thinking of moving to alaska, can anyone answer some questions? (Anchorage: rent, art)

[Jtaff]

Thanks for the reply Rance. I've been in that site several times over the last few years. I was hoping someone would have unofficial info. The Chamber of Commerce isn't the best place to hear the real story. I know Kodiak has changed a lot since I was there last, but it's still a village, and in some ways that's good.

[InAKcuzAFsaidso]

I agree with wan.....Alaska is the perfect place for me with or without PFD. I've been here for 6 months (mostly winter months mind you) and if I never got a PFD check I'd still stay forever. The snow is beautiful (and once you convince yourself to buy a snowblower it's not even that much of a hassle), the mountains are beautiful, even most of the people are wonderful. I have lived in 3 extremes....midwest farm town, eastern seaboard coastal town, and now I live at the base of glorious snowcovered mountains. I was raised in the midwest for 18 years and even though I lived there for so long, Alaska feels more like home to me. I think it's like that for everyone...either you come here and can't stand it or you come here and Alaska wraps you up and you never want to leave. My husband is in the Air Force so I know I'll have to leave eventually but we're trying to get our tour extended to 6 years instead of 3 and are already hoping to buy a house so Alaska will be where we retire. We absolutely love it. It will be our home no matter where the military makes us go.

[coffeehound]

People do make it on what seems to be practically nothing here, though, even people with lots of small children.

You have to be willing you bust your ass, willing to live with some very rustic conditions, and still be able to manage your household to get the value out of every dime you do get.

I know people who haul their own water, cut their own firewood, built their own houses, haul their own garbage, kill their own food, and never skip a beat at -40F. Not many people in the lower 48 can even fathom THAT kind of lifestyle. If you have the drive and the energy, you can do it.

Anyway, it's a big state. I'd avoid moving out to rural AK without getting your feet wet in town, first. Urban AK can be plenty hard enough to get used to.

Hey, and Laidlaw seems to be freakin' desperate for bus-drivers every year. Fred Meyers is constantly hiring new cashiers. I'd try to work out childcare costs in advance, though.

goodness knows a job at Freddy's doesn't really cover the cost of decent daycare.

[elgusano]

Driving a bus and traveling with the football team with the radio has let me visit a lot of obscure places. (A "home" game can be a 3 hour drive; and "away" game can be a 15 hour drive, a plane trip, a ferry trip, or a combination.) Sitka is beautiful, as long as you can deal with lots and lots of rain. Kodiak is still a beautiful place, but there is a lot of drinking there, even by Alaskan standards, Seldovia, Port Graham, and other small isolated towns are great if you like isolation, Homer has the most beautiful view in the state (and great fishing), but meth is a big problem, and higher than average cost of living (on the road system). The best thing about Anchorage is that it's not too far to drive to Alaska. IOW, if you want a "civilized" lifestyle (it's a big city), but the ability to get to true wilderness in a day trip, Anchorage is your place. Palmer and Wasilla are basically suburbs of Anchorage. They're not really rural, but not quite big city, either. Fairbanks is pretty big.

Any of the remote places (particularly off the road system) require a special mindset. I wouldn't mind it, but I think my wife would turn into a psycho-killer within about 3 months.

Down here in Homer, our summers tend to be in the 60's and our winters in the 20's. In Fairbanks, you're talking 90 and -50.

So, although it's the best place in the world, there are also problems. Fly up and drive around and spend some time with the locals.

[ghoulfriend]

Originally Posted by Tressa

I currently live in Anchorage been here for 32 years, if you are planning on coming up just to get paid by the state (PFD) don't bother it's not worth it unless you have loads of kids. It's my understanding that bus drivers up here don't make much of a wage and cashiers are even lower, the cost of living is higher especially if you plan to rent Achorage is the lowest cost of living other than housing. Winters are harsh don't let anybody fool you, we have a great deal of depression during the winter months.

The crime rate has esculated since the beginning of the PFD and some of us are hoping it just goes away and then maybe the crime rate will settle down don't know for sure.

As far as Craig goes that's an island in the pan handle of Alaska, southeast Alaska is beautiful but it's isolated and wet the majority of the time, this year they were hit with large amounts of snow passed the record of several years back. Cost of living is very high there and unless your a fisherman I'm not sure what the employee stats are. Your best bet would be Fairbanks for a small town feel but extremely cold in the winter but they seem to survive and enjoy it up there, the summers are the best and up there they are very warm. The school system up here is nothing to write home about especially for your young one, more schools failed the no child left behind than passed.

Alaska takes a special kind of personality to make it up here, I was alwsy told that if you can make it in Alaska you can make anywhere. You may want to reconsider the idea or think good and hard about it.

