Nowhere else in the world can you find such a variety of indoor and outdoor winter activities. There is a peace that fills the crisp, still air. Rustic lodges and premier hotels offer winter getaways that include sled dog tours or wilderness explorations on snowmobile. Cross-country and downhill skiing trips are available statewide. There's ice-skating, horse-drawn sleigh rides, and sightseeing. Or get ready for a night on the town. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Companies offer a wide range of activities, from day trips to extended tours. There is something for everyone.

Common Misconceptions
Most visitors have pleasant surprises in store when they come to Alaska. Three common misconceptions concerning Alaska are weather, road conditions, and prices. Over a third of all pleasure visitors find the weather better than expected. During the summer, average daytime temperatures throughout the state range from the 60s to the 90s (Fahrenheit). Nighttime and early mornings are cooler, from the 40s to 50s. Late August and September departures could encounter cooler temperatures and slightly fewer hours of sunlight, as fall arrives early at these latitudes.

Roads
Road conditions are usually better than expected. Almost the entire length of the Alaska Highway is asphalt-surfaced, and approximately half of the roads in the state’s highway system are paved. And contrary to popular belief, prices throughout Alaska are generally quite reasonable.

Tour regions
Alaska's Interior has some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife viewing that the state has to offer. There is everything from Alaska's most popular attraction—Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park and Preserve—to mining history in Fairbanks. Wildlife is abundant, and your chances of seeing it up close are very good. Grizzlies, moose, Dally sheep, wolves, coyote, red fox, lynx, snowshoe hare, beaver mink, otter and countless varieties of bird life are just some of the wildlife viewing opportunities you'll have in Alaska's Interior.

South-central Alaska is filled with adventure for everyone. It encompasses the majority of the state's population and has an active visitor season in the winter and summer. The Inside Passage, or Southeast Alaska, is home to some of the most breathtaking scenery on the face of the earth. That's why the Inside Passage is one of the most-visited areas in the state. The communities in this area are mostly coastal ones and have limited to no road access. For this reason travel by plane and boat is popular.

The Southeast is where you’ll see 3,000-foot mountain peaks meet the ocean within a mile of the shore. It's also where roughly half of the state's bald eagle population lives, and where orcas and humpback whales come to feed in the summer. The sun shines down on the deep turquoise waters of Prince William Sound. The Sounds is home to 2,000 glaciers, 6,000 bald eagles, endless miles of shore line, and 100 killer whales; the area is alive with waterfowl, marine mammals and enough ice field venues to keep your camera busy non-stop.

Southwest Alaska is also unique. From the lush landscape of the Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands and to the rocky, furmarole-laden terrain of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, the Southwest is especially known for its brown bear population. Two of the world's most popular viewing areas are in Southwest Alaska. As a major hub for commercial seafood harvests, and with the busiest commercial fishing ports in the world, Southwest Alaska boasts some of Alaska's best fishing. And history and culture buffs will also be fascinated with the prominent displays from the Russian era, ruins from World War II and the Native people who still reside in Southwest Alaska.

Glaciers
Alaska’s glaciers run the gamut from the very small to the enormous. Glaciers cover approximately 29,000 square miles of Alaska, almost five percent of the state’s total area. The greatest concentration of glaciers is found around the perimeter of the Gulf of Alaska in the St. Elias and Chugach Mountains, and in the Wrangell Mountains and the Alaska Range.

Travel to view glaciers is part of enjoying the Alaska experience. Many are easily accessible by bus, car or foot—such as the Mendenhall, Matanuska, Worthington, or Portage glaciers. From boats along the Inside Passage in Glacier Bay you can see Tracy Arm or the Columbia Glacier; and by air you can fly over the Sargent Ice field, the St. Elias Mountains, Harding Ice field and the Alaska Range.

Native Arts and Culture
Whether it’s the ivory carvings of the Inupiat or the wooden totems of the Tlingit, the beadwork of the Athabascan or the dances of the Yupik, Alaska’s Native art and culture is as varied, interesting and as beautiful as its terrain. Throughout the state there are attractions, cultural centers and museums, such as the NANA Museum in Kotzebue, the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan and the World Eskimo Olympics, held annually in Fairbanks.

Wildlife Viewing
A trip to Alaska would not be complete without the opportunity to see nature in the wild. Moose, bear, mountain goat and caribou are among the most frequently seen mammals, along with the occasional coyote, wolf, Dall sheep, beaver, otter, mink or hare. Bird-watchers will delight in the eagles and many kinds of hawks, jays, owls, spruce hens, grouse and ptarmigan (the state bird), as well as the migratory waterfowl that come north to nest each summer.

