Image via YouTube
Perhaps you are in for something a little cozier for your next adventure. Maybe you want to see what it's like for the town that lives in just one building.
Such is the accommodations for the citizens of Whittier, Alaska, who live in the comforts of Begich Towers. Like the characters of a Shel Silverstein poem, about 200 residents wake up, go to work and live in this building.
Now you may be quite familiar with the story, but it was granted new life this week thanks to NPR, which followed up on a story written by Erin Sheehy and photographed by Reed Young.
They worked in tandem to bring "Town Hall" to The California Sunday Magazine, offering up vibrant pictures of the people who call this place home.
Reddit was also all over this town, because a posting brought back a suddenly apropos video from 2013, which featured teacher Erika Thompson who explained how she goes about her day living in the building.
As Thompson offers, Whittier does have tourists in the summer. However, according to Town Hall, the winters are brutal: "In winter, though, the city gets about 250 inches of snow, and 60 mph winds are not uncommon. The weather is so brutal that children commute from Begich Towers to school through a tunnel."
NPR spoke with the writer and photographer about their time in Alaska, and Young offered: "It's still a fairly inaccessible town. Plus, at night, they close the tunnel completely."
That tunnel, by the way, happens to be one of the major draws for tourism, according to TripAdvisor.
The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is how you will get to Whittier by land, and it's also the "longest (2.5 miles) highway tunnel in North America," via Alaska.org.
And as the website and video caution, it really does close at 10:30 p.m.
Now if you do want to see the picturesque area, Alaska Tour & Travel has some words of advice before leaving for the isolated town: "Accommodations in Whittier are limited, and we suggest you contact the Whittier Chamber of Commerce for an up to date listing."
The website does state that some cruise lines do port in Whittier, so perhaps you may just happen upon this truly unique city on a jaunt around the wonderful state.
If you happen across Begich, you may just come to a similar conclusion as Sheehy who pondered: "Some people love it because it can be really social. And some people love it because it can be reclusive."
Tourists visiting for the summer will have amazing vistas, marine attractions and possibly the nation's most resourceful building, which caters to a sizable chunk of the town's 400 residents.
If you are in the market to experience Small Town, U.S.A., perhaps consider taking in the intricacies of a building that includes the town hall, grocery store and post office. We promise traffic will be light.
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