I'm new at this. I don't normally even visit forums or chat. But I have a best friend that claims he's sick of Society, and the Laws in General. He believes that by moving to Alaska in a National Park. He will be able to "FIND" a cabin to live in, And basically live off the land there !!!! He does'nt want to work a job either.. Someone has him CONVINCED that Alaska is DEAD-BEAT country. If you live there ALL things are free !!! You don't need a hunting , fishing or waterfowl license. You cut your own wood. He wants to live " NOT AS A HERMIT ", He Says, but with no money, no job, no place to live, just live like the Indians used to. Also he says that the un-married women come to town once a year and pick a man to "BE" with ??? Is this even REMOTELY how poeple live in Alaska ??? He has brochures and there's NO REAL VALID info for him to judge how he can live there in the standards he is thinking about. OH, also he thinks that Alaska does'nt put out much info, because they Don't want everyone knowing how Free a person can live there. Cause then Everyone would go... He NEEDS REAL info, before he gets his cart before his horse.. ANY HELP ????

[Rance]

Yeah...find a new best friend! He can't be serious!

Your not gonna find a cabin to move into in a national park here.
We have society and laws here as well.
Nothing here is free except the scenery.
Yes you need hunting and fishing license. Harsh penalties if not.
You cut your own wood on your own property...or state designated area only.
Unmarried women do come to town to find a man to be with. all 5 of them!

He has been talking to all the wrong people. He should start with somebody that lives here.

[Jtaff]

Too funny, where do people get that kind of information?
Kodiak was always a very hard drinking place. At one time, it had the largest booze consumption per capita in the nation. It made me appreciate the "no one under 21 where liquor is sold" laws in the rest of the country. I think one of the most sickening and saddening thing I used to see in Kodiak was all the drunks who came into town from the villages on the weekends, as well as the ones who lived in town, would charter a cab and stick their children in it and go drinking all day, and then they'd be slobbering drunk in the bar booths with small children trying to sleep beside them late at night. I hope that isn't still happening.
Alaska is a beautiful and wonderful place to live, and it does take a certain type of person to live there and appreciate it. As an FAA dependent, I saw many outside families go back stateside, and return to Alaska, sometimes several times. It gets in the blood, and will always remain special to me. From what I've heard about Kodiak lately, it would probably be better to keep my memories, it's true that one can never go home again.

[travelmate38]

I've lived in Alaska most all my adult life and to be 100% honest I can't take it much anymore. Depression, yes it is real and will messup your mental health if you do not stay ahead of the curve. I know this, as my career has me traveling quite a lot. Whenever I travel to some place sunny and warm, I feel as though a huge weight is lifted from me. I feel "normal and sane." Then back to Alaska and the dull gloom of winter depression hits again. I'm not too shamefull or embarrassed anymore to just admit it. Lots of folks here have pride and deni it to everyone around them, including theirselves. It takes a unique person to live here year round, year after year.

The place is beautiful in the summer, or I say it could be. In all honesty, we get about 12-14 days of actual clear sunshine all summer, the rest of the summer is overcast, drizzle and rain, but for some reason, all anyone remembers are those 12-14 days of sunshine?!?

I'm moving from this place in about a year. I do not regret my time spent living here, but the thought of another winter would about do me in, for real. I have known people who left here because they almost went insane and I have known people who could not possibly imagine living anywhere else. Come here, spend a winter and if you still really truly love it, then move here permanent. My two cents

[cobolt]

Travelmate38,

The greatest gift we can give ourselves and others is our own honesty....to be honest with ourselves, about ourselves, and to others about ourselves is a good thing. I commend you...

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by ghoulfriend

I'm new at this. I don't normally even visit forums or chat. But I have a best friend that claims he's sick of Society, and the Laws in General. He believes that by moving to Alaska in a National Park. He will be able to "FIND" a cabin to live in, And basically live off the land there !!!! He does'nt want to work a job either.. Someone has him CONVINCED that Alaska is DEAD-BEAT country. If you live there ALL things are free !!! You don't need a hunting , fishing or waterfowl license. You cut your own wood. He wants to live " NOT AS A HERMIT ", He Says, but with no money, no job, no place to live, just live like the Indians used to. Also he says that the un-married women come to town once a year and pick a man to "BE" with ??? Is this even REMOTELY how poeple live in Alaska ??? He has brochures and there's NO REAL VALID info for him to judge how he can live there in the standards he is thinking about. OH, also he thinks that Alaska does'nt put out much info, because they Don't want everyone knowing how Free a person can live there. Cause then Everyone would go... He NEEDS REAL info, before he gets his cart before his horse.. ANY HELP ????

My goodness, that is just the height of laziness.
I WISH everything were free. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Most things are more expensive.