Anchorage - Gateway to an Alaska Land Vacation, Anchorage, Alaska

Alaska is a bucket list location for many people. Full of wildlife, glaciers, mountains and national parks, it’s a once in a lifetime trip. The majority of people who visit Alaska do so via a cruise, most of which depart from Seattle, Washington or Vancouver, British Columbia and explore the towns along the coast of Southeast Alaska. But a cruise is definitely not the only way to see some of the largest state in the United States.

If you are like me and cruising just isn’t your thing, there are still ways to see this amazing state. And chances are if you are planning a land vacation to Alaska, you will fly into the largest and most well-known city in Alaska: Anchorage!

Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and is home to 40% of the state’s population. To give a glimpse of the amount of Alaska residents that live in this part of the state, the area including Anchorage and the nearby Matanuska-Susitna accounts for over half the population of the 663,268 square mile state.

While most cities and towns in Alaska came about due to the fishing and mining in the area, the construction of the Alaska Railroad is what put Anchorage on the map. Some 2000 construction workers lived in 1000 tents in what is now Anchorage in 1915. They started calling the town Tent City. Later that year, they decided on a more official city name of Alaska City. Little did they know though that the U.S. Postal Service office in Seattle Washington had already decided on the name of Anchorage and five years later, the city of Anchorage was incorporated in November 1920. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).