In one of the greatest real estate deals of all-time, we purchased our state from the Russian Empire in 1867 for the bargain price of USD$7.2 million dollars. That works out to be about 2c per acre.
Had a long day? Consider the poor buggers living in our city of Barrow, where the sun rises on May 10, and doesn’t set again for three months. And when it finally does dip below the horizon, locals don’t see it reappear for nearly two months. On the… er… bright side, because of this midnight sun, we produce some of the world’s largest fruit and veg, including a record 15kg broccoli, 30kg rockmelon and (every child’s nightmare) a 62kg cabbage.
Our land borders Canada to the east and we share a maritime border with Russia. Maybe you remember when a former governor of ours famously said, “You can actually see Russia from land here” which is technically true, but only from a couple of spots, on a very clear day.
we produce some of the world’s largest fruit and veg, including a record 15kg broccoli, 30kg rockmelon and (every child’s nightmare) a 62kg cabbage.
We’re the largest state in our country, but also one of the least populated. To put this into perspective, if you projected our ratio of land-to-people onto a city like New York, there’d only be 28 people living on the entire island of Manhattan.
How remote do we live? Well, our capital city isn’t even accessible by road, only by car ferry. In fact, because we have so few roads, a high percentage of people here own small planes and/or have their pilot’s license to get around.
Geographically, we’re home to the highest peak in North America, and more than three million lakes. Oh yeah, and Santa’s house. Not located at the real North Pole, this gift shop and tourist attraction is in a suburb of Fairbanks, which does have the North Pole postcode.
Where the hell am I?
