Alaska Country

The most northerly I have been was about 61° N, Anchorage in Alaska. The year was when world cup was held in Japan/North Korea. I recall my flight made a transit in Narita Japan before continuing the journey to Seattle. Seattle is located to east of Anchorage hence my trip Seattle - Anchorage was a trip back to the west.  So I overshot by 27 degree westward. I remember thinking about this number as I boarded my flight to Anchorage.

It was summertime in Anchorage hence I experienced the so called midnight sun. I could see the sun just above the horizon as I tried to sleep. Alaska was 16 hours behind my original biological clock when I was there. I struggled to adjust my sleeping time. It made my job hard as I was there for business. I had to attend meetings and went to an offshore facility. However the weather was pretty nice and warm.

I walked around to explore the city. It was pretty quiet. The population was less than 300 thousands or about 160 person per square miles (compare to my home town which has almost 38000 person per square miles). Alaska is huge. It is about the same size as all of Western Europe or Scandinavia. That's 28 countries. There are 195 countries in this world (2021), and Alaska beats all but 16 of them in total area. This means that, individually, 178 different countries could fit inside Alaska. It is interesting that the US bought Alaska from Russia about 150 years ago. 

As mentioned the trip was a business trip but my team leader decided to have a team building event by taking the team flying above Mt McKinley. I could not remember if we landed on the summit but I recall the travel agent did offer such option, depending on the weather of course. 

When Disney' Brother Bear was on the theater I remember recognizing the name of Kenai, the youngest of the brothers, which is the name of a city in Alaska. The name Alaska itself reminded me of a song by Shocking Blue which was released in 1970, Alaska Country  

There's no better way of being alone
Down in my land, my beautiful land
A nature of God all covered with snow
A pleasure to be and good times to spend
Alaska Country - stay the way you are
Alaska Country - you never cheated me