Areas in the Lower 48 that remind you of Alaska? (Anchorage: university, camper)

[CrazedCamper]

I wanna move to Alaska but it's too expensive and far away from my family in Tennessee and Missouri, so I've been looking at Upper Michigan instead. Any other places that feel like Alaska?

[roadwarrior101]

Probably the rural parts of Montana, Idaho or Wyoming. You have some similarity in mountain scenery, small, spread out towns and very conservative points of view.

I visited Alaska this past summer and was somewhat surprised at the redneck culture once we got outside of Anchorage. I told my wife that it reminded me of parts of Texas that I've been to (although the scenery/climate is completely different).

[Parnassia]

Depends on what part of AK you mean. Its so diverse in terms of topography, biology, climate. Obviously OR and WA, even coastal northern CA remind me of the panhandle, CO and Idaho remind me of south central and southern Interior, parts of WY, MT, especially high alpine areas in the bigger mountain ranges, even places farther east along the US/CA border. The northern Interior is unique. Of course, in terms of human personality, there does seem to be more conservative redneck aspects outside Anchorage, but that makes sense...a lot of those folks came here following mining, petroleum, and timber jobs and brought their mindsets with them.

[Arktikos]

If you're looking for a lot of snow then UP of Michigan, boundary waters of Minnesota or far north along the east coast are probably your best bets.

There is no where in U.S. that is very similar to my area of SE, with fjords, steep mountains along the coast, and numerous glaciers. For that, look at Norway or New Zealand. Of course, they're even more expensive!

[RayinAK]

I don't think that there is a "redneck aspect" outside nor inside of Anchorage. It is more like "liberals" in the cities, and conservatives in the rural areas. Alaskans in general, including liberals and conservatives, tend to be sort of "independent and conservative" in relation to family, work, and nation. In relation to politics, Alaskans tend to vote for republicans for Federal Government, but not necessarily the same way in relation to State and local Governments. We elect both liberal and conservative politicians.

The unions are "big" in Alaska, in both the public and private sector and its members are Alaska residents, and residents of other States. A lot of these workers are Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, and so on. Also, the military is quite "big" in Alaska, and so a population that's comprised of active and former military members. The timber industry is just about "none" in Alaska, and the oil industry has been in decline for several years. The fishing and tourism industries are doing OK, and so mining, but the most numerous and stable jobs are in the Federal, and State sectors. These include: police, fire, university workers, and a myriad of agencies and jobs in the public sector. In other words, The State's budget, which include local governments is enormous.

Saying that folks working in the mining, oil, and timber industries tend have a redneck attitude is probably fine as long as one refuses to accept the PDF check coming-in every year, since that money originates from some of these industries. Why accepting money from 'them rednecks"? Our perceptions of others aren't necessarily the truth, for we tend to see ourselves as being right, but not others .

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by CrazedCamper

I wanna move to Alaska but it's too expensive and far away from my family in Tennessee and Missouri, so I've been looking at Upper Michigan instead. Any other places that feel like Alaska?

I was stationed in Alaska 1 1/2 1976-77 USCG , here's a short list....

1.Wyoming
2.Montana
3Idaho
4.Northern Nevada
5.Colorada
6.Utah

[ketchikanite]

Originally Posted by Howest2008

I was stationed in Alaska 1 1/2 1976-77 USCG , here's a short list....

1.Wyoming
2.Montana
3Idaho
4.Northern Nevada
5.Colorada
6.Utah

No part of Utah reminded me of Alaska. It’s a desert and brown all the time. I hated the year I lived there. And BYU sucked.

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by ketchikanite

No part of Utah reminded me of Alaska. It’s a desert and brown all the time. I hated the year I lived there. And BYU sucked.

O.K. brown all of the time....

[Metlakatla]

Yeah, I was gonna say...Utah?

Anyway, OP, you need to define what it is that draws you to Alaska and go from there. It's a huge state and just saying that you're looking for a place that's "feels like Alaska" isn't much to go on.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that "redneck culture" exists in the areas surrounding Anchorage; they followed the oil from Texas, after all. Nick Jans wrote a good article about that once. Once you get out to the villages, though, you don't find that level of conservatism.

There are parts of the Oregon and Washington coastal areas that remind me of parts southern SE in certain ways, but I don't think that's what you're looking for.

[Driver 47]

Coos (Cohass) county NH. Lots of snow in winter, snow on the ground 6 or 7 months out of the year depending on elevation. Its got the White Mountains too, if you like skiing. IIRC there's a few dog sledding clubs up there as well.