Alaska in March is a world with the color turned down and the volume turned up. We rode the old Alaska Railroad north, watched sea lions bicker over a sunny rock near Seward, and stepped inside a glacier hole so blue it didn't look real. In North Pole the reindeer never stopped eating; on the Dalton Highway we drove until the map said Arctic Circle. And when the aurora finally spilled green over Fairbanks, nobody remembered the cold. Denali saw us off with a proper blizzard — and the softest snow I've ever fallen into.

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The engine at the head of the Alaska Railroad — machinery from another century, still proud.

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Prime real estate on this rock, and the sea lions know it.

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The night Fairbanks turned green. Worth every frozen minute of waiting.

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A casual stroll on the Matanuska Glacier, as one does.

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Inside the glacier everything glows blue. No filter — the ice really does this.

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Santa Claus House, North Pole. Here, Christmas simply never ends.

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At the reindeer farm, every hour is lunch hour.

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We drove the Dalton Highway until the Earth said, "Arctic Circle."

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Denali National Park & Preserve, wearing its winter best.

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One small cabin versus all that snow and wind — and the cabin is winning.

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Snow this soft demands to be lain in. I obliged.

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