One of the things that has struck me, as we cruise by in luxury, is just hard life is out here for the people who live in the small towns and remote areas of Alaska. Skagway is mainly a cruise ship town in the summer, with an influx of businesses that descend on the place for a few months to sell jewelry and cheap souvenirs to us tourists, but some 800 people live there year-round. Our tour guide was telling us about how the winter brings 15 feet of snow accumulation, winds that routinely reach 50 mph, temperatures that average between zero and 10 below—sometimes dropping to -30 with -100 windchills, and, what is even worse than that, darkness that lasts all day. The sun is over the horizon for about 28 minutes with only 4 hours of daylight. In Skagway barges come in once a week with supplies for the grocery stores and such, and the pickings can get pretty bare by the end of the week. (Forget about fresh vegetables.) Skagway was the model for the town in Northern Exposure. (Indeed, there is no doctor. There is a nursing station, but if you need a doctor you have to travel six hours on the ferry or fly out to Juneau.) But the people are still happy, right? Well, the rate for alcoholism and suicide is many times what it is in the lower 48 states.