Alaska is BIG!!! Air travel is the way we get around up here as our road system only covers about 25% of the state. Some of the trips from my home in Anchorage have been pretty expensive, $1,000 round trip to Dutch Harbor, $1,400 round trip to St. Paul Island, $1,800 round trip to Adak. Fortunately, I work for the state and they pay for my travel.

I've lived and worked up here for nearly 20 years. I've been to almost every place that has a fish cannery, construction project or environmental clean up campaign from Ketchikan to Kotzebue. I've worked in -60 degree weather with wind chills of below -100 F.

I've seen eagles, whales, bears (black, brown, white and blue), wolverine, caribou, moose, lynx, fox, mink, eiders, muirs, swans, geese, ptarmigan, owls, seals, sea lions, sharks, musk ox, and many others. I've fished for pike, cod, rockfish, trout, burbot, halibut and four different species of salmon.

I have written songs and sung them at festivals and events in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Eagle River, Soldotna, Kenai, Kodiak, Seldovia, Palmer, Wasilla, Denali, Talkeetna, Cantwell, Willow, Dutch Harbor, Dillingham, Nome, Haines and odd places in between.

And despite all my travels and all the places I've been, I have only seen a very small part of the 49th state. I can't wait to see the rest of it.

Mike