North Pole in Alaska

23 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Dylan Avery/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Dylan Avery/cc-by-sa-4.0

North Pole is a small city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Incorporated in 1953, it is part of the Fairbanks metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 2,243, up from 2,117 in 2010. Despite its name, the city is about 1,700 miles (2,700 km) south of Earth’s geographic North Pole and 125 miles (200 km) south of the Arctic Circle. The city is a summertime attraction for tourists visiting nearby Fairbanks and, due to its location on the Richardson Highway, those traveling to and from the Alaska Highway and Valdez. North Pole was home to two oil refineries, the town’s major industry aside from tourism, but closed because of sulfolane contamination in groundwater. The larger refinery, operated by Flint Hills Resources, was a major source of jet fuel for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Tanker car traffic on the Alaska Railroad, entering and leaving the refinery, frequently bisects the city.   read more…

Theme Week Greenland – Uummannaq

20 September 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© NorthernLight/cc-by-sa-3.0

© NorthernLight/cc-by-sa-3.0

Uummannaq is a town in the Avannaata municipality, in central-western Greenland. With 1,407 inhabitants in 2020, it is the eighth-largest town in Greenland, and is home to the country’s most northerly ferry terminal. Founded in 1763 as Omenak, the town is a hunting and fishing base, with a canning factory and a marble quarry. In 1932 the Universal Greenland-Filmexpedition with director Arnold Fanck released the film S.O.S. Eisberg near Uummannaq.   read more…

Theme Week Lapland

22 August 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  11 minutes

Pallastunturi hills in Pallas-Yllästunturin National Park © Petr Vodička/cc-by-sa-4.0

Pallastunturi hills in Pallas-Yllästunturin National Park © Petr Vodička/cc-by-sa-4.0

Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia, Norrbotten County in Sweden, Troms and Finnmark County in Norway, and Murmansk Oblast and the Republic of Karelia in Russia. Topography varies from vast mires and forests of the South to fells in the North. The Arctic circle crosses Lapland, so polar phenomena such as the midnight sun and polar night can be seen in Lapland.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top