Leaving Alaska..it's not the same anymore!

[lyoness]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

I also don't want to see Alaska ruined. Nothing wrong with folks moving there but don't try to make it like the place you left because then Alaska will have a good percentage of unfriendly, cold people who only care about their own agenda..

So just my 2 cents and then some lol.

Ya need a hug Pat. I'm sorry you are having a difficult time of it here, though I surely know where you are coming from. Which is also what I'm so desperate to escape.

[Classic Satch]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

Hi Met. Sorry for venting but just has been a miserable weekend. At this point we just aren't sure what we should do. I do want to make a decision soon but I don't want to be too rash with it either. Yes, the Walmart culture can be a bit challenging. LOL

Wow, I wish you the best. I don't miss lower-48 crap in the slightest. Coming from San Jose, and even western PA(which is where I've spent 36 of my 39 years), I must admit that I love Alaska.

I spent 30 minutes at my place of employment yesterday talking about the merits of various handgun ammunitions with one of our customers. You just don't get that anywhere else.

[nmnita]

give it a little while before making a decision, but it does sound like you will be happier back in Alaska. The grass always seems greener on the other side. As for kids and being closer to them, this is important, especially as you get older and I am glad we are closer to ours, but you are right about having time for you. They get busy, have their own lives and just don't realize how much we want to see them.

As for heat and humidity, remember, in a few weeks that will be gone as well. good luck with whatever you decide to do, try and find the bright side. If you decide to re-locate back to Alaska, you know you gave the move a try, if you decide to stay in Ohio, you can make friends and find nice people.

Nita

[karibear]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Pat, I feel badly for you. I think you should go back to Alaska.

I agree with you about so many things and reading your post makes me feel pretty lucky that my lower 48 experience has been way more positive than not. And I feel lucky that I don't have to choose; I fully intend on having the best of both worlds until I get so old they stick me in a home somewhere.

The people...I just don't know. There's a certain breed of Oregonian that's damn near insufferable and they seem to have multiplied exponentially in recent years. Smug people. And then there's the whole Wal*Mart culture crowd. The whole thing can wear you down sometimes.

It was the early '90s when we first started looking for property in the Lower 48, WA, OR, and the Ozarks. The prices were good, there were sales of uncut timberland in WA, anywhere from 10K up for 20 acres with a cabin and more in the north central mountains of WA, desert in OR, around 20K for 80+ acres of southern OR close enough to see CA on a clear day - both of those states included all mineral rights as well, then. The Ozaks farm/hunting land was as low as 100.00/acre and less, if one bought a big enough chunk of it. WA and OR were closer to his family, the Ozarks was just because it's beautiful country. We ended up not being able to decide, since we really didn't plan to move for another 20 years at the least. But one agent I talked to in the Ozarks couldn't get his mind wrapped around the concept that while yes, we were looking for a place to 'retire' to, we absolutely did NOT want to be next door to Wal-Mart. He said everything else was 'too remote' and wouldn't be suitable. I kept trying to tell him that 'remote' in my language did not mean 10 miles from town on a good road, but a place where one had to fly in. He just didn't get it.

I've ended up after all in a place where I either have to shop at Wal-Mart or on line, but it's locally referred to as 'The World's Smallest Wal-Mart' and I do think it is. I've seen grocery stores in AK a lot bigger, and there are still other stores to shop at. And I feel most fortunate that the people I've met are all friendly and helpful - I guess if they aren't, they just don't bother saying 'hello' in the first place, so I never come into contact with them.

[Jamracingalaska]

Well, I am the original poster of this thread! It has been over 2 1/2 years since I wrote it, so I thought I'd give a quick follow up. I left Alaska and quite frankly, it was the most difficult thing I have ever done!! We relocated to North central Arkansas. They have things here that do not exist in Alaska. Let me explain. Ticks! snakes, tornadoes, ticks, racoons, opposums, ticks, armadillos, ticks, snakes, ticks..... I will admit, the grass was not greener here and I knew it would not be. It is just as brown. Same problems different location. Different people, same problems. I really have not adjusted well, but I do believe that you can not go back. I'm doing OK. Glad to see my post has continued on for so long. Thanks all.

[JohnPF]

Kudos to you for realistic approach to life. It is not perfect period. It is us who make it what it is.

[GrammasCabin]

Lots of times I feel like our little island town has been ruined by "down south" attitudes and think "dammit, I'm outta here!". BUT - if the down south attitudes are creeping up here I can't imagine what it must be like to live down there!

