How do you guys live in alaska??? (Anchorage, Juneau and: fit in, homes)

[judithexit]

Originally Posted by nycgirl93

Ha well the Bronx and Manhattan differ greatly, trust me I've spent a good portion in both. She's either staying in Anchorage, or Fairbanks. She's shooting more for Fairbanks I think..but doubt she knows if there really is a difference..is there?

Thank you to my Neighbor across the river for asking this question!
I am very grateful that we have had a mild winter here!
So in thinking this i can't imagine being up there either.

[Arcticthaw]

Originally Posted by warptman

I'm going to New York in May, just to the Airport to change planes. Farthest east I've been is Ohio.

I hear laguardia sucks as far as airports go. Under construction.

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by Arcticthaw

I hear laguardia sucks as far as airports go. Under construction.

Kennedy isn't any picnic either. I've had layovers from Hell there.

[Grammy Linna]

I used to live outside of Pittsburgh, about 30 miles outside the city in farm country. One Christmas we drove down to Wilmington, NC to visit my wife's relatives. When we got back home the furnace had failed & the pipes burst. There was about 2" of water on the floor. The only heat we had was the fireplace in the master bedroom. It was so big you could've thrown 6' lengths of timber in it. My eldest boy was breaking up old furniture with an axe & feeding it into the fireplace. We burned wet unseasoned willow & pine all night long just to be able to sleep. What a night that was...

ah, a kindred spirit..I wish I would have thought about breaking up furniture, great excuse to buy new.

[ASpilot2be]

Originally Posted by Arcticthaw

I hear laguardia sucks as far as airports go. Under construction.

It does. I have friends that fly for various regional airlines that go through the airport, and they never seem to say anything good about the airport.

[alaska hunter]

Originally Posted by nycgirl93

THIS IS NOT A BASHING THREAD.

I live in new york city, and I realize it takes a certain type of person
to live here..the same I believe accounts for any place, including alaska.
But ofcourse my curiosity caused me to start this thread because I really
want to know how you make do with the winters,etc.etc It gets cold in
nyc, but nothing i bet like alaska. what do you think the cons and pros are
of living in alaska? One of my closest friends is thinking of spending a year
there with her company and asked me if I knew anything, and ofcourse me
never having gone there had nothing to say, so hoping to learn more

Thanks guys

hi, living in alaska is nice and bad all depends on what you do and how you live. i live up north near the arctic circle since the late 60s west side of alaska 200 miles from the ussr. nice things are nice big open country not alot of people here like down states you can go for 100 miles and not see anyone then again no one would want to be out there unless they knew what they were doing you can be hurt or lost and even die here in alaska if you do not watch what your doing, the weather can change really quick winter times avg. temp is -40 down to -60 not including the wind chill during the summers its nice hunting ,fishing, unless you live in anchorage, fairbanks then you have to follow the game laws but out in the villages you can pretty much do what you have to to live. every person has there own story to tell about alaska and what they know. its a nice state if you can handle the cold i would not want to live anywhere else been here all my life love it as long as you play the rules of the arctic would be nice if we did`nt have to deal with the 3 or 4 months of summer. again lots can be told about alaska good and bad it all depends on who you are and what you do.

[DITC]

New York here

Just wanna say I really respect all you Alaskans, whether natives or transplants. Here, we may bust on "outsiders" in general, but I know I personally have more respect for Alaskans than probably any other regional group of people in America. Your state is a big contributor to the American economy, do not let anyone tell you otherwise. I bet you guys have a similar "toughness", dealing with your cold weather/lack of sunlight, like the way we deal with the congestion/confrontation/commutes/cramped living. I am very much a city person, and I find your state very fascinating, both the untouched natural landscape and the people. You guys stay true to your roots with the traditional jobs and preserve your state and culture.

If you came to New York you would probably enjoy the small ethnic neighborhoods in the outer boroughs talking with the different locals instead of the rat race in Manhattan. Saw the ESPN special about the kids from Barrow playing football. That was some story.

[JustT&Me]

First, just like there's no place like NYC, there is no place like Alaska! You are right in saying it takes a certain kind of person, but one could say the same of someone living in NYC. Alaskans are generally adventurous types, outdoorsy, and usually less materially inclined (although you'll find things in AK that you won't readily find most other places (e.g., whale baleen) than experience-inclined. As far as the climate, it's much more varied than most ppl know who have never been to AK.

Depending on where you live, you can experience winters in a rain forest with dark skies until mid-winter when it begins to lighten for just as many daylight hours as it was dark, snowy areas where there is less snow that you might find in Buffalo and not quite as cold (!), and areas where there is so much snow that you would have to be dug out of your front door just to get out. Not all of AK is "dark half the year" - it depends on where you live. And quite often, when I talk with friends who are there now (I'm currently in the Midwest), the temperatures are warmer there than there are here!

As far as Fairbanks, I can only speak from my single visit, but it was cold, flatter than Anchorage and the SE, and was quite chilly and dark when I was there during a summer month. However, that didn't stop me from driving around and visiting a few places - namely North Pole to feed some reindeer (for my nieces and nephews who still receive visits from Santa), and the UoF (not UFO - ha) museum which was great! I would have loved to drive into the arctic circle, but the vehicle I'd rented at the time was not equipped to make such a drive, so that will have to be a later trip. Anyway, the weather can be just as cold in other places in the L48. This winter I've experienced ongoing windchill for weeks of -20s up (down) to -43 here in the Midwest! And that's not even all the way into the upper regions!

