Things About Alaska

1. Alaskans consume more coffee and ice cream per capote than any other state in the USA.
2. When someone asks you if you have “studs on your car”, they are referring to a kind of snow tire.
3. Seeing a moose in a neighbors yard is not an unusual occurrence.
4. The majority of the streets in Anchorage change names at least twice in the course of the 8 miles across the city.
5. You carry mace to protect yourself from bears, not people.
6. People are welcoming and friendly like Texans! J
7. When you call time and temperature they also tell you the amount of daylight (in hours and minutes) that you are going to have that day.
8. In the winter the sun stays over the south mountains the majority of the day…so you have a beautiful sunrise/sunset for about 5 of the 6 hours every day.
9. Many of the thermometers in town have different temperature readings…we assume this must be from the extreme cold damaging them.
10. Having a heated garage is a must!
11. When you go running in the winter you have to get dressed as if you are going skiing (I wear 4 layers on the bottom, 5 layers on the top, gloves, 2 pairs of wool socks, and a toboggan).
12. Carrying emergency kits (water, food, blankets, toe warmers, etc.) in the car is a necessity.
13. You are never supposed to let your gas tank get down to less than a quarter of a tank in case you get stuck in bad weather.
14. You can still have cookouts when it is 15 degrees outside…we’ve done this!
15. There are little mini coffee shops on almost every corner.
16. It is customary to take your shoes off at the door in the winter to keep from tracking snow and mud into everyone’s house.
17. Instead of worrying about raccoons getting into your trash…you have to worry about bears and moose getting into it!
18. Many trucks drive around with snow plows and/or ridiculous amounts of driving lights on them!
19. People fish elbow to elbow (literally) in the summer time during the Salmon runs.
20. Having a heated blanket on your bed is completely necessary.
21. Spending the afternoon snow skiing, snow shoeing, snow machining, or cross country skiing is very common.
22. The malls look like abandoned warehouses from the outside...but they are completely normal looking on the inside. Not sure why this is!
23. Everyone has blackout curtains on their bedroom windows because in the summer it is still daylight at 1:00am.
24. You quickly become a hot coffee or tea drinker because you need the warm fluids to keep you warm!
25. When the temperature dips below zero and your car is sitting in the hospital parking lot instead of your heated garage...your poor little Hyundai Tuscan's battery just can't take it and it will die.


**There might be more to come as Matt and I continue to discover new things about Alaska!