Alaska Facts
- The capital of Alaska, Juneau, is certainly unique. Juneau is not connected to any roads. It is called an Island City. The only access is by boat or plane.
- Alaska has 6640 miles of coastline which is more than all the other states combined.
- The Sitka Spruce is the state tree.
- Originally the capital was Sitka but it was moved to Juneau.
- Juneau has the highest concentration of eagles of 30,000-50,000.
- The Arctic Tern holds the record for the longest migration of any animal on Earth, flying up to 50,700 miles round-trip each year. These circumpolar seabirds spend their summers nesting in Alaska especially the nearby Mendenhall Glacier.
Amy and I visit the capitol building.Ā Alaska is the 49th state and was established in 1959. Alaska is younger than I am!!
Five Glaciers Seaplane
Our sea plane flight to get an aerial view of five out of 38 glaciers in the Juneau area was cancelled due to foggy weather. There was an afternoon flight so we were hopeful that the weather would clear and it did.
Library
Sealaska Center
At the Sealaska Center, the Tlingit school was having a graduation. We loved the costumes and singing and dancing.
We toured the small but very informative museum.We watched an interesting film where a Tlingit grandfather trained his grandson, the traditional way to fish for halibut.
The hook is designed to catch mid-size halibut – 30 to 60 pounds. The design of the wooden hook helps preserve the halibut fishery. Small halibut cannot get the hook in their mouth. Very large halibut, which tend to be females carrying millions of eggs, can spit the hook out with little trouble.
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