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I have never been to Alaska; but last night, I had a crazy dream that I moved there without a lot of money and I had a sense of happiness. I want to live in Copenhagen, not Alaska.
1. There was a demon with red eyes who sat in my room and watched me sleep. I had a hotel room with a glass door.
2. I must've of driven there, because I remember getting out of my car and it was slushy.
3. I walked into a restaurant and there were a variety of people. I asked for a job and they gave me one.
4. Then I was living in a house. I looked up to the sky. It was clear, crisp, and I felt a sense of beauty, and the moon appeared very close to the earth. Then a large slab of ice fell out from the sky. It slammed so hard to the ground. The ice was the size of a mac truck. My landlord said, "oh, this happens all of the time here."
5. WTF?!
6. Both of my parents were still alive in the dream and I had flown back to Detroit for some cash (that in itself was a bloody nightmare!). I haven't lived in Detroit since 1986, by the way . . .
7. The whole thing was a sense of total happiness and satisfaction of just being there.
8. Oh, it gets better . . . Keanu Reeves was a vampire who wanted to escort me back to Anchorage. He said he would protect me from the red-eyed demon. But we were driving through Oregon with a friend and I said, "We need to get on a plane, so I won't be late!"
I woke up and was happy that I was still in Las Vegas, which I'm tired of living here . . .
9. Once again, WTF?!
Total astral plane dream . . . I could feel the cold weather in my bones. It was always dark. Hmm. . . imagine that - always dark in Alaska during the winter.
I don't know. Everyone seemed so nice, helpful, and courteous in my dream, or nightmare?
I have never been to Alaska; but last night, I had a crazy dream that I moved there without a lot of money and I had a sense of happiness. I want to live in Copenhagen, not Alaska.
1. There was a demon with red eyes who sat in my room and watched me sleep. I had a hotel room with a glass door.
2. I must've of driven there, because I remember getting out of my car and it was slushy.
3. I walked into a restaurant and there were a variety of people. I asked for a job and they gave me one.
4. Then I was living in a house. I looked up to the sky. It was clear, crisp, and I felt a sense of beauty, and the moon appeared very close to the earth. Then a large slab of ice fell out from the sky. It slammed so hard to the ground. The ice was the size of a mac truck. My landlord said, "oh, this happens all of the time here."
5. WTF?!
6. Both of my parents were still alive in the dream and I had flown back to Detroit for some cash (that in itself was a bloody nightmare!). I haven't lived in Detroit since 1986, by the way . . .
7. The whole thing was a sense of total happiness and satisfaction of just being there.
8. Oh, it gets better . . . Keanu Reeves was a vampire who wanted to escort me back to Anchorage. He said he would protect me from the red-eyed demon. But we were driving through Oregon with a friend and I said, "We need to get on a plane, so I won't be late!"
I woke up and was happy that I was still in Las Vegas, which I'm tired of living here . . .
9. Once again, WTF?!
Total astral plane dream . . . I could feel the cold weather in my bones. It was always dark. Hmm. . . imagine that - always dark in Alaska during the winter.
I don't know. Everyone seemed so nice, helpful, and courteous in my dream, or nightmare?
Not sure what you're smoking before bedtime.......but you should share.
I lived in Anchorage from 2008-2011. I really enjoyed the access to nature and stuff like Moose's Tooth and Coastal Trail, but in general that place was a total garbage dump. I want to give a few anecdotes about what I remember. Rage-city residents: If you think this is just me being biased, please chime in.
Any time you encounter another human being in Anchorage, it's safe to assume that they're drunk and completely out of their minds (and have probably peed themselves). I live in NYC now and am actually less worried for my safety than when I'd go out drinking on 4th Avenue back in AK. Every time I went to a bar in Anchorage, I saw someone get their ass kicked. People in Alaska are exceptionally fat, drunk and trashy, and Anchorage is like the sketchy big city in a state that basically amounts to Arctic Mississippi. The Mat-Su Valley is a non-stop highlight reel of what could be called "Faces of Meth," and everyone I know who lives there has had their house broken into by tweakers.
I used to ride my bike all over the city in the summer, and the trail network was unbelievable. You could go all over, and in June you could basically stay out all night. I loved that aspect of it. In the mornings, however, there would be a thick haze of smoke on the trail from all the homeless camps. That's right -- there are enormous camps of homeless people who smoke crack and drink Listerine on the trails. I can't tell you how many times I saw passed-out hobos in the middle of the trail. If you're a woman and you're out running or walking alone, you should bring a gun and be prepared to use it. You might have to fend off bears if you're running in Far North Bicentennial Park, but in the city, you have more to fear from drunk Alaskans.
