Alaska: The Last Frontier Monday, May 15, 2023

We boarded yesterday and now we are on the way to Alaska. I didn't know, the name comes from the Aleut word, Alyeska meaning, "The Great Land". 

Yesterday evening, I watched the sunset after the onboard presentation “We Are Alaska”. I was pleasantly surprised, I knew more about Alaska than the presenter.  The presentation focused mainly on Chuck West, the history of Holland America, and the upcoming ports of call.  

So, let me share a few things about Alaska I have discovered over the last few weeks. 

Alaska is about 665,400 square miles, out of which 94,743 square miles is water, such as lakes, rivers, seas, and of course, glaciers.  3% of Alaska is covered by glaciers, which is about 20,000 square miles and the most recent survey stated that there are about 27,000 glaciers. It has about 3 million lakes, the biggest is Iiiamna, which is the home of the legendary monster, naturally a Pacific sleeper shark. Every state needs its monster. North Carolina has its fair share of monsters.  My favorite NC Monster is the Sunshine Woman.  

Alaska has a population density of one person per square mile.  Not sure if it is because 14,2% of it is water, or because it is cold nonetheless, there is plenty of space for people who don't like people. Over the last few months, I read a number of books about Alaska and nearly every book pointed out that Alaska is the place for people who have checked out. 

Alaska is also the home of 17 of North America's tallest mountains, plus more than 100 volcanoes and volcanic fields. Remember Hawaii has four volcanoes, Italy has 13, and three of them are active. Interestingly, out of the eight strongest earthquakes ever recorded in the world, three of them have occurred in Alaska. 

As I noted above, in preparation for this trip, I read a number of books. Some were as dry as the Sahara desert, others inspiring and mind-changing. The book Alaska, by James Michener (book link to pdf here) was a little disappointing.  It just wasn't the usual James Michener page-turner.  In the first chapter, Michener talked about the land bridge which was present until the last ice age about 10, 000 years ago when the sea levels rose, and how the people walked "the 50 miles" from Russia to Alaska. Yes, Russia is only 50 miles from Alaska. The next three were about how Alaska was discovered by various people. 

Part of chapter four covers how Russian Czar Peter the Great Dispatch Vitus Bering explored the Alaskan coast. In 1867 Alaska was sold to the United States for $7.2 million dollars.  Russia first asked Great Britain if they were interested in the purchase.  Great Britain, who just kick Russia's butt in the Crimean War probably figures, why buy it? If we want it, we will just take it later if we care. So, the United States where approached and on April 9 the purchase was signed by President Andrew Johnson. If Russia wouldn’t lost the Crimean War would they have realized how hard it would be for them to defend and protect Alaska? But I'm getting sidetracked.  

I was looking forward to eating lots of crab legs. So we shall see. Before our departure, I checked if there is still a crab shortage, and as usual, I received mixed reports.  

During the presentation “We are Alaska” I did learn about the flying salmon.  Link below 

https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/flying-fish/

We have a Wildlife Expert on board and she is informative and helpful. She helped me set up my binoculars and overall is a wealth of knowledge.  

Our first stop is Ketchikan