I have been to Alaska four times. It is heart-achingly beautiful, the people are mostly friendly and welcoming, but they have their own ways. Some stories: ten hikers and I were sitting around the campfire with two wonderful guides who had been very sensitively teaching us nature studies. Someone asked about bears and they got into a huge argument about whether a .457 pistol or a shotgun was a better protection… then they whipped out their pistols to compare notes. oooh-kay! And, 2) when my son and I drove from Fairbanks south he had the car radio on ‘seek’ for four hours without picking up a single station. And 3) we saw so many whales and they were right there – I mean RIGHT there! 4) the area right around Anchorage and south to Kenai or Homer is the best… forget about the north, Denali was a big disappointment…we saw Moose right in Anchorage city. If you like to fish, this is paradise… but bring heavy tackle… we had gear for trout and the Alaskan trout just ripped it to shreds. And don’t step on the tidal flats unless you want to be caught by the mud and drowned in the next incoming tide. Alaska is not for people who are afraid of wilderness or want a pretty BnB – go to Maine instead. Alaska is for people who will sleep quietly when they hear snuffling outside their tent because they know they put the food sack thirty feet up in the tree and they are packing protection.