While most of you may be celebrating Memorial Day weekend with camping trips and family barbecues, do you know the reason behind this historic, rather somber holiday? Actually commemorated to remember those who died serving the United States in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865, Memorial Day was first officially celebrated first in Waterloo, […]
by Bryan Bearss April showers usually bring May flowers, but in Alaska, spring’s rainy days will cause a different kind of life to emerge from the earth: Zombies. But these undead are more interested in mosquitos than human body parts. For the past seven months, Alaska food frogs have been buried in mud and leaf […]
Iditarod 2015 begins in T-minus 48 hours, and already the excitement around Alaska is palpable. Every team (and there are 78 of them) has been checked by an army of veterinarians, mushers are right now sitting in a meeting to talk about final details, and the cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks are making final preparations […]
The annual Fur Rendezvous festival begins this weekend, and like many other Anchorage residents, we’re working on costumes for our favorite event, the Frostbite Footrace. 2015 marks the centennial year for Anchorage, a former tent city initially developed as the site of a railroad down on lazy Ship Creek. Now Alaska’s largest city and […]
My own AK Kid reminded me this morning that it had been quite some time since I provided a joke for the Kids’ Corner, and of course he was right. Young people, here’s a question in honor of Valentine’s Day and the month of February: Q: What noise do porcupines make when they kiss? A: […]
Kids who visit Alaska are likely to see the mighty Humpback whale, a marine mammal so big and so impressive it almost boggles the mind. I know this, because even after 10 years of living and working around the waterways where Humpbacks like to hang out, the amazement never gets old. If your family is […]
Good morning, young AKontheGO’ers! Today’s Kids’ Corner is full of interesting Alaska facts, great stuff if you’re hanging around the lunchroom or quizzing your parents at the dinner table. But first, a puzzler, because it’s been a while since we’ve posted a funny: Q: Where do you find an ocean without any water? A: On […]
Tonight’s the night, guys and gals! With 12 bell taps, 2014 is officially in the history books, and 2015 slides in to bring your family a whole new year of exciting opportunities. Just think about it; you can go anywhere, do anything, or be anybody you want, starting NOW. I was going to write a […]
Someone asked me this week why Alaska’s state tree could not be used for a Christmas tree. My answer: “Have you ever tried to carry one of those? Ouch!” The Sitka spruce (or Picea sitchensis) is the tallest in the spruce family, and looks quite noble towering above its cousin the Black spruce in Southcentral […]
How much do you know about snow? In Alaska, snow usually starts falling in late October or early November, but some years (like 2014) the snow arrives very late, indeed. At our home in Anchorage, snow finally started falling last Saturday, and AK Kid is busy sledding, building forts, and wrestling around in his favorite […]
Perhaps no other animal is as visible around Alaska as the moose. Tall, gangly, and with the look of a horse gone horribly wrong, moose are the largest members of the deer family, and inhabit many areas of our 49th state. While bears receive most of the attention for their power and good looks, moose […]