Raymond West

Serious birders and outdoor lovers will love meeting up with fellow enthusiasts at the Anchorage Audubon Society. Such offerings as a "bird hotline" is available with updated information on the latest bird sitings and where they occurred in the Anchorage bowl area. The society also presents lectures and field trips led by experts who are as equally excited about the 230 species of birds spotted in the area over the past few years.

When you visit Alaska, the wildlife will seem like it's everywhere! To familiarize yourself with your new surroundings, a visit to the Alaska Zoo might be in order. You'll marvel at the incredible diversity of creatures as well as how accurately they represent the animals you might encounter as you spend time in the state. The large viewing area features such popular zoo inhabitants as caribou, moose and Dall sheep grazing along together. Also, one of the zoo's most dramatic attractions is the 25-acre bear habitat where you'll see black bears, glacier bears, and brown bears, also known as grizzlies. Some of the zoo's other more notable inhabitants include a few camels, a Siberian tiger and an elephant that has the distinction of being the only one in the entire state!

Maintaining law and order anywhere is a big challenge, but consider how big the task becomes when your beat is a state as big as Alaska! The stories and the triumphs of that endeavor are what make the Alaska Law Enforcement Museum such an interesting place. The museum touts the fact that their mission is to preserve the history of law enforcement in the last frontier, and the exhibits do an above average job of allowing visitors to experience what that history was all about. Vintage patrol cars, communication devices, uniforms and more all help to tell this truly remarkable story of resilience and love for the law no matter what the circumstances.