Funny this thread should show up. I was just yesterday remembering some of the good times, like the bank calling to tell me to get down there and put some money in 'cause my check to the hardware store will bounce by days end. Or the days when we had a telephone operator. I'd dial a friend's number and the operator would come on telling me "she just went into the drugstore, do you want me to ring over there?" It's only been a few years we've had to dial 7 numbers and it still pisses us off!.
You could leave your entire paycheck on the bar at the Totem and the bartender would simply put it in the safe 'til you came in looking for it. The bar, by the way, where my dog curled up at my feet after receiving his treat of moose jerkey from the bartender.
You could leave your fishing gear, jugs of fuel and everything in your skiff 'til the next time and know nothing would be disturbed.
The list goes on and on, but Alaska is STILL the only place on the planet I could live.

I am, however, glad you're doing okay down there, Jam. Do you ever think about coming back home?

[Rance]

I lived in Salem and Ash Flat for a couple winters. East of Mountain Home. I loved it there...except for those damn ticks! I could get out of the truck, walk across the lawn, and stop on the porch for a minute only to feel a tick or two crawling up my leg's!
But I met great folks, ate great food (catfish and hushpuppies), some pretty country, and drooled over many classic trucks and cars. I never got to see a tornado tho. And I sure wanted to. Cost of living was very cheap. I have not been back since 1985 so things may have changed. Did I mention the ticks!

[RAMFEB31]

Originally Posted by Jamracingalaska

Well, I am the original poster of this thread! It has been over 2 1/2 years since I wrote it, so I thought I'd give a quick follow up. I left Alaska and quite frankly, it was the most difficult thing I have ever done!! We relocated to North central Arkansas. They have things here that do not exist in Alaska. Let me explain. Ticks! snakes, tornadoes, ticks, racoons, opposums, ticks, armadillos, ticks, snakes, ticks..... I will admit, the grass was not greener here and I knew it would not be. It is just as brown. Same problems different location. Different people, same problems. I really have not adjusted well, but I do believe that you can not go back. I'm doing OK. Glad to see my post has continued on for so long. Thanks all.

Well, Jam',
I am sorry hear U were unable to find your exact dream place in the lower 48. I've remember your original post and had always been curious as to what ever happen to that nice young fellow. I am afraid I must confess. I am one of those you were trying to avoid when you've decided to move. At this very moment, I am slowly packing to move up toward your former state now that I have a lot to built my shack on. Like U, I am trying to leave behind the very same type of people. But, like you said, people are people. HAVE A GREAT LIFE!!

[Forgetmenots& Roses]

I think it's true. Alaska has changed for the worse. My brother came up here in 1953 and to me was one of those "true pioneers" up here who served at Ft Rich in the Army Corps of Engineers and helped build the Pipeline in the 1970's, and later had a cabin in Copper Center. He loved Alaska and loved to fish and hunt. He could remember when Anchorage was about 4,000 people and told me there were "more whorehouses and houses of ill repute than any other business!~" Go figure!~

My brother now has althemizer's and dying from it in Washington State. I wish I had listened more to his stories about this state.

I came up in 1998 and my experiences totally different than my brother's. But we were both loners, hurt alot by the opposite sex, and told by people--"We were the best people they'd ever met."

I am returning to Oregon this year because of health problems, a survivor of cancer, and I can't handle the long, cold winters and cost of living up here anymore. The only reason I am on disabilityi that I've been too sick to work. That's all I've done is work my entire life.

Now I see these snot nosed kids coming up here thinking they know "everything." Someday they'll get sick, they'll get cancer diagnosis and see how they survive then?

They have absolutely no respect for anyone, going by on 4 wheeler's at all hours, snow mobiles in the winter, using their drugs & alcohol, leaving their litter for someone else to clean up, partying all night and keeping neighbors up, shooting at innocent animals, and calling themselves "Alaskan's!" Yeah right!

I had a drunken "Alaskan" come to my house a few days before my surgery for cancer and scream at me for going too slow in front of him! I went up to him and asked--"What is your problem other than you are a drunken imbecile of a man!" And I called the troopers on him!

I had this woman at Walmart call me a fat a-- one day because of using the handicap cart. I told her--"Well you know lady I can alway loose weight but ugly goes skin deep you know?" I am just sick and tired of the ugliness you know?