How did you end up in Alaska? (Fairbanks, Sterling: homes, rent)

[Xa'at]

I think it would be really interesting to hear how everyone ended up here. (Alaska, not city-data ) Unless you're a native, it's not like you can say that your family's been here for ever and ever, so pretty much everyone has a story.

I'll start. My mom came to visit my family that was already up here for her senior trip after she graduated from HS. She thought it was a great place and very "adventurous", so after she graduated from college she dragged my dad onto a ferry and moved up here. The end.

Your turn!

[Rance]

My Dad ran away from the farm back in MN. He got drunk with 3 buddies and they drove up here, basically leaving my Mom to fend for herself and 3 young kids. Dad stayed...his buddies left. About a year later he flew my Mom and my 2 brothers up. We lived in Anch for 6 months into spring and moved to Sterling. It was a major change for me. Farm life to living on a homestead 20 miles from the nearest town in the backwoods of southcentral AK. I still thank my Dad to this day for running away from the farm.

[rotorhead]

Actually, the first time we moved up there it was my wife's idea. She'd been to Fairbanks when she was drilling with her Army Reserve unit, and when we had a chance to move there with her job we were saying...why not?

Now that we've been away for a couple years, I'm pretty sure that we're moving back just to shut me up about how we never should have left.

[Trouthunter]

My Dad came up to Fort Rich in 1969-1971 and would always talk about how much he missed Alaska. I always listened intently whenever he talked about fishing and couldn't wait until I got the chance. While I was in college my parents got a job offer to work in the bush and they took it. I luckily got a chance to come up during one summer break and fell in love. I was so miserable when I went back to school I dropped out with only a year and a half left to go and moved up. Of course UAA didn't measure up and I had to leave to finish school (that was the longest year in my life), but I made it back and have only left (vacation) once.

[Arcticthaw]

I was born here! Welcome!
Dad came up after WWII, Mom and her first husband drove the ALCAN in 1949 with their best friends.

[Mt. Denali]

It is my earliest memory. I remember wolves howling. Crisp cool nights seeing your breath in the air as smoke. Sparkling nights skys. Snow everywhere. Mouse walking through town,in your yard. I no longer live in alaska but would love to move back there. A daughter of a hunter and pilot and architec. The things a girl has to indure.Sleding with my brother. With anything we could find. For example shoes with no soles,garbadge bags,inner toobs. We'd sled all the way down to diamond high on a winding road that went down hill,if we wiped out and were hurt we'd laugh soo hard till we weren't hurt anymore. I would love to move back. I don't know where to live though,i read there news there alot and there seems to be just as much crime there as florida. I know this,i wish i would have stayed. For my education. The schools are soo superior to the ones in the south. The colleges offer soo much more in helping someone who wants to go to school and learn. I really like helping people and i love animals. But i am not experienced with firearms nor am i a bush girl. I love the mountains. My dad used to take me flying. I was not allowed to go into the woods,period. I miss the beautifull sky there. The caskading flowers covering a mountain top in the summer where we'd pick blueberries. I use to beable to gut a fish. My tomboy left me when i came to the south. We'd catch it,skin it,ect and grill it right there,and leave the fish if you see a bear dad would say and tell me right away. When the lights go down on the city reminds me of anchorage. It is amazing how such short years can leave an impression of a lifetime for a dreamer like me. Apart of who i am today. Oh mt. denali how i miss you. I wish i could come this summer,mabey. I saw lightning once while in alaska. Guess i see that all the timehere in a magnatude of such i believe the indians use to stand in it to get regenerated as the legends say. I love the sun the moon and the stars. I love the cool clean fresh air and the cool clean fresh water unlike ever seen or touched in this life time of mine anywhere else. Course i haven't been to iceland or denmark yet either. Echoes of laughter playing in the snow with my brother. My best friend. I miss you alaska. i miss you soo. My home in my heart. Downtown anch still have the train in the park? Still have the grizzly bear in the airport? Where is a safe place to live and go to school? Does alaska have still grants to go to school there? I don't have to ask about the bears. Dad used to bring them home and gut them right on the kitchen table,oh soo grose. I did not pick it up thank goodness. I never wanted to go hunting,wouldn't have been allowed anyways. I remember the church i was babtized in. I remember the lake in front of diamond high that my brother saved my life twice while i fell threw in the winter while we were playing and walking across the lake. He is my hero,now with god. I miss him soo. I remember log cabins. I love log cabins. My dream home one day.

[sweetana3]

Dad and husband both came up with the military.

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by Mt. Denali

Does alaska have still grants to go to school there?

There are scholarships, but a lot of them are merit, not need based, and you have to be straight out of an alaskan high school to get a lot of them, like the UA scholars program. Resident tuition is pretty good though.

Denali, you really need to come home. Get on a plane and get up here, no excuses.

[Tarina]

If you were to bring something with you to Alaska when you move, What would you bring? Something thats not easily available there, like furniture, food or electronics. My family plan a life changing move to the Mat-Su area from the Gulf Coast Mississippi. Thanks,

SOOOOO TIRED OF THE HEAT & HUMIDITY

[Xa'at]

Seahorses. It sounds weird, but it's true. Aquarium fish can be difficult to get ahold of in AK, particularly rarer stuff like ponies.
I'm sure you were looking for something a little more... general than that. I can't think of anything, though. You can really get anything you want up here, you just have to be willing to pay more for it.