I remember riding my bike in east Anchorage and having stumble-drunk Native women offer to blow me for money right there on the street. It wasn't that I was attractive or that I looked like I was seeking prostitutes -- it's just that there are so many stumble-drunk Natives in Anchorage that you get used to it. If you go to a bar, expect to see humanity at its worst. If you go to just about any business in the summer, you'll see 2-3 passed-out Natives in the bushes. I'd go to the east Anchorage Fred Meyer and there would be passed out homeless people on every bench inside the building. One time, a dude just started vomiting uncontrollably as he slept. You get used to seeing things like this, which is insane because it's actually less frequent in a city like New York. And the funny thing is: Anchorage is almost as expensive as New York, and in New York you can find cheap deals for food (like Trader Joe's, bodegas, etc). The only way you can find a cheap deal in Alaska is to make friends with some lifelong homesteader type who has like four trucks in his driveway and a three-car garage full of frozen moose meat and halibut.
Have you ever seen a family of five in which every member weighs over 300 pounds? Go to Costco in Anchorage on a Saturday and you will see this in spades. Have you ever gone on a picnic date in a park like Valley of the Moon only to have Native and Samoan gangs get in a shootout right in front of you? This will probably happen if you visit Anchorage. Have you ever had the distinct sensation that every single person on the street is completely insane? That's just an average day there. Did you know that the Last Frontier bar is well-known by every cab driver in the city as "Fatties?" You can guess why. Never mind the insane rates of rape, suicide, domestic violence, teen pregnancy, high school dropouts, casual violence, DUIs, alcoholism and hard drug addiction. You have to be extraordinarily mentally resilient to survive in a place like that.
Let's not forget the weather: it's snowy from October until April, and in January it can get below -30ºF. The summer can be nice -- but let's emphasize "can." In the summer of 2010, it rained for 31 days straight. It didn't stop raining for an entire month! Our summer in Anchorage was basically Seattle's winter, and our winter was like Siberia.
It's the saddest thing -- the state has buckets of money, and the nature there is second to none, but it's a hellhole. My escape valve was going skiing, hiking or biking. Otherwise, I would have contributed to Anchorage's inordinately high suicide rate. And, mercifully, I relocated to Eagle River in 2010 and stayed until I left the state. Everywhere you go there are the most insanely beautiful mountains, and places like Denali are a few hours away. Girdwood is right there. The Kenai peninsula is not far, either. The fact is: the nature in Alaska is unbelievable and as close to the superlative ideal of wilderness as you will find. However, 99 percent of what human beings have made in Alaska is shabby, sordid, disgusting and frightening. And, to add insult to injury, Alaska also produced 36 Crazyfists.
I have been to Alaska several months out of my life (6 times total 3 weeks to 1 month). I split my time evenly between Anchorage and Fairbanks, and took a cruise too. I also worked in Dillingham for a summer as a teen.
Alaska amazing as long as I don't encounter any people. Alaska has to be the most unfriendly place I have ever been.
I went to electronics school in Mississippi and OTS in Alabama and I would rather spend an eternity in either place over living one year anywhere in Alaska. At least the people down south, say "hi" or something similar, they also tend to care about the welfare of others and have some semblance of civilized manners.
Alaska was so disappointing. I figured Alaska would have a social structure similar to North Dakota, friendly, hardy, hard-working, people with integrity, boy was I wrong.
It's like someone purposely took the worst people out of a trailer park in Tacoma and bred them in with Ex-cons and hobos from all over the nation they then tainted and influenced the the Athabaskan gene pool. The result was a bunch of drunk, uncouth people with no social skills and criminal tendencies.
You really are not lying twnut. I was so shocked at how odd the culture was in alaska. I thought Portland and Seattle had a "freeze". Portland and Seattle people are downright pleasant compared to Alaska, and I thought we were the most unfriendly people in the nation.
The Mat-Su Valley is a non-stop highlight reel of what could be called "Faces of Meth," and everyone I know who lives there has had their house broken into by tweakers.
I've lived in Wasilla for the past 18 years... I only know one person who has had their house broken into, and I don't know anyone who does meth... Or any other drugs for that matter. Oh, scratch that... we had a guy at work get canned for abusing prescription drugs.
So maybe I'm just not hanging out in the right places or with the right people... But my experience in Wasilla is vastly different that what you have described.
Agreed. You must have been running with the wrong crowd. I lived in the Valley for 2O years and only knew 1 person that had their house broken into. I frequented many of the local bazaars and gun shows and know a great many people in the valley. Yes, there are some problem areas, but talk to the people that choose to live up here, not the ones that only were here for a few years, or weeks. Alaska is not for everyone, but there are those that would not choose to live anywhere else.
I do have to wonder what on Earth you were doing in those awful bars down on 4th Ave. I'm not up on the Anchorage bar scene, but aren't there better places than that?
I've never found the people in Alaska to be unfriendly...most of the Natives aren't in-your-face extroverts, though...maybe that's what you mean?
It's damned sad whats happened to those who moved to the city from the villages. They just.can't.drink; it's genetic.
That said, I always found that the drunks and druggies were fairly easy to avoid.
