One must have a mind of winter... (Anchorage, Fairbanks: fit in, contractor)

[naturesdreams]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

I'm Scared of it All

I'm scared of it all, God's truth! so I am;
It's too big and brutal for me.
My nerve's on the raw and I don't give a damn
For all the "hoorah" that I see.
I'm pinned between subway and overhead train,
Where automobillies swoop down:
Oh, I want to go back to the timber again --
I'm scared of the terrible town.


I want to go back to my lean, ashen plains;
My rivers that flash into foam;
My ultimate valleys where solitude reigns;
My trail from Fort Churchill to Nome.
My forests packed full of mysterious gloom,
My ice-fields agrind and aglare:
The city is deadfalled with danger and doom --
I know that I'm safer up there.


I watch the wan faces that flash in the street;
All kinds and all classes I see.
Yet never a one in the million I meet,
Has the smile of a comrade for me.
Just jaded and panting like dogs in a pack;
Just tensed and intent on the goal:
O God! but I'm lonesome -- I wish I was back,
Up there in the land of the Pole.


I wish I was back on the Hunger Plateaus,
And seeking the lost caribou;
I wish I was up where the Coppermine flows
To the kick of my little canoe.
I'd like to be far on some weariful shore,
In the Land of the Blizzard and Bear;
Oh, I wish I was snug in the Arctic once more,
For I know I am safer up there!


I prowl in the canyons of dismal unrest;
I cringe -- I'm so weak and so small.
I can't get my bearings, I'm crushed and oppressed
With the haste and the waste of it all.
The slaves and the madman, the lust and the sweat,
The fear in the faces I see;
The getting, the spending, the fever, the fret --
It's too bleeding cruel for me.


I feel it's all wrong, but I can't tell you why --
The palace, the hovel next door;
The insolent towers that sprawl to the sky,
The crush and the rush and the roar.
I'm trapped like a fox and I fear for my pelt;
I cower in the crash and the glare;
Oh, I want to be back in the avalanche belt,
For I know that it's safer up there!


I'm scared of it all: Oh, afar I can hear
The voice of my solitudes call!
We're nothing but brute with a little veneer,
And nature is best after all.
There's tumult and terror abroad in the street;
There's menace and doom in the air;
I've got to get back to my thousand-mile beat;
The trail where the cougar and silver-tip meet;
The snows and the camp-fire, with wolves at my feet;
Good-bye, for it's safer up there.

From “Rhymes of a Rolling Stone,” by Robert Service.
Poets' Corner - Robert Service - Rhymes of a Rolling Stone

WOW... I love this... rep from me...

[naturesdreams]

Alaska is definitely the place I want to be some day too... that is why I do most of my reading and comments in the Alaska posts. I have to move to Seattle first though to put a few more years in for my pension but this move gets me closer to the Ferrys which will get me to Alaska to check out the different areas that I might want to settle in. I LOVE the cold... I'm with you... the crunchy snow, and winter activities... Wisconsin has a very dry winter and I walk everyday... even in the blizzard conditions and a few days ago with windchills at 30 below... I do dress for it and most think I'm out of my mind... I feel at home here reading all your comments LOL

[warptman]

I'm sick of winter, I know, I live in Alaska.

[danweasel]

I will tell you, If you go outside in -40 in a shirt or a thin jacket for any longer amount of time you will die. No matter how much you like the cold.

You know, winter has never bothered me too much, except for the ice fog (nice way of saying car exhaust) in town, but I never liked the summers up here. I hate bugs and if my summer is going to be short then I want some damn sunshine!

But you know, I'm going to miss Fairbanks.

[ShipOfFools42]

Mod Cut

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

From what I've seen so far, you'd probably like almost any place in Alaska as far as weather goes. I don't care if it gets cold, but I don't like rain. I've never considered South Eastern or South Central Alaska for that reason.

I am of the exact same opinion. I don't mind the cold one bit, but I like my precipitation to be snow, and only snow, thank you very much. Honestly, the fact that it rains in the winter here drives me completely up the wall. I would NEVER consider Southeastern AK, and that's for several reasons. First of all, it rains a lot. Second of all, it's all the way down there basically in central BC, way too close to Washington. It doesn't seem like the Alaska experience that I'm looking for at all.

South Central was the area I had been thinking about up until the past couple of days, actually, but I'm starting to think otherwise. It just doesn't seem Arctic enough to me. Of course, a visit will be necessary before any decisions are made, but the interior or the North Slope are actually sounding more attractive to me at this point. The only thing about the North Slope is that it's SO remote, and internet access would be somewhat of a problem. From what I've heard, downloading things takes a long time up there. Is that correct?

So, I'm back to my original idea: the interior. I know I'm being a windbag, but while I'm at it I might as well ask a couple questions. First off, what is the nicest town to live in in the interior? If I had my choice, I would prefer to drive around with trees surrounding me, rather than just bare tundra. But it is important to me to live somewhere with a sense of community, with friendly people. Gotta have some friends, ya know? Anyway, I'm rambling terribly here, so yeah, I guess just throw some ideas at me if ya got em! Thanks for all your help you've already given me, as well.

[Metlakatla]

I think that Fairbanks might be a good place for you to start out. See what kind of work comes along and all that. I think that Heathen who posts here has an education similar to yours and might be able to answer some job related type of questions.

[heathen]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Also, heathen, did you grow up in the interior, or are you from somewhere else? Just curious as I noticed you mentioned the lack of seasons and all. I used to think that I really cared about having four seasons, but I really don't. I prefer cold and white to hot and green anyway.

Oh no, I have shown weakness! Time to start climbing mountains at night again... I grew up in Seattle, but I solemnly swear, in late January, that I'll take 8 months of snow and frigid temperatures over 8 months of rain (I'm still here right?). Met says we have a similar education; what's you're field? Mine's something like a resource management generalist, with a slight focus in GIS.

[cjg5]

Originally Posted by heathen

I grew up in Seattle, but I solemnly swear, in late January, that I'll take 8 months of snow and frigid temperatures over 8 months of rain

Oh how I love it when somebody thinks the way I do! People around here think I'm crazy to want to move to Alaska. (And Fairbanks is in the top two of my choices for an Alaskan relocation). However Alaska is still a ways away for me. I'm so tired of the constant drizzle of Western Washington, and much prefer the Eastern half of the state. It's more likely I'll end up there for a while before I get to fulfill my desire to move to Alaska for a few different reasons I choose not to explain at this point. Even a move there is at least a year or more off though. I'd like to get to Alaska sooner!

[gobrien]

I've got a mind of winter being over! I don't mind the cold and the snow but I do mind the duration.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by heathen

Oh no, I have shown weakness! Time to start climbing mountains at night again... I grew up in Seattle, but I solemnly swear, in late January, that I'll take 8 months of snow and frigid temperatures over 8 months of rain (I'm still here right?). Met says we have a similar education; what's you're field? Mine's something like a resource management generalist, with a slight focus in GIS.

I was born over there in Bremerton, and grew up in Olalla (the other side of Port Orchard). I was maybe 10 years old before I realized that rain is a local phenomena rather than something which is happening over the entire surface of the world at one time! (Ya gotta drive a long ways from Bremerton to find a place that isn't raining.) Then I spent my teen years in southern Arizona, and discovered how nice a dry climate is. It's just that the climate in southern Arizona is so dang boring! I've migrated farther north constantly since then...