This is a big week for Alaska. As a state, we’re celebrating 50 years in the Union–more than just a territory, a protectorate or a colony. It was a big battle to gain statehood in 1959.

So this weekend in Anchorage, lots of folks turned out to hear music, see performances and watch fireworks to celebrate the occasion. 

I snapped this picture at the Egan Center earlier this evening. It’s a copy of the Anchorage Times’s “Extra” proclaiming “We’re In”. Sallie Perkins told me her mother bought the paper and saved it–50 years ago.

So, Happy Birthday, Alaska! We all look forward to a rich and rewarding future here in the Last Frontier! I wonder what our 100th birthday will look like!

(I told Sallie that my first job out of college was at the Anchorage Times–back in 1978. I’ve worked for newspapers since I was 11 years old, until today. Actually, I haven’t worked for a newspaper since 1980, but I was a freelance contributor to the Anchorage Daily News since 1982. My last travel column appears tomorrow, Jan. 4, 2009, here. )