looking for a chat pal from alaska (Sterling, Soldotna: home, rent)

[eileen60]

I know. If only i would move...so tell me, do you love your state. What are the best and worst aspects of it. Is there a nursing shortage?

[Metlakatla]

The worse thing is Alaska Airlines...true sharks of the worst kind.

[eileen60]

I have heard they were a bit unreliable from a book. LOL. Good to hear. If I do make the trip, it will be as a travelling nurse. That will entail me, the car, the dog, the important things.

[warptman]

http://www.ykhc.org/

The local health corporation.

[eileen60]

Thank you!

[Xa'at]

As far as I know there's nurse shortages everywhere. We also need good teachers.
There aren't pros and cons so much as there are benefits and concessions. We enjoy the beautiful scenery, eccentric people, and tight knit communities, but in turn we have to put up with AK Air robbing us blind, at times difficult travel considerations, and higher costs of living. I've found with people, either they absolutely LOVE Alaska or they just can't stand it.
The truth is, remoteness is relative. Alaskan towns that are isolated tend to have more amenities than comparatively sized towns down south because you can't just drive into the city to get that stuff. Where I'm staying right now in Idaho it's two and a half hours down a horrible highway to get to an airport- a drive like that is unthinkable in Alaska because almost every town, and certainly every town off the road system, has a commercial airport. AK Air is usually the only airline that flies there, but whatever.
Does that help?

[Karla with a K]

Originally Posted by warptman

In reality, he hopped off it already. Who knows where he's hopping now.....

I got a message from rance they were heading to swedens aunts and were also planning on hopping over to Norway

eileen60
If possible plan a vacation to check it out, we went on a 10 day trip the first week in Sept and loved it !!!
We were lucky enough to meet and hangout with a few of the folks from here
the above mentioned rance & sweden along with Metlakatla.

They say you shouldn't judge a place to live by just a vacation but between the vacation and the getting to know a bunch of folks here we would move in a heartbeat.

if you want I can DM you some of the photos from our trip

[Rance]

"It can thrill you, and it can kill you. If the cold, the ice, the grizzlies, the wild seas, the mountains, the loneliness, the wolves, the prices, the snow, the sourdoughs, or the five thousand earth quakes per year don't kill you, the five hundred and eighty-six billion bat-sized mosquitoes will!"

*It snowed in Sweden! Happy New Year! We are only 5 1/2 hours away from 2008 in Sweden!

*Sweden here: Soldotna and Kenai are ok, but nothing beats Sterling
In Kenai at the beach one can see three volcanoes (Redoubt, Spur and Illiamna), and just next to the beach is an old Russian church that has got some sort of a... distinction as a local heritage )it's part of the old Kenai, from back when the Russians moved in and built the town).
Jupp, we've got some snow now, but usually we have lots and lots and lots of snow around this time of year. Darn global warming...

[warptman]

Rance, it snowed after you left on the Peninsula, dumped actually. Of course that would be just your luck...

[Melissa78703]

Originally Posted by eileen60

I know. If only i would move...so tell me, do you love your state. What are the best and worst aspects of it. Is there a nursing shortage?

I lived in Alaska for a year. I thought I would like it, but turned out I couldn't wait to get out. It has its good, though. As well as its bad.

Good:
* Restaurants uniformly excellent
* Excellent local brew
* Fresh salmon
* It can be pretty if you get out of the city - it's not the Swiss or French alps, but it's okay
* Cute otters/sea creatures
* Government pays people a couple of grand to live there
* Welfare pays out BIG if you're an adoptive parent
* Adverse possession permissible and common
* Big Awl pays BIG money for qualified people
* The Nordstrom in downtown Anchorage
* Close to Canada
* State Fair can be fun
* Did I mention GOOD FOOD? Good restaurants?
* Lots of video rental stores and tanning salons
* You can still find fast food places that have gone defunct in the states, e.g., Arbys, Baskin Robbins, Dairy Queen, etc.
* Fur Rondy. Alaskans take every opportunity to set of fireworks

Bad:
* Two months of passable weather
* 70% precipitation year 'round
* Everything you want to do - skiing, fishing - is prohibitively expensive
* The eternal night in winter will make you crazy
* But the eternal sunlight in summer is MUCH worse
* Astonishing no. of former child predators
* Weather eats cars alive. Plan on a new car each year.
* Domestic violence against women worst in the U.S.
* 2nd largest population of White Surpremacists (Montana is first)
* Big drinking/drug culture
* Cost of food, clothes, entertainment, etc. - this is the WORST. If you can't afford to enjoy the things you love about Alaska, there's no use going there.
* Cell phone service blows
* Schools blow even more.
* Limited specialized medical care
* Cabin fever
* Corneal frostbite
* Moose, bears, other wildlife, wandering into town
* Slipping on the ice, twisting ankles, wrists, etc.
* Alaskan weird obsession with the size of their state. Who cares?