Living in Alaska is just… different from living anywhere else. Sometimes it’s hard to put into words exactly why that is true… but it is. Then, every once and a while, I look at an old photo and it strikes me… yeah… that’s Alaska. This picture is from a few winters ago. It is a couple out for a walk with their dog… and their reindeer.

This is Star the Reindeer. Star lives in a cozy nook on 10th and I streets, in downtown Anchorage. He is in the parades and goes to schools and events. He is the 4th “Star,” I believe. (Just like Lassie was more than one dog, this reindeer has been played by other brothers of the antler over many years.)

FYI - Reindeer are the same creature as a caribou, except that Reindeer are domesticated and of Northern European decent. Caribou are wild in Alaska, reindeer are not. The fact that Star has antlers does not make him a “him.” Caribou and reindeer females grow antlers as well as the males and pregnant females keep their antlers long after the other members of the herd have dropped theirs.