After being unseen for decades, some of Alaska’s finest native art is back on display in the whale house at the Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Heritage & Bald Eagle Preserve Visitor Center near Haines. The decorative 200-year-old house posts are the pièce de résistance at the new center, which opened in June 2016.
The splendid Alaska State Museum has reopened in the capital, Juneau, after a two-year renovation project. It is encased in a handsome new building that also houses the state library and archives.
Less icy seas mean it is now possible to navigate the waters of the famed Northwest Passage during a short summer season. Several cruise companies offer trips through the waters of the Arctic, calling at Nome and Utqiaġvik en route.
Following on from the craft-brewing revolution, Alaska has been experimenting with homemade spirits in several new microdistilleries, including the Port Chilkoot Distillery in Haines.
Recreational marijuana was legalized in Alaska in February 2015 after a state ballot, and the first pot stores opened for business in 2016. Legal weed sellers have recently set up shop in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka.
In October 2016 the citizens of Barrow voted in a referendum to change the name of their town to its traditional rendering, Utqiaġvik. Similarly, after a long naming dispute, Mt McKinley officially reverted back to Denali in 2015, its historical Athabaskan name.
The beautiful new home of the Sealaska Heritage Institute opened in 2015 in downtown Juneau; it’s encased in the Walter Soboleff building, a vast amalgamation of glass and wood adorned with bright Alaska Native motifs.
This only-in-Alaska amusement park has brightened up the barren outpost of Tok with its jumbled collection of creepy dolls, creatively recycled junk and old-school fun and games.
Glamping (aka glamorous camping) has arrived in Alaska at Mile 102.5 of the Glenn Hwy in this wonderful camping facility, complete with raised canvas tents, fluffy beds, a kitchen, a hot tub and views of the Matanuska Glacier.
For more recommendations and reviews, see lonelyplanet.com/usa/alaska