Dear Alex,

The airport is much smaller than the one we have in Atlanta! I have arrived safely in Fairbanks, Alaska with your big sister Ashley. She has been very kind to me and takes me everywhere with her! This morning we went for a short walk in the snow and then came home for a rest.... I fell asleep on the couch! Twelve hours is a long flight!

Polar bears live Above the Arctic Circle, as well as snowshoe hares and arctic foxes!

Alaska also has the tallest mountain in North America-Denali but on a map it is called Mt. McKinley (mountain picture below). The Alaska Natives, the indingenous people of Alaska, named it Denali. There are two major groups of Native Languages here: Athabaskan Languages and Eskimo-Aleut Languages. Alaska is not part of the contiguous United States, which means it is not connected directly to the United States map but is on the same continent. The last picture is of a phenomenon found closer to the poles. It is called the aurora borealis, or simply, The Aurora. It occurs in the winters, starting in August until May, when there is a lot of dark time. In the summers, there is a lot of sunshine and just an hour or two of night time. It is not hard to fall asleep. There are still four seasons, but Spring and Fall are very short compared to Summer and Winter.