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onlyinalaska posts
Only in Alaska: Arctic Thriller - the Northernmost tribute to Michael Jackson
Only in Alaska: Celebrating solstice
Jun 19th, 2009 at 2:39PM: Before I moved to Alaska, I assumed that solstice celebrations were for druids and/or hippies, and imagined long-haired folks with crowns of leaves preforming incantations and ceremonies on both the longest and shortest days of the year. While there are no doubt spiritual observances of the elliptical path of the sun going on in Alaska, up here you're just as likely to have a grocery store clerk ...Only in Alaska: Driving the Alaska highway
Jun 4th, 2009 at 9:00AM: Driving the Alaska Highway (casually called the "Alcan") is the ultimate road trip: more than 1400 miles of road, filled with mountain ranges,spindly boreal forests, po-dunk diner-and-gas-station towns, bison herds, scenic detours and flying gravel. Constructed as a link between Alaska and the contiguous US, the highway was completed in 1943, though the regions harsh environment forces ...Only in Alaska: Combat fishing and the rules of engagement
May 27th, 2009 at 3:30PM: Combat fishing: if these two words bring to mind images of men dressed in camouflage, battling for giant fish, then you're not too far off from reality. Though Alaska might seem like the sort of land where scenes from A River Runs Through It play out in real life, you're actually more likely to see roadside rivers crammed with anglers tossing hooks and sinkers into the water in the hopes of ...Only in Alaska: Living - and traveling - in bear country
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:30PM: Bears: everybody fears them, everybody wants to photograph them from behind a tour bus window. In my neighborhood, black bears constantly get into garbage cans - when people express disappointment at not having seen any bears on their vacation, I encourage them to hang out on my street on garbage day. Alaska has plenty of bears, and if you follow a few rules you're unlikely to ever encounter a ...Only in Alaska: Welcome to the 49th state
May 15th, 2009 at 7:00PM: Alaska is one of those places where your expectations are met and often exceeded: the mountains are gargantuan and they're everywhere, there are moose wandering the cities, and folks still run trap lines and live in log cabins. Yes, people still mush dogs (an Iditarod champion even lives in my small town), and many Alaska Natives still practice subsistence living. Though the stereotypical Alaska ...
