*Where I Live~ Interesting Facts About Alaska*

[Melisa Rhiane]

*There are no snow days- there are "temperature" days- where they only close school at -65F below (on these days, they don't count tardies, but you still have to show up if you can).
*There are moose and bears and wolves.
*90% of Natives tip like s*** (a lot of them are drunks, wandering around downtown).
*You can see Mt. McKinley (Denali- the largest mountain in North America) from Fairbanks on a clear day.
*Wolves have been known to pick off people's dogs outside of city limits.
*In the summer, it is daylight almost 24 hours a day. In winter, it is darkness almost 24 hours a day.
*We refer to the bottom states as, "the Lower 48."
*Vehicles must be plugged in from an extension cord (called winterizing) to an outlet in order to get your car started in the winter.
*You get more time for killing a moose out of season, than you do for killing your wife.
*Residents get a PFD (Permenant Fund Dividend) every year- ranging anywhere from 1800-3200 -per person (including the kids)!
*There are no state taxes.
*In remote areas, "the bush," and villages, gas has been known to climb to $9 a gallon (the bush means you can only get to it by plane or foot [or boat]). not us!
*People dog-mush up here in the winter. The Iditorod passes through Fairbanks.
*Fairbanks was formed by gold-panners and miners (gold can still be found).
*Averagely, the temperature ranges anywhere from -55F in the winter, to 90F in the summer (record is around -80F and 100F).
*Mosquitos are the state bird (or should be).
*There are no snakes in Alaska, due to the ground being permafrost a few feet under.
*There are no fleas or ticks (at least that I've heard of in the "Interior").
*Fairbanks is labeled as an "Arctic Tundra," or winter desert.
*There are a lot of dirty cabin-dwelling hippies who listen to blue-grass, etc.
*Halibut and salmon are very plentiful and popular here.
*You can see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in winter. Lots of tourists come from Japan to see them.
*The Japanese believe that concieving under the Northern Lights gives them a blessed child, so you see a lot of paired-off Japanese people here to have sex under the Northern Lights (what a thought- and I thought they were just tourists).
*The university here is the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the home of a lot of renowned biologists (I've talked to a lady who was a scientist in Antarctica studying leopard seals!) ...dangerous animals.
*UAF is notable for it's biology/marine biology program (too bad I'm not interested in science).
*You are allowed to have up to an ounce of marijuana on you in your house (state police/employees can't do anything, you have to have a Federal employee there to search your house in order to get in trouble). You are also allowed to grow a certain amount in your house.
*It is legal to shoot people on your property (like they were a dog- there are crazy people out here!)
*There are more Vietnam vets concentrated here, than anywhere else in America.
*A lot of people come up here to hide from the government (so I've heard).
*It is illegal to give a moose a beer (state law)... maybe they read, "When You Give a Moose a Cookie"... and got worried?
*The legal age to smoke is 19.
*Russians live here (in certain areas of the state).
*During the summer, a lot of young people from Eastern European countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria, etc., come to Alaska to work in the local restuarants, etc., then leave with all their money back to their countries (they are hilarious- they're crazy and fun and they drink a LOT of vodka!). I love working with them- they're damn hard workers. They will work all day and all night, and then party hard and go back to work the next day.
*Some people choose to live in "dry" cabins, which have no running water, and usually an outhouse outside to go pee- if you don't have an outhouse, you use what they call "honey buckets," where you pee in them at night when it's too cold to go out, and dump them in the morning (not many people do that, though).
*Some of the pine trees out here when you get out of city limits in Fairbanks are small and stunted- because it is so damn cold, in the winter.
*And last but not least, Alaska is a big military community, aka "Arctic Warriors, hooah".
*We actually have a couple real cities (Anchorage being one of them).

~Compiled by me.