A Visit to Anchorage, AK

Wedged between the two arms of Cook Inlet and the imposing Chugach Mountains, Anchorage is home to over forty percent of Alaska's population and is the state's transport hub. A sprawling city on the edge of one of the world's great wildernesses, it often gets bad press from those who live elsewhere in the state and deride it as "just half an hour from the real Alaska." However, it has its attractions and, with its beautiful setting, can make a pleasant one- or two-day stopover.

Anchorage was born in 1915 as a tent city for Alaska Railroad construction workers. During the 1930s, hopefuls fleeing the Depression poured in from the Lower 48, and World War II – and construction of the Alaska Highway – further boosted the city. The opening of the airport established Anchorage – midway between New York and Tokyo – as the "Crossroads of the World," and statehood in 1959 and the 1970s oil boom brought in yet more optimistic adventurers.