New Video Alert: Part 1 of the Alaska Adventure Series

We begin in sunny Fairbanks

Happy day after the big holiday, and I hope you’re still in the mood to celebrate with a visit to our 49th state, the one atop Canada that’s so mammoth and seemingly hard to get to.

We open our four-part Alaskan series in Fairbanks, the land of the Midnight Sun, where 22 hours of daylight are common in late June and July, and winters are so short and so cold (minus 50 degrees, we were told.) It’s also known as one of the best places to see the Northern Lights in winter and to pick up some awesome Pad Thai.

And might I add visually stunning, of course!

Gear used for this episode:

Entirely shot on 2 iPhone 17 Pro Max’s, mostly on an Insta360 selfie stick/tripod with Stalman Clamp atop it to connect the phone, recorded on Rode Wireless Micro microphones. I brought a Neewer clamp to connect a GoPro Max 2 camera to the back of the rental car for driving footage, but to my surprise, I couldn’t connect it to anywhere on the front of the car—not even the windshield wipers. I was able to jimmy it to the left rear view mirror for a short time—and then watched it fall right off as I was driving. (That was after I snatched the GoPro and put it back in the car.)

I’ll have more behind the scenes stories about the making of the episode in Wednesday’s deep dive, which as always, is a perk for paid subscribers. Consider supporting independent journalism and helping the cause. In honor of the holiday weekend, I’m offering 20% off a paid subscription, today only.