ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

Anchorage was one of 10 cities nationwide to receive the 2002 All-American City Award! This marks the fourth time the city has earned such special recognition, a prestige shared with only seven other cities.

Anchorage is a big city in a secluded state; it remains true to its heritage while forging ahead with revolutionary new sites and museums. Museums worthy of note are the Anchorage Museum and the Native Heritage Center. Some of the facilities are top-notch establishments technologically, while others continue to provide an authentic look at the area's ancient past, and have remained unchanged for decades.

While Anchorage may be rather built up, and sections of it are somewhat commercial, you do not have to go far to find yourself deep in the Alaskan wilderness. In fact, a tour on a floatplane will take you into regions that are remarkably remote, where the only life you will see is a bear hunting the Alaskan waters for a fresh salmon dinner. 

Chugach State Park:

 Largely within the city limits, but it's the size of Rocky Mountain National Park and has similar alpine terrain, with the critical difference that most of it is virtually never visited. Yet you can be climbing those mountains in half an hour's journey from your downtown hotel. Chugach National Forest, the nation's second largest, is less than an hour down the road. In downtown's Ship Creek, people catch 40-pound salmon from under a freeway bridge. Even within the city, you can bike dozens of miles along the coast or through wooded greenbelts, or ski in one of the nation's best Nordic skiing parks. 

Lake Hood:
Small planes are the blood cells of Alaska's circulatory system, and Anchorage its heart. There are several busy airports in Anchorage, and Lake Hood is the world's busiest floatplane base. More than two dozen operators want to take you on a flightseeing tour.