Life in Alaska

Life in Anchorage
Stories from the Homestead
Boating in Alaska
Flying in Alaska
Assorted Alaska Stories

For my work, it would be a lot more convenient to live in what Alaskans call the "lower 48" (the 48 contiguous states). But my husband and I love Alaska and don't want to leave. The photo is of us with our plane on a day we flew up the glaciers on Mt. McKinley. The mountain is so massive the plane seemed like a little bug as we flew between ragged vertical cliffs. We circled the mountain years later, and I made a video.

Although most people know that Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in North America, few realize that the sixteen highest peaks in the U.S. are in Alaska, all over 14,500 feet. Mt. McKinley is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak. Most mountains have their base on a high plateau.

Alaska is immense, more than twice as large as Texas and larger than all but seventeen of the world's countries! It is 1,100 miles from north to south and 2,000 miles from east to west. Point Barrow is the most northerly point in North America. Pochnoi Point on one of the Aleutian Islands is the most westerly point. Because some of the Aleutian Islands are on the far side of the International Date Line, Alaska can technically claim the most easterly point in the United States, as well!

Alaska's coastline is nearly as long as that of the entire continental U.S. The Pacific coastline is 8,950 miles long and the Arctic coastline is 1,706 miles long. The Yukon River is the third longest river in the country and is part of Alaska's more than 20,000 square miles of inland water. That is more water than seven of the 50 United States have land.

Below is a list of some of our stories and adventures by category. Click to a category that interests you, or read through all of them. They are listed in reverse chronological order, with the more recent events on top. If you want to read all stories in a category in chronological order, click on the last item in a list and links will guide you through. Each main section also has links to the stories.