17 things I learned on my trip to Alaska

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I’ve been asked a bunch how my trip to Alaska was, and to even try to describe how fabulous it was would be futile. It was breathtaking, so instead of a travelogue of stories, I thought I’d share the list of things I learned while I was there.  Mostly about the state itself, but facts in general that left my husband and I stumped that we had gone this far in our lives without knowing these facts–brand new information, I tell ya. I’ll mix pictures in, and short details in {} under each image.

1.  Alaska has the largest vertical rise in the world from ocean to mountain.

2. Whittier, Alaska has the longest tunnel in North America:  2.5 miles long, single lane, took us 12 or so minutes to drive through.

{Anchorage Mormon Temple just across the parking lot from the church building}

3. There are more than one type of salmon:  king salmon, red salmon, sillver salmon, & pink salmon… who knew???

{This swimming bear was not in the wild, but in a conservation center/zoo type setting}

4. Most of those living in Alaska refer to the rest of us as “the lower 48”

{This eagle was also behind a fence, but we saw many eagles up in tree’s all over the state. My hubby’s favorite animal, it was cool to see.}

5. Hundres of glaciers, form from ice fields up in the mountains

{we stayed in the hotel down below, and rode this tram to the top of the mountain to eat at a restaraunt}

6. Alaska was purchased from Russia for .02 cents an acre

7. 750,000 people live in the entire state of Alaska–less than the city of Austin!

{Above was a pedestrian tram that one is able to ride in and pull the rope to get across.  Sadly, it was closed, which was good because I may have been to scared to ride it anyway.}

8. Half of the 750,000 that live in Alaska live in Anchorage

9. Cut Alaska in half and they are both still bigger than Texas;) People liked to tell me that when I said we lived in Texas.

10. There was an earthquake in 1964 that was 9.2 on the Richter scale, big part of their history

11. Dogs off of their leash are the #1 killer of baby moose.

12. People tend to own a sea plane over a boat (see first picture above).

13. You cannot travel to Juneau (the capitol) from Anchorage by car, only by boat or plane.

14. A reindeer is just a domesticated caribou

15. Locals can pick fresh blueberries wild in the mountains each September

{4th of July, a huge race that locals have a lottery to participate. Mount Marathon is like a reunion of types to those in the Anchorage area (held in Seward 2 hours away). Right image look closely and you can see the trail of colors going up the mountain.  A BYU grad (my alma mater) won this day–left image on the left with no shirt.  Another man broke his leg coming down the steep mountain incline}

16. There is a yearly resident stipend for each  person living in Alaska that averages $1000 a year.

{The above bear we did see in the wild. We were about 100  yards away, he was on a mountain side.}

17. Locals get on the “moose kill” list for when a moose gets hit by a car, they are notified, pick it up, and butcher it for meat.



There you have my favorite landscape images from Alaska. Did you know any of the 17 facts that I listed above?

Make sure to check out the links at the top for more of our Alaskan Adventure!

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