Polka with Alaska's best

When you're traveling around Alaska, keep a lookout for anything advertising a performance of Alaska Blaskapelle, a German band that will have you dancing in the aisles. If you find a performance, plan to attend if at all possible.

Alaska Blaskapelle is a group of about 40 professional and advanced-amateur musicians from Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley, of which about 10 or 12 are used for each performance of good German music, mostly polkas, waltzes and marches. The band has at least as much fun as the audience. Wearing lederhosen and playing mostly brass instruments, they have been described as a heavy metal band dressed in leather. They are also extremely proud of the fact that the last scheduled rehearsal was in 1986.

Seriously, though, these folks are really good. And if you're in the audience and want them to play something special, the band responds much better to a round of beer or perhaps Jagermeister than anything like a cash tip.

Panning for Riches

Everybody who heads for Alaska has probably heard about the Alaska Gold rush, also known as the Trail of '98. Unfortunately, the gold was in Canada, not Alaska. The Klondike River, site of the discovery in 1897, is a Yukon River tributary a few miles from Dawson City, the town that exploded into being with the discovery of gold.

There were later gold rushes in Alaska, Nome and Fairbanks being two of the largest, but also being just two of many. And there were even some gold finds before the Klondike strike--Juneau and Chicken (40-mile River) were two of the larger ones.

Today lots of visitors want to try their luck. Commercial (tourist) gold-panning operations are available near Dawson City and Fairbanks, and if you've never panned for gold before it might be a good idea to visit one of these to learn how its done.

Once confident of your skills, most of Alaska is public land so you're pretty much free to try your luck anywhere there are no existing claims or otherwise-posted private property. Lots of activity still goes on along the 40-Mile River north of Tok and near Hope on the Kenai Peninsula. These destinations are easily accessed by road and there are plenty of camping areas nearby.