• Where the heart is: The only nod to modern convenience in one Fairbanks cabin so remote, it has an outhouse with a solar panel. To power a freezer. In Alaska. Go figure!

• Ya'll come: When Alaska locals talk about "Down South," they mean the lower 48, not the likes of Alabama.

The big thing in some small villages: driving to the end and back of the solitary main road. In most towns, there are more miles of hiking trails than roadway.

• Kama'aina vs. malihini: The common yardstick of Alaska "local-ness" is seven years of residence. Then you're a "A Sourdough."

More local lingo: Snain, the combination of falling snow and rain.

Denali: the "maoli" name for Mount McKinley.

The huge hunks of ice that drop precipitously from miles-high glaciers: calving, they call it, accompanied byexplosive applause of water.

And the local term for once-popular houses of ill repute: "House of Negotiable Affection." Skagway once upon a time had a whole street of such. Easy Street, so to speak. Creek Street, to be exact.

• Higher learning: In Juneau, the municipal library is atop the public parking facility. The governor's mansion is a stately Southern-looking manse with columns. Local nickname for the state office building? SOB.

• Shades of Lahaina: Ketchikan's main drag is Front Street. Likewise, chock-a-block with T-shirt shops. Likewise sad!

• No pineapple fields here: In appreciation of Filipino immigrant contributions to its fledgling gold and fishing industries, Juneau has a Fil-Am Mart, Filipino Community Hall, statue of Dr. Jose Rizal, a Manila Square. And a sizable, admired Filipino community.

• Shades of Manoa?: Rainfalls of 90 to 120 inches a year aren't unusual. But there are deserts in Alaska.

• Canine coverage: To protect the paws of valuable sled dogs, they're fitted with socks for everyday wear.

• Igloo & Garden Magazine? One tip to keep deer out of your garden — sprinkle the ground with cougar shishi.

• The trip home always seems longer: Open-air pedicabs — drivers in shorts and T-shirts! — in frigid Skagway charge $10 into town from port. But only $7.50 returning. Same distance, what?!

• Alaska has tsunamis, too — often triggered by ice dislodged from glaciers.

• Slow reader: One hermit in popular Alaska local lore would read seldom-delivered newspapers on the paper's publication date — exactly one year late.

• You won't see penguins in Alaska. The little tuxedoed fellas are South Pole critters.

But iceworms ARE endemic — they live in the ice, a fact unknown to cruise ship passengers of yesterday, whose crews would gather glacier ice for use in the popular shipboard drinks of the time, Northern Tequilas. No charge for the worms.