Alaska - the Whatever state

I'm going to pause in my accounting of our day to day adventures here in Alaska to make a few general observations.

1) Alaska is the most multicutural place I have ever been in my life. People from everywhere wind up here - I don't know quite why, but they do. On my last flight in, I was sitting between a guy from Samoa and a Russian lady. They both live here now, and both gave me advice about good places to eat. People move here from all over the world, as well as all over the US. This leads to ...
2) Pretty much anything goes here. As long as you are not hurting anyone else, you can do what you want. Really, pretty much anything is fine. Have whatever opinions you want, say what you want, just be ready to have someone who may not agree say what they want to say. You can pretty much wear anything you want, do what you want with your hair - both of which are good things for me, as I tend to not be the most fashion conscious person around. People routinely wear fur here, which would at least get you hissed at in the northeast, but which is totally fine here. Make whatever domestic arrangements you want - I have heard of just about every arrangement imaginable between consenting adults here, and no one bats an eye.

Whether you thing these are good things or bad things, that's just how it is here. I have to say, I kind of like it!