One way to tell a true wanderlust adventurer from a tourist-trap bound prisoner of rushed travel is to see where they're willing to visit and when.  A lot of people head up to Alaska in July via a bus tour or cruise, but many of the best stories I nbsp;have from Alaska are based on the experiences you get from surviving an Alaska winter in a place like Fairbanks - right smack dab in the middle of the great frozen north.

Fairbanks, Alaska, isn't the Kenai Peninsula or the Isles around Juneau...the beauty that many people rave about when they visit Alaska most often comes from these southern parts of the state.  The north and central sections are still beautiful, but it is a far more subtle beauty - especially during the summer.  If you want to see strange and beautiful scenery in Fairbanks, the winter months are the times that can take your breath away.  From stunning and truly awe inspiring northern lights to white winter landscapes...you don't find many visitors up when the temperatures hit -30 or -40, but there are some great parts about being around during this time.

This picture can't even begin to show how impressive a completely snow and ice covered landscape looks in the twilight type of light that puts all of middle Alaska into its winter mind set.  This type of scenery is everywhere.  In the city, around it, down every road.  I remember walking from my cabin to visit friends and the entire hillside in winter had lights from other homes, the full moon reflected off the snow, and living in the state was like walking through a real life Hallmark card.

Even beyond this, however, are great stories you get from having stayed in a place like Fairbanks during the winter.  Alaska travel might be geared towards the summer (and for good reason) but have you ever seen foot long ice crystals all over the inside of an outhouse?  It's a weird question I know, but tell me that this picture doesn't hold an oddly beautiful feel to it:

Yep, that's exactly what it looks like.  Dozens of ice and snow crystals hanging off the wood inside of an outhouse.  And that's not even a normal light, it's a heat lamp.  Because it's -40 out in the winter, so you want all the help you can get.  People laugh, but finding the oddly beautiful where it just happens to show up is a huge part of really understanding the Alaska travel experience.  There are great people with great stories to tell, and there are a few very distinct advantages to visiting Fairbanks, Alaska, in the winter despite the temperatures:

1. Tickets will be cheaper (it's not exactly a tourist hot spot in October)
2. Just the fact that you went to Alaska in winter and not summer will set you apart from others
3. You can answer a question that is bound to eventually come up: how do you use an outhouse when it's -40 below zero outside?

If you're the kind of traveler who wants to see real people and not a tourist show, traveling to Alaska in the winter will do just that.  In addition to the rest of this article, here's my favorite answer to #3 from above.  When someone asks you how do you use an outhouse at -40 below, tell them this: "Very quickly, and very carefully."

You'll get great laughs and a lot of respect from an answer like that, and your stories will rank among everyone's favorite.  And isn't that a major part of what travel is all about?