And Andy, I have to wonder about the type of places you were frequenting to have had such unpleasant experiences.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 10-10-2014 at 06:22 PM..
Metlakatla, it wasn't just the bar scene. I lived at 15th and G for a while, and I used to have meth heads knocking on my door in the middle of the night asking if they could mow my lawn for cash. It felt like you were confronted by it every time you walked outside. When I lived at Caribou Ave and Boniface Parkway, I used to hear regular gunshots in the summer / around PFD season -- and some of our neighbors got beaten up in the streets because the muggers wanted whatever was in their shopping bags. I've had it happen where people chime in to say, "The Anchorage that I know is /nothing/ like that," and then subsequently reveal that they live way, way south of Dimond or in Glenallen. Not accusing you of that -- I'm just saying that the undeniably sketchy parts of Anchorage are very real, even if you've managed to isolate yourself.
Still, I would never deny that there are some wonderful parts of the city and state. If my job brought me back to Alaska (it most likely won't), I would rather give Fairbanks a shot, if not just for the fact that the summer weather is unbelievable (my best times in the state were when I went road-biking near North Pole or canoeing on the Chena River). But, Anchorage is one of the scummiest cities I've ever seen with my own eyes. It seemed to be changing when I left -- you had nicer establishments opening up -- but most of the people I know who loved Anchorage were married with children, and they lived so far south that it would have been quicker for them to get to Girdwood than to the Captain Cook (or, conversely, they lived in the nicest parts of the Valley or Eagle River).
I do feel really bad for Native people, though. The stories you'll hear about village life and their difficulties in the city are completely heartbreaking. I dated a Native girl for a while, and -- according to her -- the kinds of abuses that become painfully commonplace in the Bush are the kinds of things that would make your hair stand on end. I found many of them to be absolutely wonderful people. If a person never left Anchorage, however, I imagine that their impressions of Natives would be almost completely negative.
I've only lived far enough north and south of Anchorage for it to be just a place I'd spend a couple of days here and there twice a year or so.
When I still lived in Alaska a few years ago, I was in a restaurant in one of the port cities. The place got a lot of business of the cruise ships, and this particular morning, some self entitled old woman was yelling at the poor girl who was waiting tables. It was horrific, really; the girl was from Eastern Europe and had an accent, and the old harridan was screeching at her to "speak English." The kid's English was just fine. She finally shrieked at the girl to bring her change for a dime so she could leave an appropriate tip. The poor girl lost it and busted out crying. There was no manager on duty in the place -- I sort of knew the girl because I'd been going to that restaurant pretty often, so I had her sit down in the back room, and one of the men at the table next to me dealt with the rude patron. I don't know what he said -- whatever it was, it was classy and quiet, and she left right then and there. There was also a pretty good tip on the table, but I think he probably put that there himself. I'd talked with him enough to know that he was down from Fairbanks, and I remember feeling that only an Alaskan would do what he did. I've seen that same sort of thing in other parts of the state -- sort of a willingness to step in when something isn't going so well for another person.
Of course, that's just anecdotal and has nothing to do with Anchorage.
I lived in AK for 40+ years, a lot of what twunt relates is true. Anchorage used to be a decent place, but has deteriorated rapidly over the last decade I'll say. The drunk street people that are now all over Anchorage have wreaked great havoc on the quality of life. No where else on the planet that I have visited comes close to the daily display of utter baseness on the part of these people. From the guy I watched urinating in broad daylight on a bus stop bench on 3rd avenue, the staggering drunk who was leaning back and forth on the sidewalk on 6th avenue and we weren't sure if he was going to fall back on the sidewalk or into the street, the filth of the trees in the town square park until the city was forced by the mess to cut them down. no where else have I ever seen anything that approaches this.
I lived in Wasilla for much of that time, and I was fortunate to live in the good area, that "core" between Palmer and Wasilla. That area is pretty quiet and still I had vehicles broken into and a motorcycle stolen, as well as outdoor tools (shovels, rakes, etc) and building supplies. Go west of the KGB and it gets sketchy. Pittman road area is ridiculous for crime, drug use, etc, and north of Palmer, "Dopestone Road", gets a bit sketchy too.
I grew up in the what must have been the golden years of Alaska, because I recall a clearly better state growing up than I one I left. It's not getting any better. It's not normal, unless you live in a 3rd world country. And it doesn't serve Alaskans well to continue saying to the effect "Well that's just the way it is here in AK, we're different up here" because it used to be a much better different.
I had always avoided AK bars. Every time I ventured inside one I regretted it. I can't think of one that wasn't a miserable brown room full of wretched drunks. Except (pssst, don't tell the wife) for PJ's, which was a brown room full of drunks and naked wimmins, whcih made it rather bearable.
I do miss those mountains but you know what? I can get to mountains from here and liked them just as much. And I'm 5 minutes from the best skiing in the midwest and a huge lovely lake, so I still get plenty of outdoors.
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