1) Population: 6 (2 children and 4 bears)
2) Everyone has a pet polar bear.
3) It is dark a lot of the time.
4) Famous people live there. (I don't care what your political or personal inclinations are. You cannot deny that this woman is famous...or at least infamous.)
Alright, so confession time. Until yesterday afternoon, I had not actually investigated my trip itinerary. Mom, if you read this, it had nothing to do with disrespect. See, the first time I heard about this trip I thought it was a funny joke. "Want to go to Alaska?" I mean, sure, why not? I'll ride a bear and pet some sled dogs. No big deal.
And then a week later, I got my first itinerary for the trip. No joke, shout out to the ladies I am going with. These women put together an Alaskan land trip (no cruise involved) in like, 5 days. Probably less. I assume I'm the last to hear about anything, which is completely acceptable. I'll be lucky to pack a bag and make it to the airport in one piece. Maybe I should attach one of those children's leashes to myself.
Then I don't have to worry about a thing! If I accidentally get too involved with my sight seeing....
I did think Alaska would be a relatively safe place to travel. This is what I have learned....
In 1960, 226,000 people lived in Alaska (yeah, the whole state.) There were 23 murders. 548 cars were stolen (I think that might be every car in Alaska at that time.)
In 2009, 689,000 people lived in Alaska (yes, again, the whole state.) There were 24,998 total crimes (if every crime was committed by a different person, 4% of the population committed a crime that year.) There were only 22 murders though. So I'm thinking that even though the population increased, since the rate of murders has not increased there is probably just one serial killer that they can't catch or something like that.
In case you wanted a crime comparison, I looked up the statistics for Ohio. Much larger population. Here is the analysis.
1960: Population 9,706,397. Murders, 311. Vehicle theft, 13,069.
2009: Population 11,542,645. Total crime 415,885 (3.6% of the population). Total murders- 519.
So, it appears that I am less likely to be murdered in Alaska than I am in Ohio or probably any other state in the continental US. Though I did find this sign in a "funny alaska sign" google image search....
Also, what I never did find online were statistics of random deaths in Alaska. Whether people froze to death, were eaten by bears or perhaps ate some bad fish. These things do not show up in my crime analysis so they must be taken into consideration.
Moral of this story: Be prepared and hopefully you will live. I am now prepared, I read the itinerary.
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