Posted on 01/05/2007 4:19:07 PM PST by snugs
The 49th State - The Last Frontier
by proud_yank
Having recently moved here, I thought an Alaskan Singles Thread would be pretty fun.
Alaska is the largest state in America, roughly twice the size of Texas (sorry Texas!).
Putting Alaska into perspective. The Aleutian Islands over California, and South-eastern Alaska over Georgia.
An interesting fact I learned the other day is that in addition to being the Western and Northern-most state, Alaska is also the Eastern-most state too. The Western tip of the Aleutian Islands is just West of the International Dateline.
Alaska can be separated into five regions. The Far North (Also known as the 'North Slope') extends from the Brooks Range (the Northern-most extension of the Rocky Mountains) to the Arctic Ocean. Here are some photos of the Brooks Range, and the North Slope region. Barrow is the most Northern city in America. For fun, here is Barrow's weather.
Most people in Alaska live in Southcentral Alaska (Anchorage), and then the Interior (Fairbanks). Temperatures in the interior are sometimes colder than in the Arctic. Western Alaska is famous for the finish of the Iditarod dog-sled race in Nome. Southeastern, and the Interior, are famous for the Klondike gold rush.
Juneau, the state capitol is located in Southeastern Alaska. As a staunch conservative, it makes me smile that the govt. is located somewhere that can only be reached by boat or plane :-).
The Regions of Alaska
There are lots of moose here, and you really have to be careful driving. In the winter moose will come down from the mountains, and casually stroll through downtown Anchorage. We had one right outside the front door of our main office today! Other animals here include caribou, grizzly, polar, and black bears, muskoxen, beaver, otters, wolves, wolverines, tons of birds, and lots of delicious fish!
Some other interesting info about Alaska....
At 20,320 ft., Alaska has North America's highest peak, Denali.
State bird - Willow Ptarmigan.
State fish - King Salmon.
State tree - Sitka Spruce.
State spore - Dog mushing.
State animal - Moose.
State flower - Wild Native Forget-me-Not.
State song - 'Alaska's Flag'.
Eight stars of gold on a field of blue -
Alaska's flag. May it mean to you
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes, and the flow'rs nearby;
The gold of the early sourdough's dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The "Bear" - the "Dipper" - and, shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
Over land and sea a beacon bright.
Alaska's flag - to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of a last frontier.
Here are some of my photos that I've put online so far
Need exercise??? perhaps get out & walk your pets! That would raise some eyebrows! Talk about conversation piece? Chick magnet?
Lol I don't think you could scare me if you tried. :P
everything is relative. To me you are one of the "younguns"
of course you can be on the ping list.. Just try really hard to NOT hit on the young studs here (like shy WFTR)
Well doggone it, Dolly, now you've gone and taken all the fun out of it.
But, if you insist, I'll try to control myself. ;-)
LOL
to a degree, same here...
Bill
I could ask you to be my partner in one of those dance classes that Dolly wants me to take. If that didn't scare you, it would at least scare the teacher and the teacher's insurance agent. LOL
Given the way many people feel, most snake keepers keep their animals a secret. In some states, public display of a snake is illegal. I forget exactly how they word the laws, but the general idea is that one cannot have a snake out in public in a way that someone who didn't want to see a snake might see it. Snakes can only be on display where they are expected. When they are transported, they must be hidden.
LOL Thanks!
Well now, you never know. I thought I would never get to Australia. It seemed as far away as the moon to me, but I have always wanted to go there. As fate would have it, our Rotary club paid our way there a couple years ago to attend the Rotary International Convention as the representatives from our community. It was as 'out of the blue' surprise that just fell into our laps. So, see? You really just never know.
I am glad you enjoyed the pictures and it's a pleasure meeting you, WFTR.
That's true, and you get to have fun scaring me with all that talk about dance classes.
Nope, doesn't scare me. And I'd be willing to bet the teacher has seen much worse than you. :)
I once took an ice skating class. I was horrible, but I had fun. I just decided that I wasn't going to worry about falling, so I tried everything and hit the ice pretty hard and pretty regularly. I really scared the teacher during that class.
Ooh I've got a worse story than that. The first time I went ice skating, I fell and chipped my front tooth. The only reason my teeth look normal is because of a magical thing called bonding. :P
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