacific Ocean, sea level
• Official Language: English (since 1998)
• Commercial Products: oil (25 percent of the oil produced in the U.S.), natural gas, fish and seafood, lumber and wood products, fur
• Average Annual Rainfall: 53.2 inches
• Average High Temperature: 72 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: -80 degrees (23 Jan 1971 Prospect Creek)
• Average Low Temperature: -21 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 100 degrees (27 Jun 1915 Ft. Yukon)
• More information about Alaska

Page Ideas

• I like to use a limited number of colors for one event. For a trip to Alaska I would go with nature colors like blues, greens and browns. I would use moose stickers and other stickers similar to the various official animals and plants of the state--such as whale, salmon, forget-me-not, spruce and dragonfly. You could make bottom borders using torn paper in shades of either browns for earth, greens for grass or dark blues for mountains and a top border using torn paper in light blues and white for the sky. You could use the sun in the top or bottom borders. The bottom borders could be torn paper that looked like sunsets with the sun cut out of a bright yellow or reddish paper.
• Make a solid color border. Use coordinating ABC stickers to spell out the state motto or one of its nicknames. Add stickers at each end of the words that relate to the photos or to Alaska in general.

Alaska's Flag

(word by Marie Drake, music by Elinor Dusenbury)

Eight stars of gold on a field of blue,
Alaska's flag, may it mean to you,
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes and the flowers nearby,
The gold of the early sourdough's dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams,
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The "Bear," the "Dipper," and shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
O'er land and sea a beacon bright,
Alaska's flag to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of a last frontier.

A Native lad choose the dipper's stars,
For Alaska's flag that there be no bars;
Among our cultures be it known,
Through years the Natives' past has grown;
To share life's treasures, hand in hand,
To keep Alaska our great land;
We love the northern midnight sky,
The mountains lakes and streams nearby;
The great north star with its steady light,
Will guide all cultures clear and bright;
With nature's flag to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of a last frontier.

Items of Interest

• Alaska is one-fifteenth the size of the U.S. It is larger than TX and the next three largest states combined. If AK was divided into two states each would still be larger than TX. The state of RI could fit into AK 425 times.
• Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle.
• The Alaska Highway was originally built as a military supply road during World War II.
• Alaska the lowest population density in the nation.
• The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the U.S.
• Juneau is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane.
• The Alaskan malamute sled dog breed was developed by a group of Aleuts named the Malemiuts.

Notable Natives

Some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

• Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov (1746-1819) - trader, public official (Russia)
• E. L. "Bob" Bartlett (1904-1968) - congressman, fought for Alaskan statehood (Fairbanks)
• Margaret Elizabeth Bell - author
• Benny Benson - designed the state flag at age thirteen (Chignik)
• Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681-1741) - Danish explorer, navigator
• Tom Bodett - entertainer
• Charles E. Bunnell - educator
• Susan Butcher (1956- ) - sled dog racer, four-time Iditarod winner, 1986, 87, 88, 90 (Eureka)
• James "Jimmy" Doolittle - aviator, hero
• William Allen Egan (1914-1984) - first state governor (Valdez)
• Carl Ben Eielson (1897-1929) - pioneer pilot, made the first Alaska airmail flight in 1924
• Henry Earnest Gruennig - political leader
• B. Frank Heintzleman - territorial governor
• Walter J. Hickel - former governor
• Sheldon Jackson - educator, missionary (born in NY)
• Jewel (1974- ) - singer, musician
• Joe Juneau - prospector
• Austin Lathrop - industrialist
• Sydney Laurence - painter
• John Griffith (Jack) London - author (born in CA)
• Ray Mala - actor
• John Muir - Scottish naturalist, explorer
• Virgil F. Partch - cartoonist
• Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich (1911-1958) fought for Native rights in Alaska (Petersburg)
• Joe Redington, Sr. - sled-dog musher
• Libby Riddles (1956- ) The first woman to win the Iditarod in 1985
• Leonhard Seppala (1877-1966) - sled dog racer, rushed medicine to Nome in 1925 to prevent a diphtheria epidemic
• Jefferson "Soapy" Smith - infamous outlaw

You know you're an Alaskan if...