There is a diverse population of marine mammals found along Alaska’s 47,000 miles of coastline. Most of these species can be found year around, but some are migratory. There are Dolphin, Pacific walrus, porpoise, sea otter, seal, sea lions and of course, whales (18 species).

Historic Mining Towns
In addition to beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife, another major draw to Alaska is its history—one rich with stories of gold strikes and rushes. Today these historic mining towns and areas such as Skagway, Nome and Kennicott continue to attract visitors interested in learning more and, in some ways, reliving Alaska’s glamorous past.

Museums
Although most every town and city in Alaska has some type of museum, the three perennial favorites are found in Alaska’s largest cities. The University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks has an extensive collection of pioneer relics, Native artifacts, and wildlife displays (Blue Babe, a preserved 36,000 year-old bison, is a star attraction). The Anchorage Museum of Art and History houses rare artifacts of Native life, arts, and crafts, as well as permanent and revolving fine arts collections. And the Alaska State Museum in Juneau highlights the incredible diversity of the state—Native art and artifacts, gold rush memorabilia, Russian relics and wildlife displays.

Sports Fishing
For the outdoor enthusiast, sport fishing continues to be one of the primary reasons for visiting the state. Alaska’s waterways are abundant with salmon (in coastal waters and many streams), halibut, red snapper, lingcod and rockfish (ocean waters), plus cutthroat, rainbow and Dolly Varden trout; Arctic char, grayling and pike (freshwater streams and lakes and saltwater estuaries) to name a few.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game provides free pamphlets on sport fishing and hunting seasons bag limits, licenses, tag fees, and tips on the best angling areas.

Trans-Alaska Pipeline
The impact of this 800 miles of 48-inch pipe on Alaska’s economic and social conditions has been enormous and is on many a visitor’s "must see" list. Winding from the Arctic regions of Prudhoe Bay to the ice-free port of Valdez, the pipeline is visible near Fairbanks, Glennallen, Delta, and Valdez and along the Dalton Highway, also known as the "Haul Road."

Russian Heritage
The first Europeans to claim Alaska successfully were the Russians. Today, no trip to the state would be complete without a visit to at least one of the communities that still bears some of the vestiges of these early settlers. Sitka, Kodiak and Ninilchik are among the places where onion-domed churches still grace the skyline and the rich Russian past is still very much a part of the present.

National Parks and Monuments
	From the 16-million acre Tongass National Forest in Southeast to the six-million acre Chugach National Forest in South Central, (as well as national parks such as Denali, Glacier Bay, Katmai, and Wrangell-St. Elias), Alaska parks and monuments offer extensive recreational possibilities. Hiking, backpacking and camping are popular pasttimes, as is photography of the wildlife and breathtaking scenery. Not surprisingly, Alaska’s state park system is America’s largest, boasting almost 3.2 million acres of land and water.

Aurora Borealis

The Aurora, also known as the Northern Lights, has mystified people throughout the ages. Written records date back more than two thousand years. Sometimes the Aurora is barely visible or appears colorless and unmoving. At other times, the auroras can be incredibly bright, multihued and fast moving. Tall green curtains of lights, red tipped at their bottoms, stretch from horizon to horizon. They ripple and sway, fold and unfold, then suddenly disappear, only to reform in a new shape minutes later.

For those who live in Alaska, the Aurora is a part of northern life. Fall, winter and spring are best seasons for viewing the great lights.

State Name: “The Last Frontier"

State Motto: "North to the Future"

State Capital: Juneau, located in the southeast region of Alaska, has a population of 30,684.

State Flag: The blue field is for the sky and the forget-me-not, the state flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly of the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear, symbolizing strength.

State Seal: The state seal was originally designed in 1910 while Alaska was a territory and not a state. The rays above the mountains represent the Northern Lights. The smelter symbolizes mining. The train stands for Alaska’s railroads, and ships denote transportation by sea. The trees symbolize Alaska’s wealth of forests, and the farmer, his horse, and the three shocks of wheat represent Alaskan agriculture. The fish and the seals signify the importance of fishing and wildlife to Alaska’s economy.

State Gem: Jade.

State Bird: Willow ptarmigan.

State Flower: Forget-me-not.

State Fish: The giant king salmon.

State Sport: Dog mushing.

State Tree: Sitka spruce.

State Mammal: Moose.

State Mineral: Gold.