Cheaper alternatives to Alaska? (Kenai, Haines: sales, mortgage, house)

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Of course you wouldn't play. Because if you had played, you would have lost.

50-50 chance of guessing correctly!

One could probably find photos of several places in PNW or Kamchatka peninsula that look similar to parts of SE, with the environment dominated by water and conifer forests.
You could also find photos of SE to compare with Norway that would be difficult to distinguish between the two. Not sure the Olympic Peninsula could play in that game.

The context of a community could help distinguish between the relative locations.

With the Olympic peninsula, I believe the mountains are many miles from any given town.

In SE, the towns are frequently clinging to the sides of mountains. Avalanches and mudslides can be a hazard.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Of course you wouldn't play. Because if you had played, you would have lost.

Cloudy, this is almost as good as the time you tried to claim that "settlers" were moving to Alaska in "droves" in covered wagons during the great land grab of the 1800's to play farmer in the dell.

You've never even been here, yet you spend a lot of time wielding Google and trying to tell us about our home. Why is that?

The second photo looks a lot like my area on the southern panhandle, but because I don't like gotcha games, I didn't play. The first has that unmistakably tarted-up look of National Parks photos. But your Google games don't prove anything. Here's just a few of the reasons why:

Alaska's southern panhandle gets a lot more rain than the OP. It also has no wineries or agricultural land to speak of (yes, I realize you'll be heading to Google to try to "prove me wrong," so I'll state in advance that the area does have some minimal farming; those who are doing so had to bring in their own soil) — my point is that it's far from the norm; you won't be driving your car through a pleasantly bucolic countryside with vineyards and lavender fields out the window. The OP has maple and oak trees. People go there in the fall for "leaf-peeping;" nobody does that in SE.

I won't touch on the cultural differences, but they're significant.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Cloudy, this is almost as good as the time you tried to claim that "settlers" were moving to Alaska in "droves" in covered wagons during the great land grab of the 1800's to play farmer in the dell.

You've never even been here, yet you spend a lot of time wielding Google and trying to tell us about our home. Why is that?

The second photo looks a lot like my area on the southern panhandle, but because I don't like gotcha games, I didn't play. The first has that unmistakably tarted-up look of National Parks photos. But your Google games don't prove anything. Here's just a few of the reasons why:

Alaska's southern panhandle gets a lot more rain than the OP. It also has no wineries or agricultural land to speak of (yes, I realize you'll be heading to Google to try to "prove me wrong," so I'll state in advance that the area does have some minimal farming; those who are doing so had to bring in their own soil) — my point is that it's far from the norm; you won't be driving your car through a pleasantly bucolic countryside with vineyards and lavender fields out the window. The OP has maple and oak trees. People go there in the fall for "leaf-peeping;" nobody does that in SE.

I won't touch on the cultural differences, but they're significant.

Met, you do realize by responding to our little plays-like-he-knows-it-all-but-knows-nothing troll you're giving him what he wants, right? Some of us refuse to engage and put him on Ignore a long time ago.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Parnassia

Met, you do realize by responding to our little plays-like-he-knows-it-all-but-knows-nothing troll you're giving him what he wants, right? Some of us refuse to engage and put him on Ignore a long time ago.

I'm aware, but whether to put someone on "ignore" is a personal decision. I have been posting with Cloudy for years and have a love/hate relationship with the old troll, and I am not convinced that he is completely beyond redemption (though every now and then, I put him in a time-out). He makes me laugh sometimes, and not in a bad way (laughing with him and not at him). That's worth something to me these days.

[hikernut]

I did not mean to imply that anyplace in the Lower 48 is like Alaska in every way. As the original poster gave very little information, it's hard to guess exactly what it is about Alaska s/he is looking for, or even which region of the state s/he finds most appealing.

With respect to Washington state, I was thinking somewhere west of Olympic NP. It's relatively unpopulated, gets a lot of rain and cloudy days (Google machine says 110 inches of rain annually in Forks), and has a coastline that's largely undeveloped.

Of course there are lots of differences. To my knowledge western Washington state has no polar bears, brown bears, musk ox, reindeer, etc. There are no large glaciers. I'll guess traveling by bush plane is a rarity. I'm sure you folks who live in AK can write a very long list, haha!

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

I think you mean the panhandle. I still need the link to that please. I'd like to see the tidelines.

.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the second photo was Rose Inlet, but it could be so many other places in the archipelago.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by hikernut

With respect to Washington state, I was thinking somewhere west of Olympic NP. It's relatively unpopulated, gets a lot of rain and cloudy days (Google machine says 110 inches of rain annually in Forks), and has a coastline that's largely undeveloped.

Now that I think of it, there were a lot of people from Forks during one of the past timber rushes, and I recall hearing that it was similar.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

I think you mean the panhandle. I still need the link to that please. I'd like to see the tidelines.

Yes you are right, it is the panhandle. It's Mink Bay. The tideline is visible on the right side of the picture. I lost the exact link to the image, but you can follow the entire boat track right here.

Google - Google Maps

If that link doesn't work the cordenence is about 55.02971928409167, -130.69543345777436

[ketchikanite]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Yes you are right, it is the panhandle. It's Mink Bay. The tideline is visible on the right side of the picture. I lost the exact link to the image, but you can follow the entire boat track right here.

Google - Google Maps

If that link doesn't work the cordenence is about 55.02971928409167, -130.69543345777436

Are you done tormenting the folks on the Utah ghost town post?

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Yes you are right, it is the panhandle. It's Mink Bay. The tideline is visible on the right side of the picture. I lost the exact link to the image, but you can follow the entire boat track right here.

Google - Google Maps

If that link doesn't work the cordenence is about 55.02971928409167, -130.69543345777436

Thanks, I found the inlet as well as the original picture and was able to zoom in on the iron oxide tidelines. Yes, it's near the south end of the panhandle and relatively close to the border as the crow flies, as a matter of fact not very far from where I used to live in BC when I was young. It's within the temperate coastal rainforest zone which accounts for the deciduous growth and the atmospheric haze.

Also I looked up Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula to confirm my observation about the lake water and indeed there are copper and manganese ore deposits and mines throughout that region of Lake Quinault so that's why I saw the natural presence of copper in the lake water.

.