Alaska

[oldsoul]

I am looking to relocate and am considering Alaska. If you have, or do live there, I would like your opinion. I like winter (-40 is NOT a problem for me), fishing, and camping. I have a small family (me, a spouse, and one small child), and currently work as a route truck driver, and prefer a more rural lifestyle. I am most interested in quality of life topics (parks, recreation, education, shopping, ect.), economic conditions, political landscape (general ideas only please), and overall what is like to live there. I have lived in multiple areas of the upper Mississippi valley area (Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota), so I am familiar with "harsh" winters. If there is anything else that would be helpful to you in this discussion, feel free to ask.
Thanks in advance for any input/insight you have.
P.S. I want to know the good, the bad, and the plain ugly of it.

 

[koshergrl]

I have cousins up there. You have to be self sufficient in every way, and armed.

 

[Kat]

C-C-Cold. There are some members here now that live there.

I lived there several years back. Anchor Point and Anchorage. It's beautiful, but quite isolated.

The Kodiak area has pretty darn good weather.

Climate and Weather - Discover Kodiak - Kodiak Island, Alaska

 

[Compost]

There are long stretches where you will not see the sun or a blue sky.

 

[Kat]

True but to counter that there are times when it is light all the time. One can adjust to that, though it is strange.

 

[koshergrl]

If you're scared of bears you're fucked. If you aren't scared of bears, you're dead lol.

 

[Compost]

True but to counter that there are times when it is light all the time. One can adjust to that, though it is strange.

True! I had just typed- then there are short stretches where the sun and the blue sky are almost constant! Growing things is a trip there. When the sun shines so much lettuce doesn't take 2 weeks to grow but three or four days.

 

[Kat]

If you're scared of bears you're fucked. If you aren't scared of bears, you're dead lol.

True, but more than just bear. Don't even get between a mother moose and her baby...she will attack. Happened to me once, but I got lucky after several minutes and a car came by...and I ran!

 

[koshergrl]

If you're scared of bears you're fucked. If you aren't scared of bears, you're dead lol.

True, but more than just bear. Don't even get between a mother moose and her baby...she will attack. Happened to me once, but I got lucky after several minutes and a car came by...and I ran!

 

[Gracie]

I appreciate this thread because MrG and I are seriously contemplating moving there ourselves. Anchorage area.

 

[Gracie]

P.S. I want to know the good, the bad, and the plain ugly of it.

Me too.

 

[Kat]

Anchorage seems huge on comparison to the rest of the state, but there are some towns outside Anchorage..

 

[Gracie]

True but to counter that there are times when it is light all the time. One can adjust to that, though it is strange.

Black out curtains.

 

[Kat]

True but to counter that there are times when it is light all the time. One can adjust to that, though it is strange.

Black out curtains.

Yep..

 

[Gracie]

And bears scare the hell out of me. But, we are old and don't go hiking off into woods and shit. We just hang out in the cabin/house and watch tv or are on our pc's. Gardening is nice but not a lot of it now that we can't do that any more. Long as I have a fireplace and warmth, I'm good. And internet service. And tv. And close to medical people. In short...two old people still able to function but not like we used to. Nothing wrong with our brains and I can still swing a hammer....depending on how long I have to swing it.

 

[koshergrl]

I think my cousin is around Fairbanks, but she's way out in the middle of nowhere. They build their own everything, she doesn't have electricity to my knowledge. If they have running water, it's a set up she's made..

 

[koshergrl]