Say the name "ALASKA" and most people think of glaciers, snow-covered tundra and Arctic temperatures. And there's some truth to all that. Glacier Bay National Park has more tidewater glaciers than any other place on the planet, once-third of the state lies within the Arctic Circle, and Barrow registered the coldest temperature in U.S. history: 80 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.

Glacier Bay National Park

But Alaska is not just one big freezer. Summers are warm, with temperatures often in the 90s. And summer is also the season of the Midnight Sun, which means softball teams could schedule their games for 2 a.m. and play in ful daylight.

The first human residents of Alaska traveled across the land bridge that spanned the Bering Sea some 30.000 years ago. (To this day, the Alaskan island of Little Diomede lies less than three miles from Russia's Big   Diomede in the Bering Strait.) In the 18th century, the Russians set up a capital in Sitka and hunted sea otters and fur seals neraly to extinction. Then the fur trade declined, the czar sold Alaska to William Seward for the absourd price of $7.2 million - less than 2 cents an acre . The U.S. Congress was so contemptuous of the "Icebox" that for decades the goverment tried to forget Alaska existed.

It was the Gold Rush that changed everything. Between 1880 and 1908, there were seven major strikes in the Alaskan territory. The influx of settlers forced the U.S. government to pay attenction to Alaka, and the population has been growing ever since.

Holy Transfiguration of our Lord Church

Alaska is perhaps the last place in America where the frontier spirit is a requirement for residency. Towns are so far apart that many people find it easier to fly that drive from place to place (one Alaskan in every 36 has a pilot0s license).

The state's weathrom its natural resources - oil, natural gas, cooper, coal, gold, platinum (Alaska is the only place in the U.S. where platinum is found). Fishing is big business in Alaska- The state has more coastline (33.999 miles) than the rest of the U.S. combined. And tourism gives an enormous boost to Alaska's natural wonders exceeds the state's population.