• Someone mentions "super cub" and you do not envision a tiny bear wearing  blue tights and a red cap.
• You are vacationing in Hawaii when a beautiful woman in a bikini walks by and you think, "Boy I'd sure like to see her in a snowmobile suit."
• Your relatives/friends think you live too far away for them to come visit you, but keep asking you to come see them more often.
• You have ever called a 1- 800 number you found in a catalog, and then were told, "Alaska? Oh, we don't ship outside the USA."
• You have ever put up with the pain of a toothache until the Permanent Fund checks came out in October.
• You know going "outside" involves a lot more than opening the door and walking out into the yard.
• You have ever worn a tie with rubber boots.
• You have ever worn underwear that had something called a "trapdoor."
• You only have four spices: salt, pepper, ketchup and Tabasco.
• Halloween costumes fit over parkas.
• You have more than one recipe for moose.
• You have learned to never say to your kids, "Be home by dark!"
• You know a tail-dragger is an airplane, not a bad day at the office.
• You know that a Spenard Divorce involves a .357 magnum, not a lawyer.
• You know bunny boots aren't worn by bunnies or made out of bunnies.
• You know that the word "Baleen' has nothing to do with making hay into large cubes.
• Your monthly Alascom phone bill is larger than your house payment.
• The reason you don't own a poodle is because an eagle ate the last one.
• There is a bottle of Avon's Skin-so-Soft in your tackle box.
• You've never met any celebrities.
• Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a camper on the highway.
• "Vacation" means driving to Chitna to dip net.
• You've seen all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular.
• You measure distance in hours.
• You know several people who have hit a moose.
• Your school classes aren't canceled because of cold.
• The last thing you do before going to bed is plug in your vehicle.
• You see a car running in the parking lot, with no one in it, and two dogs on the front seat.
• You install security lights on your house and garage and then leave them both unlocked.
• You think of the four major food groups as moose, caribou, beer and salmon.
• You carry jumper cables and a sleeping bag in your car.
• You think driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
• You think sexy lingerie is tube socks and a flannel nightie.
• You think that the start of moose season is a national holiday.
• You know which leaves make good toilet paper.
• You know that the phrase "the kings are running" has nothing to do with royalty.
• You find -20 degrees F "a little chilly", and put on long pants.
• The four seasons are: winter, still winter, almost winter, and construction.
• You can spell and pronounce words like Chatanika and Venetie.
• You know why they named it Chicken, Alaska.
• Bug dope is an essential part of your summer wardrobe.
• You think the song "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" is about springtime.
• You know that road flares will start a nice bonfire.
• You take the door off the outhouse to see the aurora Borealis.
• Your idea of taking a load off is emptying the firewood out of the back of the truck.
• You think it is safe to drive as long as you can still see the snowplow's flashing light ahead.
• Your wardrobe consists of polar fleece, Gortex and wool, and nothing really matches.
• You wear your furry slippers to the grocery store.
• You own three modes of transportation: boat, 4-wheeler and 4X4.
• You drive 55 on icy roads.
• You like your neighbors.
• You know at least one pot grower.
• Your idea of gang violence is fighting off mosquitoes.
• You have learned almost everything by doing it.
• Your kids catch the bus in the dark and get off it in the dark.
• October is the month of your highest income.

How Cold is it in Alaska?

• 60 above
  Floridians wear coats, gloves and wooly hats
  Alaskans sunbathe
• 50 above
  New Yorkers try to turn on the heat
  Alaskan people plant gardens
• 40 above
  Italian cars won't start
  Alaskan people drive with the windows down
• 30 above
  Distilled water freezes
  Alaskans store their beer outdoors
• 20 above
  Californians shiver uncontrollably, even with  parkas on
  Alaskans have the last cook-out on the patio before it gets cold
• 10 above
  New York landlords finally turn up the heat
  Alaskan people throw on a sweatshirt
• 0 degrees
  Californians fly away to Mexico
  Alaskans start chopping wood
• 20 below
  People in Miami cease to exist
  Alaskan people get out their winter coats and fire up their snow machines
• 40 below
  Hollywood disintegrates
  
• Alaskans start to heat their houses
• 60 below
  Polar bears begin to evacuate the Arctic
  Alaska Boy Scouts postpone "Winter Survival" classes until it gets cold enough
• 70 below Mt Saint Helen freezes
  Alaskan people rent some videos and "stay in" for the weekend
• 90 below
  Santa Claus abandons the North Pole
  Alaskans get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg!
• 297 below
  Microbial life survives on dairy products
  Alaskan cows complain of farmers with cold hands!
• 459.7 below
  All atomic action stops
  Alaskans start saying "Cold enough for ya?"
• 500 below
  Hell freezes over
  Alaska elects a democrat presidential candidate.

Songs about Alaska

• Alaska - Bobby G.Rice (1983)
• Alaska Highway - Neon Judgment (1990)
• Alaskan Love Song - Jerry Crutchfield (1962)
• Alaskan Sunrise - Dick Pinney (1977)
• Anchorage - Michelle Shocked (1988)
• April in Fairbanks - Murray Grand (1956)
• Azure Blue Alaskan Skies - Jomala (2005)
• Land of the Midnight Sun - Joey Powers' Flowers (1970)
• North to Alaska - Johnny Horton (1961)
• Some Night in Alaska - The Cheers (1955)
• When it's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below) - Johnny Horton (1959)