Smart Meetings | Tundra Tag Feedhttp://www.smartmeetings.com/tags2008-10-02T11:23:54ZSmart MeetingsDestination | Nome, Alaskahttp://www.smartmeetings.com/destinations/where-nature-still-dominates-nome2008-10-02T11:23:54ZChuck KapelkeLocated in Alaska’s Far North region and not reachable by highway, Nome is surrounded by tundra yet it offers 300 miles of paved roads for visitors to get out and explore untouched wilderness. 64.500305, -165.403107
<p>Nome is the finish line for the 1,049 mile long<strong> Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race</strong> that starts out in Anchorage each March. It was the site of a major gold strike in the early 1900s; the Alaska Gold Company still operates today. </p><p>Situated about 539 air miles northwest of Anchorage on the Bering Sea, Nome is a little over an hour’s flight away. A winter visit is not for the faint of heart: the January temperature range runs from an average low of minus 2 degrees to a max of 13 degrees F. </p><p>There are also only about 5 hours of daylight in January. However, it really lightens up in June with 21 hours of daylight and a more comfortable temperature range of 44 to 50 degrees. Nome is the jumping off point for some excursions that would make extraordinary incentives for adventurers. </p><p>For one thing, through <strong>Circumpolar Expeditions</strong> (<a href="http://www.artictravel.net">artictravel.net</a>), you can arrange multiple destination visits to Russia. Siberia is only 160 miles from Nome, but this organization even offers escorted private-car accommodations on the Trans Siberian Railway to Moscow. Additionally, Circumpolar is offering a six-person Arctic safari for “Polar Bear Watching and Whale Harvesting" in early September, which includes stops in Barrow on the Arctic Ocean and Prudhoe Bay, as well as a village in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with polar bear observation and also of native whale hunting and its surrounding rituals.</p><p> </p>