20 Cool and Surprising Facts About Alaska – Part 2

The purchase of Alaska from Russia by the U.S. was originally mocked by U.S. citizens, who called it "Andrew Johnson's polar bear garden."

Mount Shishaldin, an active volcano in Alaska is in the shape of a perfect cone, with perfectly circular contours above 2000m.

In 1958, Alaska was hit with a Mega Tsunami that measured 1720 feet tall. It was taller than the Empire State Building.

In 1867, Alaska became the only place to have two Fridays in succession. This was due to the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia, causing its timezone to change from GMT+14 to GMT-10.

Hyder, Alaska uses Canadian electricity, a Canadian area code, Canadian police, and most Canadian currency. You need a passport to travel from Hyder to the rest of the United States, but not to travel from Canada to Hyder.

Barrow in Alaska remains in daylight for 84 days in Summer and dark for 67 days in Winter. It even experiences a midnight Sun.

In Alaska, it is illegal to be drunk in a bar. Per state laws, a person who is already drunk may not “knowingly” enter a bar to drink more, or remain in the bar that got them drunk in the first place.

In 2016, residents of Barrow, Alaska voted to change the name of the city back to its original Inupiaq name, Utqiaġvik.

The town Chicken, Alaska was supposed to be named ‘Ptarmigan’ but the locals couldn’t agree on the spelling so settled on ‘Chicken’ to save themselves the embarrassment if it was spelled wrong.

There is a city called North Pole in Alaska. The city is known for having year-round Christmas decorations.