Happy {1st Alaskan} Birthday!

We are officially Alaskan residents!

Woo Hoo!!!!

Can you believe that means we've already been here a year?!

I still have our plane tickets to prove it.

I plan to put them in a shadow box or something creative... when I get around to it...

To be an Alaskan residence, it's three simple steps.

Step #1: Move to Alaska

Step #2: You must have employment papers, housing contract, something that proves you are staying in Alaska.

Step #3: Continue to live in Alaska for 1 year.

That's it! The Hall's did it!

WE ARE ALASKAN RESIDENTS!

Oh happy day! August 1st will always be a day to celebrate in the Hall's household!

And to commemorate this special day, I thought I would share with you my second new theme I've come up with for my blog.

Friday Facts

There's no doubt that you guys can tell Joshua and I love this state. If you could just see Joshua live here and the way his eyes light up talking about this place, you'd have zero doubt that this is where we belong. For now, anyways.

And because of that, I thought it would be a great thing to inform you about The Last Frontier.

Because, if I'm going to write about it, you might as well know some things about the state, right?

My plan is to do only five facts - short, sweet, but to the point - every Friday.

I plan to use The Great Alaskan Nature Factbook by Susan Ewing for most of my facts. It's a great book that talks about the land, plants, and animals of Alaska that are more diverse than any other state.

One of my favorite quotes from this book is right in the introduction.

"Other states can guide you to their remaining wild areas, but Alaska doesn't have nature -- Alaska is nature. You don't come here, or don't stay here, for the shopping. The mountains draw you and keep you, or the salt water; or the moose or salmon or bear."

So without further ado, my first Friday Facts:

#1. Alaska became a state on January 3, 1959 and is the 49th state.

#2. Alaska has SIX geographical regions: Arctic Alaska, Interior Alaska, Western Alaska, Southwestern Alaska, Southcentral Alaska, and Southeast Alaska.

Along with these six geographical regions, imagine them with the environmental diversity and physical size of different states, such as California, Wisconsin, Missouri, Utah, Wyoming, Florida, and Louisiana all lumped together in the same legislature.

How diverse!

#3. Anchorage is the social hub of Southcentral Alaska (the region where Seward is located, too). Anchorage is home to two-thirds of the state's population. 

One city alone hold two-thirds the population. Crazy!

#4. More caribou live in Alaska than people

#5. Brown bears and grizzly bears are the same species. 

Whether it's called a "grizzly" or a "brownie" is often a matter where the bear lives and what the locals prefer to call it.

I can't wait to see what more information Alaska has to share with us.

It's the teacher in me!

Happy Friday, you guys! Hope everyone has a good weekend.

The Hall's definitely will - we are going to celebrate our Alaskan birthday with a four-wheelin'/campin' weekend! Have a good one!