Want to explore some of the highlights of Alaska but don’t have a ton of time? Here’s the ultimate weekend in Alaska road trip itinerary! Alaska has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, succumbing to popular belief, I thought I would need at least a week to visit the Last Frontier. For a full-time accounting assistant with just two weeks of vacation a year, it didn’t look like this dream could become a reality. But with a few days set aside for a long weekend, I thought to myself, why not? We had been traveling in the US on weekends and holidays before. Why couldn’t we make Alaska happen?
Point Barrow Alaska is the northernmost point in Alaska, far above the Arctic Circle and even today has no roads (going very far) in or out of this community of 4,335 people. Point Barrow is locally and officially known as Utqiagvik. The town was named after Sir John Barrow of the British Admiralty by famed north country explorer Frederick William Beechey in 1825.
The only way to really access Point Barrow these days is by plane (typically two flights daily) or by boat (barge) usually just two months out of the year. Because of dire transportation difficulties, the cost of living in Point Barrow is off the charts high and actually is reported 53.6% more than the average cost of living in the United States. Although salaries and wage type jobs pay pretty well up here, common food and supply items are extremely inflated from $17 dollar frozen pizzas to $40 dollars for a gallon of bleach!
With all that said, I was somewhat surprised to discover that many of our subscribers have mentioned to me by email and polling list that Point Barrow Alaska is indeed on their Bucket List as somewhere within their top 100 destinations that they would like to visit someday.
It seems the majority of visitors to Point Barrow just want to visit there to stake their claim that they traveled to the furthest northern point of the United States. Many of those same people also had visited the furthest southern part of the United States already by traveling to a far different climate – in the Florida Keys at Key West, Florida.
You may now be wondering, hey I might be able to easily handle the warmth and the Hemmingway Lifestyle of the Florida Keys too, but would Jimmy Buffet ever trek to Point Barrow?
My Family Connection In Point Barrow Alaska During WWII
Ever since I was a youngster, I was always fascinated with Alaska from all the stories my father would tell us kids around the dinner table about his service in Alaska during WWII in the Army Air Corps. Yep, that was just before they transitioned to the (USAF) United States Air Force. You see it was in Alaska, that just after Pearl Harbor became a major military location for personnel, aircraft, and airfields designated to defend the continental United States from enemy attacks or potential invasion from the northwest.
Alaska’s strategic defenses was indeed the frontline to North America. In fact it was the Japanese occupation of the Aleutian Islands of Kiska and Attu in June 1942 made Alaska the one theater or area in the Western Hemisphere in which Army ground and air forces met with a sizable battle test during World War II. It has been documented as the only land battle of World War II fought on incorporated territory of the United States… since Alaska did not officially become a State until 1959.
My father was mostly stationed during World War II at Ladd Army Airfield in Fairbanks. He would often talk of his adventurous exploits with his army buddies when they were granted their special R&R (rest and relaxation) periods of free time. They would venture out to explore places like Mt McKinley or a take quick visit to Anchorage for some bigger city excitement. I’ll always remember his fond memory of flying into to Point Barrow like others… just to say he was there.
Of course talking about Point Barrow Alaska to a bunch of kids with all that snow, reindeer and polar bears, he had to mention that being already that far north of the artic circle he was planning to go all the way to the North Pole to see Santa and see if we all were on his NICE list… but then he got his new orders that he had to ship out and didn’t quite make it up there.
Point Barrow Alaska is truly an All American township in it’s purest form. High School football here, like in most small towns across the USA is the centerpiece of this community The Point Barrow Alaska Whalers are the one and only Artic High School Football Team In America. Here is a very nice video produced by the NFL Network.
At The Top Of The World – Life Is Lived Below Zero!
The Great Will Rogers Remembered
Pont Barrow is also sadly known as the place that the legendary Will Rogers, famous American stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, American cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator along with aviation pioneer Wiley Post died in a plane crash 16 miles outside of Barrow, Alaska on August 15, 1935.
Today the Point Barrow Alaska Regional Airport is named the Wiley Post–Will Rogers Memorial Airport in their honor. Yes Point Barrow Alaska is indeed a quite remote destination to get to, however it’s also a very friendly place to live and visit almost anytime of the year. In fact one of Will Rogers famous quotes says it best…
“Strangers are just friends I haven’t met yet.” — Will Rogers
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The only way to really access Point Barrow these days is by plane (typically two flights daily) or by boat (barge) usually just two months out of the year. Because of dire transportation difficulties, the cost of living in Point Barrow is off the charts high and actually is reported 53.6% more than the average cost of living in the United States. Although salaries and wage type jobs pay pretty well up here, common food and supply items are extremely inflated from $17 dollar frozen pizzas to $40 dollars for a gallon of bleach!
