Why Alaska?
There’s something different about Alaska.
For many visitors, it’s almost like visiting a foreign country. Apart from the majestic scenery, unlike anywhere else in the world, expect summers like no other: warm temperatures, cool evenings, and a staggering 22 hours of daylight! Summertime temperatures are comfortable along the coast, even warmer in the interior. Alaska is not the stuff of icy legends in all seasons. But there is also something almost mysterious about Alaska for the first time visitor. It seems to be a land of many places, many kinds of experiences… too big to comprehend.
Step ashore from a cruise ship in a misty port, or arrive by air in a city above the Arctic Circle, where the architecture is a haphazard blend of back home modern and frontier shabby.
Where else can you view North America’s highest peak, (Mt. Denali – 20310 ft.), watch bears in their natural habitat, visit the nation’s biggest oil field at Prudhoe Bay in the High Arctic?
Not to mention that from the state’s largest city of Anchorage, to its smaller towns and villages, moose sightings and bald eagles soaring overhead happen so often that they’re considered “normal” occurrences.
Everyone wants to visit Alaska. It’s just a matter of how you get there.
About Alaska
Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, for $7.2 million, or about 2 cents an acre. (Ironically, $7.2 million was the value of the first shipment of crude oil moved by tanker after the Trans-Alaska pipeline was completed.) Alaska’s biggest holiday, Alaska Day, October 18, celebrates the remarkable real estate transaction of 1867.
Alaska! It is detached, like a severed limb, from the rest of the United States. Its nearest neighbors are Canada and Russia. Some of its citizens live closer to Japan than to their own state Capital, Juneau. And it is big. A map of Alaska superimposed on one of the continental United States would reach from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Canada to Mexico.
Alaskans enjoy telling how they could cut Alaska in half and still make Texas the third largest state. Then they brag about having the highest mountain in North America (Denali (Mt. McKinley) – 20310 feet = 6194 meters) and the nation’s biggest oil field (Prudhoe Bay) in the High Arctic.
But is more than scale and geography – more than a tired list of superlatives – that sets Alaska apart from the rest of the country. For the visitor, Alaska is youth, energy, space, wilderness.
A traveler to Alaska senses excitement, a feeling of adventure, the moment you step ashore from a cruise ship in a misty port or arrive by air in a northern city, where the architecture is a haphazard blend of back home modern and frontier shabby.
When Alaska?
What’s the best time to visit Alaska? Each season in Alaska offers the visitor unique activities and experiences. Most visitors choose summer because of the temperature and long evenings of midnight sun. From June through August, you can expect pleasantly warm long days – Fairbanks shines under a staggering 22 hours of daylight in June and cool comfortable nights.
Alaska is in Alaska Standard time Zone, European time less 9 to 10 hours. Daylight savings time from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.