Alaska ~ Our Home

Alaska is our home state, so the kids decided to each write a creative piece about THEIR Alaska.  At the end we will add a few fun facts.  Hope you enjoy a visit to our home state!


Alaska by NovaLee

Imagine, there are woods all around you. 

What do you hear?  Birds singing, trees swaying in the cold breeze, logs crackling in your woodstove, the rushing river or lapping lake.  

What do you see?  Green trees, clouds and animals.

berries from my yard

This is Alaska.

Alaska is cold, yet beautiful.  The midnight sun sets for only a few hours each summer day, while winter nights are quite long and we only get a few hours of precious sunlight. 

I spend my summer roaming the woods collecting berries and making fairy forts, swimming in the lakes, and camping with my family. 

Winter days are spent making snow angles, eating snow ice cream, and making snow caves and snowmen.  When it is too cold to go outdoors, I spend my time reading books, watching movies, and playing cards.  I love to sit by the woodstove drinking warm tea while watching the snow fall out my window.

 

grilling up with friends

Here we make use of all the things around us.  We hunt animals for food (moose, bear, rabbit, spruce hen) and we skin them to make a rug or a hat or mittens.  Often, we share the meat we have by making large dinners with friends and family.  Rabbit stew, moose pot pie, and spruce hen burritos are some of my favorites.

We also fish here a lot because there are so many lakes and rivers.  Smoked Salmon is very popular, as well as grilled rainbow trout.

When the adults are cooking up some yummy food, us kids are out making tipis, exploring the woods, swimming in the lake, or gravel sledding down the hill (when there is no snow).

There is a lot to love about Alaska, the mountains, the food, the flowers, and although it can sometimes be a challenging place to live, I’m glad it is my home.

Mount McKinley - tallest mountain in North America

 

 




  In Alaska by Vega

In Alaska there are not many people, but there are lots of trees and mountains.  In the summer it is green like a jungle.  It never gets dark so I play on my zipline all day.  There are lots of rivers and lakes for fishing, swimming, and canoeing.  After I catch a fish, I grill it over a fire in my yard and eat it up.

In the winter, Alaska is a world of glittery snow.  When I step outside, my breath turns to mist and my cheeks turn red from the cold air.  We ski through our woods, then drink hot chocolate by the woodstove. When it is too cold I stay inside and play games or watch movies.  Sometimes I even set up the tent indoors and roast hot dogs or marshmallows in the woodstove. 

When I look outside I see moose, rabbit, bear, fox, squirrel, porcupine, and Eagles. 

All of this is what makes Alaska great.

Alaska Fun Facts:

1. Alaska became the 49th state on Jan. 3rd, 1959.

2. Alaska is home to the worlds longest sled dog race, the Iditarod.  Each March, mushers from around the world compete in this 1,200 mile long race from Willow to Nome.  http://iditarod.com/

3. Alaska is also home to the tallest mountain in North America,  Mt. McKinley, or Denali ("the great one"), which is 20, 328 feet. 

4. The design for Alaska's State Flag was created by 13 year old Benny Benson in 1927.  A state wide contest had been held with over 700 entries for the new flag.

5. The city of Barrow (the US's northern most city) has 67 days of continuous darkness in the winter, and 84 days of non-stop daylight in the summer.



6. In 1964, a 9.2 earthquake rocked Anchorage.  It is to this day the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America.

7.  The name Alaska means "that toward which the sea is directed".  This is because Alaska has over 34,000 miles of shoreline.

8. Alaska is 1/5 the size of the rest of the USA. 

9. Much of the state of Alaska has no roads.  1 out of every 68 residents is a pilot, and many town can only be accessed by plane, boat, snow machine, or dog sled.

10.  Eskimo Ice Cream is a traditional treat in many parts of Alaska.  Unlike standard ice cream, it is made from seal, reindeer, or moose fat, mixed with fresh berries and sometimes fish.  This is one treat we have never tried, but we do love to make our own version of ice cream by mixing snow, milk, and honey.  Yum!!
 
11. Many people thought that the purchase of Alaska was a huge waste of money, so for many years the state's nickname was Seward's Folly, after William H. Seward, the Secretary of State who bought it.  Today, Alaska is known as The Last Frontier and The Land of the Midnight Sun.


Well, we hope you enjoyed this little trip to our home state of Alaska.  We'll see you next time in Arizona. 

Happy Trails!!