Alaska, the 49th staie, the largest state, and also the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost! It has the most national parks, the most wildlife, the highest mountains, the longest coastline - but almost the fewest people. It is full of oddities and paradoxes - a state-run railroad that doesn't connect to any other railroad, a state capital that cannot be reached by road, the biggest traffic hazard is moose on the road, the main airport has several times been closed by volcanic eruption, everybody seems to hunt and fish, all legal residents get annual payments from state petroleum revenues, the nearest countries are Canada and Russia, and the whole state was purchased for less than two cents an acre.

In a word, Alaska is unique.

I have been to Alaska three times, both by land and by sea, and feel I have barely begun to scratch the surface.

I have divided Alaska into three Virtual Guidebooks: one for the interior and northern Alaska, including Fairbanks; another for south central Alaska including Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula; and a third for southeastern Alaska featuring the ports, islands and bays of the Inside Passage. I hope to travel to Alaska again in summer of 2010.