.north pole.

Who else loves Christmas as much as me?

...probably the guy that named this city in Alaska after the North Pole.

Low-quality picture, high-quality Santa.

Would you be surprised if I told you the whole city is Christmas-themed?


From Anchorage I took a one-hour flight to Fairbanks, which is supposed to be the second-largest city in Alaska. I'm sure it is big by Alaskan standards, but to me it seemed like a small and quaint town.  North Pole is only a 25 minute drive from the airport, but the drive is not as scenic as the one I took from Anchorage to the Portage glacier, which you can read about here. 

The first obvious sign (literally) that I was already approaching North Pole was a Christmas-themed sign for a welding business on the side of the road. All the signs in this city are propped on candy cane-striped poles and the street names are all Christmas-themed. I was not expecting to find a Blockbuster or a McDonald's in North Pole and also should have not expected to see elves. It is almost like any other small city in the United States.

It is only appropriate that a city named North Pole is home to Santa's reindeer academy and yes, Santa's house! If you haven't sensed my excitement yet, I'll admit I had to hold back tears when I finally stepped inside Santa's house. I went through the shop entrance where they had a display of letters written by children to Santa Claus. I thought it was really heartwarming and made the experience even more magical. I later found out that you can have Santa's House mail out letters to anyone on behalf of Santa and they receive them around Christmas. You can even gift someone a genuine North Pole deed to one square inch of North Pole property! They mail everything out with an official letterhead and stamp from Santa's House in North Pole, Alaska.

I wandered around for a bit taking pictures and I someone asked me how I was doing. I turned around and it was jolly ole St. Nick sitting on his fancy Christmas chair. We recorded a video for my little sister so that she could believe that I was actually in "the North Pole" with Santa. I bought a few souvenirs including my baby's first Christmas ornament. It was a bit pricey, but how often do you get to purchase your unborn baby's first Christmas ornament from the North Pole? Treat yo' self!

First literal sign that I made it to North Pole, Alaska

Shaky welcome sign picture

I saw a few Blockbusters in Alaska, but did not expect to see one here!

Christmas-themed everything! No big deal!

Can you see the reindeer behind the fence?!? Am I still overly-excited?!!? Yes!!

The one and only, Santa House!

Santa's House has the cutest art!

I didn't see a Mrs. Claus. Hmm...

This is the official address for Santa's House in North Pole, Alaska.

Giant Santa by the parking lot. They can do better than this, right?

Some of the letters sent to Santa's House.

Christmas decoration heaven!

The one, the only, Santa.

I wanted to go into the Safeway on the side of the road just to see if they were playing Christmas music over the speakers (I have a feeling they play it all year-round), but I ran out of time. I also have to apologize for the quality of the pictures since I took some of them with my phone while I was driving in the rain. Next time I'll drive more recklessly just to get a better picture. Jk.

Thank you for stopping by! I really appreciate you! <3

Much love,
PerlaGiselle