Fig 2.5 is one of my favorites because it’s always so crazy to see how much bigger Alaska is than all of the other states. Of course, I knew that Alaska was much larger than even Texas, but when it’s but into perspective it’s very eye-opening. I think that people always underestimate Alaska because it’s so far north and so it’s easy for people to assume that Alaska is not a large state, but rather a small one.

Fig 2.3 is another one of my favorites because I didn’t realize that Alaska had different kinds of forests. I knew that South-East Alaska had more rainforests, but there are also three different variations in the interior alone. The next time I drive home to Anchorage I’m going to pay extra attention to the forests as I drive through them.

Fig 2.2 was an interesting map to look at because it shows just how scarce health care facilities are in Alaska. Growing up in Anchorage, I never had to worry about getting adequate health care because I’d always had it. But looking at this map, it’s shocking to see that there are only about 15 actual hospitals for the entire state, and most of them are concentrated in South-Central and South-East Alaska.

Fig 2.1 is kind of cool because it’s funny to see how much of our understanding of Alaska has changed. The shape is right in this map, but there are so many landmarks and bodies of water that aren’t mapped. The interior is also described as “The Great Marshlands” instead of tundra, which is an interesting description of an area that we now know is different.