I don’t pretend to know all of Alaska, but it is a land of ice and snow, of rainforests, of midnight suns, gardens, and auroras, and above all of contrasts and space. Big? If you laid Alaska over the 48 contiguous states, it would touch Canada, Mexico, the Atlantic and the Pacific. It has over half of the coastline of the United States. I live near Fairbanks, in the center of the state.

I enjoy it always being light in the summer. I was once working in the garden and realized to my surprise that the sun was rising, and by the end of this month I’ll be going to bed before sunset. The winters are admittedly a bit of a drag, as I can no longer drive in the dark. But the summers make up for it, even if it does sometimes get into the 90’s. And there’s lots to do here. We have a symphony orchestra, an opera, a University known internationally for scientific research, and we’re host to the International Ice Art Championships in March.

I won’t attempt to describe our state, but I will post a few pictures and videos. Some you may have seen before, but I hope you still enjoy them.

No, this isn’t typical of most of Alaska, though it is of the glaciated portion of the Alaska Range.

My garden in summer looks more like this. The hoops are to support plastic in the spring and fall.

Only about 100 miles north of where I live. The camera is looking roughly north.

The days are a lot shorter in midwinter!