What's Cool in Alaska

Vanity Plates

2009-11-12T17:34:00.035-09:00

Driving around a snowy south-central Alaska, I've noticed that Alaskans love to share their quirky identities and unique viewpoints with the world, using their automobiles as the perfect pulpit. Just by taking a quick look at many Alaskan bumpers, you immediately know the driver’s stance on politics, religion, Ford trucks, and honor students. Those who are truly committed to their self-defined

Guns! Guns! Guns!

2009-10-27T18:51:00.011-08:00

After ten long years in Alaska, my husband and I have finally caught the gun fever. Only having held a gun once in my life before moving to Alaska, it has come as quite a shock. I was raised in urban and densely populated suburban environments on the east coast where only police officers and the criminal underworld owned guns. Before moving to Alaska, I had always associated gun ownership with

SAD Lights

2009-10-17T13:16:00.008-08:00

In Alaska, the tell-tale sign that winter has arrived is not the snow; it's the dark. And darkness has arrived in Eagle River, Alaska! As I type this at 7:02 am, it is pitch black outside. It's more than just dark, too. It's thick, pea-soup-fog dark that you can almost taste with every breath. It's can't-see-the-horror-movie-villain dark, until his hockey mask or machete is just inches from of

Moose

2009-10-05T10:44:00.018-08:00

Many old time Alaskans still harbor hurt feelings about the 1990s television series Northern Exposure. The show was set in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska, loosely modeled after the real and equally quirky town of Talkeetna. The cast and crew of the entire series didn't set foot in Alaska and most exterior shots were filmed in and around Roslyn, Washington. While some Alaskans loved the show

Carhartt Clothing

2009-10-01T11:08:00.025-08:00

Just as every affluent Londoner is likely to have a Barbour rain mac in the wardrobe and every retired Floridian is likely to enjoy a Tommy Bahama shirt or two, if you have lived in Alaska for more than three years, you are likely to own a piece of Carhartt clothing. Its distinctively disproportioned c-shaped logo is as recognizable as McDonald’s golden arches; its trademark rugged canvas cloth

The Permanent Fund Dividend

2009-09-28T13:08:00.007-08:00

Imagine living in a state with fresh air, interesting people, and beautiful snow-capped mountains. Now imagine that state paying you to live there. Unimaginable? Think again. Think - Alaska! Since 1982, every Alaskan resident has received an annual payment if they have lived in the state for the previous calendar year. With the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline in the mid-1970s, Alaska

The Alaska Railroad

2009-09-22T07:29:00.006-08:00

When I used to live in England, I noticed that British men were enamored with trains. Some would simply comment on the beauty and power of their engines. Others would spend hours building extensive systems of model trains, tracks, tunnels and bridges in their dining rooms or basements. The truly smitten would wait outside near local train station tracks on damp, rainy days to record the exact

Termination Dust

2009-09-21T10:47:00.013-08:00

In Eagle River this morning, we woke up to a long awaited and sometimes dreaded sight to many Alaskans: a light dusting of snow on the mountaintops. This beautiful, seemingly innocuous sight of powdery white is known as termination dust and is actually a harbinger of the winter soon to come. Termination dust signals the end of an Alaskan summer. During the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the

Record Breaking Vegetables

2009-09-17T10:23:00.013-08:00

The 2010 Guinness Book of World Records has just been released. It got me thinking about how proud I am to live in a state that consistently shatters world records, and not in one of the less salubrious categories, like "number of goldfish swallowed" or "heaviest weight dangled from a swallowed sword." Instead, Alaska is home of the giant vegetables! When I was in 5th grade back in the suburbs

Studded Tires

2009-09-15T11:14:00.012-08:00

Despite the old adage for single women in Alaska that "the odds are good, but the goods are odd," Alaska is actually full of studs. Unfortunately, they can only be found only on Michelins, Goodyears, and Nokians. For those of us above 60 degrees latitude, today, September 15th, is the first day we can change over our summer tires to studded winter tires, thus heralding the start of winter in

Coffee

2009-09-14T00:40:00.011-08:00

Up here in the 49th state, coffee is king. Alaska wouldn’t be Alaska without it. Its promise of scented satisfaction and stimulation give us a reason to get up out of bed on those cold, dark winter mornings. In 2005, a national consumer market research firm (The NPD Group) conducted a study of coffee shops per capita in US cities. As you might expect, Seattle, birthplace of Starbucks and

About This Blog

2009-09-11T17:42:00.013-08:00

There are few places left in the United States that still have a bit of mystery and awe about them. Alaska, however, remains mysterious and awe-inspiring, no matter how many episodes of Deadliest Catch or Ice Road Truckers the Discovery Channel dishes up. When people discover that I’m from Alaska, they either get a faraway look in their eye as they talk about a dream cruise among the whales and