10 Awesome Things About Life in Alaska

I grew up in Alaska and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.  Here are 10 awesome things that make life in Alaska great.

1. I grew up in a town you can only access by boat, plane or helicopter.  There is no road in or out. The city is surrounded by ocean on one side and ice fields on the other.
2. It is not unusual to have the same friends you had in kindergarten.  One of my closest friends was at my first birthday party.
3. The state of Alaska is so big that each person living here could have their own square mile.
4. It’s never a surprise when one of your first loves from middle school ends up marrying one of your good friends.
5. Saying you’re from Alaska usually strikes up instant conversation wherever you go. The number one question: “So how is the whole 24hr daylight/darkness thing?”
6. You are never more than five to ten minutes away from an epic wilderness adventure.
7. I grew up in a town of 33,000.  Pretty big right? However, there was only one high school and two middle schools.
8. As Alaskans we get excused from the usual guff most other Americans receive when traveling abroad. Everybody loves an Alaskan :]
9. Our soccer season is in the spring due to weather conditions in the fall. We like to mix things up.
10. There’s no place like home.  Sure you make other friends, but when you have had the same friends in your classes all the way through high school you know you will always have a large home to come back to.

What are 10 great things about growing up in your home state?