When I lived in Anchorage, people from the Lower 48 used to ask me if it was anything like the show "Northern Exposure," where everyone was goofy and eccentric.
I usually responded by saying, "Turn off the TV, get off the couch and use your brain, you unimaginative, anglocentric, soulless humunculus."
Perhaps I was a bit harsh.
By the looks of this story, it appears that, yes, Alaska in places is just like it's fictional counterpart, Sicely, Alaska.
Loved this excerpt:
Eagle Island has entertained mushers and Iditarod volunteers since Ralph and Helmi Conatser opened their cabin to the race the first time the Iditarod took the southern route in 1977. The one-family settlement of Eagle Island quickly became a popular stop.
Ralph looked the part of comfortable host on Sunday, wearing a Hawaiian shirt as he kicked back in an oversized recliner stuffed into the tiny, rough-hewn living room of the cabin that is now his fish camp.
Helmi's moose stew and cheesecake were famous for years, something Sports Illustrated, the London Daily Mail and other publications noted. Rick Swenson, who won four of his five championships on the southern route, used to snack his dogs with cream cheese, and after leaving a supply of leftover cheese with Helmi one year, he returned two years later to find the favor returned: She had a delicious cheesecake waiting for Swenson and the other Iditarod mushers.