The Last Frontier

...and I will conquer it! Or at least spend a couple weeks fishing, kayaking, rappelling, hiking, and seafood-eating with my family in the Last Frontier :) Alaska is a veritable paradise for the outdoor enthusiast! Can you sense my excitement?

• Alaska is derived from "Alyeska", a Yupik word meaning "great land" or "that which the sea breaks against".
• "Seward's Folly": U.S Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for a mere $7.2 million- roughly 2 cents per acre!
• The state's landmass is larger than that of Texas, California, and Montana combined.
• Rhode Island could fit inside Alaska 425 times.
• The International Date Line was bent to keep the state within the same day.
  
• Much of U.S.-produced salmon, crab, halibut, and herring originate in Alaska.
  
• Nicknamed "The Last Frontier" for the rugged landscape and climate. Only 1/3 of the state has been divided into political units, known as boroughs.
• 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the U.S. are located in Alaska.
• "Land of the Midnight Sun": for a time during the summer, the sun never dips below the horizon, visible even at midnight. In Barrow, the sun doesn't set for 84 days.
  
• "Seward's Ice Box": Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle.
• The lowest recorded U.S. temperature was -80 degrees F at Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska in 1971.
  
• Alaska's coastline extends 6,600 miles. When a map of Alaska is super-imposed on the U.S. map, the state stretches from coast to coast, as seen below:
  

Sources:
http://www.alaskasbest.com/facts.htm
http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/ak_intro.htm
http://www.50states.com/facts/alaska.htm