Hello. I have lived in Alaska all my life, well, practically. My family moved here when I was 1 from Oregon. I am not surprised to hear that you think we r a hick town. And, we are a bit like Canada. But our cities are spaced a bit closer. We have all the shopping you'll need. We have 4 malls in Anchorge alone. I live in Wasilla, the second largest city, which is located 45 minutes from Anchorage. We have a couple of Walmarts, Fred Meyers, Safeway/Carr, Gap, Old Navy, Famous Footwear, Gottschalks, Best Buy, Michaels, anything you can imagine. Oh, and we r getting the first Target built here in Wasilla by may 2008.
For kids, it's great. They can get into snowboarding, or skiing in the winter. We tend to get a lot of snow in the winter. It is very cold here, I think we had a record of maybe 20 F below this winter. It's not that bad though. It usually doesn't last very long. Some winters, it's just cold, and very little snow. A ot of people get into snowmachining. There are a lot of places to enjoy yourself. Alaska is growing and we need more good people to fill it. I truly belive you'd love it here. Evryone is just, well, nice! Housing, there is plenty!! And you'll find !great!! prices for houses, or rentals, whichever. Crime, we have some, but compared to what we hear from the lower states, it nothing compared. We are getting infested little by little by illegals from Russia, and a bit of Mexicans. Mind you, I am Russian, but in a different religion-way.........you'll see if you ever get to visit.
We get our share of hot weather, but it never goes above 90 or soish or so. When it gets hot, and I've seen hot in Mexico and Oregon, it very refreshing. Comparing 90 degrees in Oregn to 90 degrees in Alaska, it seems hotter here. But, we have so many lakes nearby. Every year, we don't even live at home!!! We camp all summer long, since we don't get enough of it.
Schools, there are enough but they fill up fast. We just had a large new high school built just last year, in Anchorage. Drugs, yes. How can you avoid them??? There r meth labs being discovered every 5-6 months or so, a shooting is on the news every so often, marijiuhana, plenty of things, but you can't completely be void of it. Mostly, you'll see Natives walking in the streets, hmeless (in winter) drunk and asking for money. They get so many grants and they even have a free hospital, just for the natives, but I guess it's never enough. U learn to ignore them.
What else can I tell you?? The Mountains.....when friends visit, they can't get eough of them. I guess I grew up here so I think of them as a normal scenery. It is beautiful here. Peaceful, especially in Wsilla. Anchorage is a large city and it's pretty much crowded, or seriously getting there.
Well, I hope I answered most of your questions. Take care!!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunshine State
Hi, all, Im just visiting you ...not in need of anything special, but for many many years have been interested in visiting Alaska, and after seeing the pictures of this thread, I an now DYING to come up, lol....I live in Jacksonville Beach Florida with my husband and two teenage kids, one girl 19 and a son 16, my husband and I are both retired from the Navy...
Id be curious after reading all your posts tho if we ever moved there what kind of jobs are available, federal or local, my husband is a diabetic, and takes him a long time sometimes to get over things like colds and flu, because his immune system doesnt work good due to the diabetes, so I seriously doubt we will ever REALLY get to stay for good, but the heat here in florida is getting to be harder and harder each year, also, the illegal immigrants are really moving in on us down here, not to mention of course, high taxes and hurricanes ...
can ya tell me tho, about jobs, and how is shopping???... are there Walmarts and malls?...Target or Kmarts?... and how about housing???...is it alot???... I dont mind cold weather, in fact Id love to try a new climate for a change, and is there a crime problem of any degree??... its getting worse all the time here in Florida, so many child abductions and much more, how is it for teenagers??...are drugs bad??... schools ok???....
well, questions, questions I know.... but Im v. curious, can ya help me out in any way?....great sense of humor in so many of you, I think Id not only like the scenery and GORGEOUS mountains and lakes but the people as well, I still think of Alaska as another country, is it like Canada in any way??...havent been there yet either...
thanks for any help and enjoyed reading all your postings...thanks so much.... from the southern state of florida....xoxo  |
|
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 370,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 13,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. Within the last few months our forum was cited in an article in 15 newspaper and in a story on AOL's homepage.
04-29-2007, 12:45 AM
caught it in Seward
sub below temps
Linear Mode