As far as cons, if you are a "city person" who "can't live without" whatever modern convenience or cafe' latte' everyday, then while you can get those in many places in AK, you wouldn't be able to find them *everywhere*.

Once you arrive, it's *really* far away from the L48 when you find yourself missing friends and family, esp. when something comes up like a death or other major family event and it's either too expensive or you would simply not have enough time to make it there for the time it takes to travel last-minute (e.g., a funeral). It's generally expensive to travel from AK to L48, but you can actually travel quite easily within AK once you are here through the AMHS (ferry) or Alaska Airlines which offers GREAT deals if you are looking for them! If you like sky scrapers and the "big city" lifestyle, you might miss the glitz and glamour those places offer.

Food can be expensive if you live in the outer regions, but if you live in Juneau, Anchorage, or a few other places that now have Costco or Sam's Clubs, then you can purchase things in bulk for similar pricing as you would in the L48. Anchorage has all the basic fast food places and "big box" stores like Walmart, so if you shop those, you wouldn't miss them here.... I mean, uh - there!

Let's see... ha. I am trying to think of more "cons" but I really can't. It's far away and can be expensive. But hey - so is visiting CAN these days when the US $ is worth LESS than the CAN $! (But that's another topic.) In fact, I'm guessing that AK is no more expensive than NYC living and might be less! Certainly, from my Chicago visits, Anchorage was much less! And you don't have the parking hassles or quite the crime rates.

Let's see... pros? Hm...

1. While I *can* see the Northern Lights in the Midwest, they are not even close to what I saw while in AK when the whole sky lights up like ... nothing *I've* ever seen... better than a laser light show, for sure! Green & Blue like sweeps of color being washed against the sky as if the Creator was washing the sky with a single stroke back and forth, Red - like shooting stars in the sky - like nothing I've seen.
2. Getting practical, no State Income Tax.
3. And (another practical point)
... if you take up permanent residency and stay, then you can be a recipient of the Permanent Dividend Fund (or PFD whatever they call it) which *pays* each Alaskan annually and equally, based on a calculation of the natural resource profits exported (or something like that). This past year it was something like $1640.00, I think. Now, that won't go far in NYC, but if you and your mate have a family of four dependents... that would have been $9,840.00 last year (approximately). Some years more, some less. But NYC to my knowledge doesn't pay its citizens in any such way!
4. Does NYC have moose and bear walking around to observe in their natural habitat (not in a zoo)? What about whales feeding or dolphins jumping and playing - on a regular basis? When was the last time you saw a Marmot? Elk? Caribou grazing?
5. Are there any Totem poles in NYC? I'm guessing there might be a few somewhere, but I'm guessing not like you can see them here in their natural environment, towering amongst century old + Sitka Spruce filtering the sky with droplets of dewmist... beautiful beyond imagination.
6. When was the last time you walked in a forest of Hemlock and Spruce so tall that you have to bend backwards just to see the tops of the trees?
7. Many bald eagles flying around downtown in NYC? Amazing when you can witness them in countless numbers rising and falling in/out of the sky ripping at the fresh flesh of a salmon having soared from a place you couldn't even see them in the sky to swoop down and catch them with a single motion.
8. Wandering through museums of incredible handcrafts and ways of living that are *still* practiced today in similar manner as to when the Native Alaskans were found to be "converted" by those outside (of Western European and Early American descent).
9. When was the last time you were able to see a Mountain - from hundreds of miles away?
10. When was the last time you felt so at-peace that, within a single breath, you felt all of life could simply come out from within you and just nestle in your surroundings - just by opening your eyes or breathing in the air all around you?

AK is a place of incredible imagination, humble history, creative colors, awe-inspiring wild life, fun frivolity (e.g., like hot-tubbing on Christmas day in a wooden tub under the stars with your friends after charbroiled steak and chicken on the patio in the snow), and more experiences than can be summarized in a single post... obviously!

You ask... how can we possibly live *here* (in AK)??? I'd ask... how can anyone possibly *not*?! (I'm writing currently in the Midwest seeking to move relocate - having been feeling somewhat aimless. But every time I consider returning to AK, ... my head and heart soars with thoughts of the eagles, and I find myself... *there*. And no place else. Visit your friend while you can... it'll be a once-in-a-lifetime experience! And don't feel guilty if you decide to give up the city life! You only have one life to really *live*... Best of everything to your friend!

[once-upon-chicago]

Hi all, I've lived in Phoenix, AZ for most of my life but have been hearing "siren calls" from Alaska for years now. The only thing stopping me is DH who doesn't want anything to do with the cold (hmmm, hubby or Alaska -tough call LOL). I don't hear too much about other parts of Alaska, like Juneau. So my question is - how is Juneau? I'm use to a very big city and I'm sure even Anchorage would feel great to me. But could anyone tell me more about Juneau and how it like to live there?

[arctichomesteader]

I've been to NYC once. Closest place to hell on earth I can remember, but then, I consider most small cities even to be pretty bad. Not bashing here, but, I can't stand the pollution, masses of people, pointless activities as "entertainment", the absolute dependence on others for your survival, lack of liberty (can't really carry a gun legally in NYC without special connections, and it's a place you'd want one badly!) and so forth that go with cities. I'm really looking forward to living on my land in AK full time. Just have to pay it off...

Oh, cold weather is preferable to hot weather. You can always build a fire or wear more clothes when it's cold. Can't do the same when it's hot, and those big buildings in NYC would all be death traps and ovens if the power stayed off long enough...