Photos: Since Harding's 1923 visit, presidential stops have brought the unexpected and memorable

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President Warren Harding visits the Mendenhall Glacier, near Juneau, Alaska, during his 1923 trip to the territory.

Since the dawn of the jet age, Alaska has been a prime place for presidential stopovers, usually at Elmendorf Air Force Base and usually when the No. 1 passenger on Air Force One is headed to or from Asia. Nearly every president since statehood has landed in Alaska for carefully scripted visits, though there are often surprises, as President Ronald Reagan discovered in 1984.

About 10,000 people turned out on a blustery 35-degree morning in May that year when the travel plans of Reagan and Pope John Paul II intersected at Fairbanks International Airport. Reagan was returning from China and the pope was bound for Korea. The pope was on the ground for about three hours, while Reagan stayed overnight.

Reagan wrote in his diary that he had left China at 10:35 a.m. Tuesday and landed in Fairbanks at 3:20 a.m. Tuesday. "Believe me, that can confuse you," he said.

Read more: Since Harding's 1923 visit, presidential stops have brought the unexpected and memorable