Locals visit Alaska

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Local travelers Billy Coffey, George Jones, Jimmy Adams and Jerry Robertson, spent time recently in Alaska. An area of interest was Barrow, Alaska's northern most populated village which is located on the Arctic Ocean. Life in Barrow is much different than Manning in all respects. Subsistence hunting and fishing is still a necessity and a common winter is 70 days of total darkness and minus 60-degree Fahrenheit temperatures. It was 28 degrees during their visit. Barrow has approximately 5,500 inhabitants and is accessed by air. The population is predominantly Eskimo. From Barrow, they traveled back to Fairbanks and then to a tour of Denali Park (formerly McKinley Park) and viewed some grizzly bear, moose, caribou and ptarmigan. Most interesting was Mount Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley), the highest peak in the USA. After a trip to Anchorage (largest city in Alaska), they then visited Homer and spent time on the Homer Spit. If you don't know about the Homer Spit, take time to research it. After that, they went on to Seward, a port city named after the person responsible for it becoming US property many years ago. While at Seward, they took a boat trip and saw orcas (killer whales), sea lions, humpback whales, sea otters and other wildlife. Coffey, Jones and Robertson also climbed on Exit Glacier near Seward. Finally, they headed back to Anchorage and then on to home. This tour was a repeat of the first trip Robertson took exactly 30 years ago to Alaska.