Alaska is located at the Northwest Territory of North America, to the West of Yukon Territory and British Columbia of Canada and surrounded by Gulf of Alaska, Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea at the North. The state of Alaska is not linked to the rest of the North America states, as it was purchased in year 1867 when the Canada did not exist. Juneau is the capital city of Alaska which is situated near to the border of British Columbia, Canada. However, Juneau is a city that can only be accessed by ferry or flight instead of car because of the tremendously uneven terrain nearby the city. Hence, there are no connections of road in between Juneau and the rest of the cities in Alaska.
The major industries in Alaska can be categorized into three, which are oil or gas, fishing and tourism. Alaska has the best seafood especially salmon production takes up to 31 percent, follow by Pollock 24 percent, crab is 14 percent and et cetera.
With the beautiful natural scenery, it made Alaska a best place for tourism industry to grow. The peak to visit there during summer particularly June to July, however, the tours could start as early as mid of May and extended till mid of September. With the location fall into Aurora Oval, Alaska has average of 20 hours day light where the sky will be lightened the entire night.
Most of the tourist attractions in Alaska are related to natural and beautiful sceneries, such as natural glaciers and national park.
There are couples of famous glaciers surrounded around Juneau, such as Mendenhall Glacier, Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park. These stunning attractions can be only reached by boat and plane. The entire National Park takes up to 3.3 million acre and it is the largest protected area internationally. Visitor can do wilderness camping up to 14 days. During the stay they can enjoy the views and some activities such as hiking and fishing, However; visitors are required to apply a license for fishing.
Denali National Park is located next to the biggest National Park named Wrangell-St. Elias. It covers six million acres of land with the highest mountain, namely Mount Mckinley at the peak of 20,310 feet. Mountaineering is the most adventurous activity, where visitors can challenge the peaks during winter season at extremely cold weather of minus 75F. There are more than 400,000 visitors annually to view the ice walls and vertical rock which is parallel to the Ruth Gorge.
Instead of going to Norway and Finland for Northern Lights, there is another option to view the aurora at Alaska. One of the other popular cities is Fairbanks that located in the North Pole Aurora Oval. The perfect period to view the brightest Northern lights is within December till March because it will be the longest and darkest night compare to the rest of the months. The weather might be extremely cold during those months, but it is worth checking out the beautiful views.
The gold mining Museum is located outside of Juneau that is previously operated as the mining camp. It is opened to public as tourist attraction since year 1944. There are many exhibits of rail cars and mining tools during past era. The biggest air compressor was built in year 1912 and it is the biggest main attractions of the museum.
Every state has own food specialties. Alaska of course has its unique specialties too. There are so many selections from street snacks like desserts such as reindeer dogs, seafood, ice cream and chocolates.
About the Alaskan reindeer dogs, it is sausage that is made by reindeer meat. It has a very special flavor for the taste buds which is a must try in Alaska. The sausages are grilled to perfection and bring out the unique wild Alaskan zest! It is being sold through the streets in downtown Anchorage.
Wild caught fresh seafood such as black cod, salmon and king crab to name just a few, is such a joy for seafood lovers and at a reasonable price too. Visitors can enjoy extremely fresh seafood for lunch and dinner. There are famous Halibut tacos which can be the perfect snack for in-between meals. The smoked salmon is also another wonderful option where it has a different smoke flavors compare to the traditional fresh caught salmon.
Here’s a food challenge for tourist and it is named Muktuk. Muktuk is to be eaten raw after the frozen process. Muktuk is made with mainly whale skin and whale fats where it has to slice into thin pieces and eaten with sprinkle of salt. Sometimes, Muktuk can be prepared in other ways such as deep fried or perhaps turn into pickles.
Even though the weather is cold in Alaska, the Alaskan ice cream known as “Akutaq” is definitely a must try dessert. Akutaq is made by ingredients such as reindeer fats or seal oil, fallen snow and the famous mixed berries. The ice cream is purely whip by hand, and slowly turns into foam.