Welcome to Visiting Alaska!

Throughout its pages you will find entertaining and helpful information about the history of Alaska, visiting and living in Alaska.

Alaska is an exclave and a state of the United States of America located in the extreme northwest portion of North American, west of Canada.  Alaska does not border any U.S. state.  It borders the Yukon and British Columbia, Canada, to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south.  The Arctic Ocean is to the north of Alaska.

Alaska has numerous islands.  Frozen water, in the form of glacier ice covers about 16,000 square miles of land. 

Alaska's most important export is oil.  Alaska's economy relies heavily on petroleum extraction.  More than 80 percent of the state's revenues are derived from this industry.  Alaska also exports seafood, primarily salmon, cod, pollock and crab.  Most foodstuffs and general goods are imported from elsewhere. 

Employment in Alaska is primarily in government and industries such as natural resource extraction, shipping, and transportation.  Miltary bases are a significant component of the economy in both Fairbanks and Anchorage.  Industrial outputs are crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, gold, precious metals, zinc and other mining, seafood processing, timber and wood products.  There is also a growing service and tourism sector. 

The cost of living in Alaska has been a long time higher than in the other 48 states.  This has changed in Anchorage and to a lesser extent in Fairbanks where the cost of living has dropped in the past few years.  The expanding presence of discount and chain stores in Alaska during the 1990s did a lot to lower prices.  Many rural residents come in to these cities and purchase food and goods in bulk from warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club.  Others embraced the free shipping offers of some online retailers to purchase items much more cheaply than they could in their own communities and sometimes even items that are unavailable in their own communities. 

Alaska has the lowest individual tax burden in the United States and is one of only six states with no state sales tax and one of seven states that do not levy an individual income tax, however, 89 municipalities collect a local sales tax, with range of between 1 percent and 7 percent.  Property taxes are relatively low.  Fairbanks has one of the highest property taxes in the state and no sales or income taxes are assessed in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

Alaska has very few road systems.  The principal route out of the state is through Canada.  Most cities and villages in the state are accessible only by sea or air.  The state capital, Juneau, is not accessible by road.  There is an Alaska Railroad that runs between Seward and Fairbanks famous for its summertime passenger services, but also plays a vital role in moving Alaska's natural resources, such as coal and gravel, to ports in Anchorage, Whittier and Seward. 

Alaska has a ferry system known as the Alaska Marine Highway.  Tourist sea travel is also popular on Alaska cruises.

In areas not served by road or rail, primary summer transportation is by all-terrian vehicle and primary winter transportation is by snowmobile or "snow machine," as it is called in Alaska.

On this web site you will find information exploring, visiting or vacationing, living and working in Alaska, and the general history of Alaska.

Use the menu bar to your left and at the bottom of each page to navigate through the site.