New in Alaska...and homesick

[bajadrmin]

Hey if it helps any, I am in Kansas and it is cold as **** here too so I am sure Nebraska is the same. It's like 4 degrees (-6 with the wind chill)... but reading this post has made me want to be where you are even more, I have only been lucky enough to spend a week there a few weeks ago and I would do just about anything to get back there asap!

Be strong, you will get used to it, at least you have your family with you thats a big plus! There are many good people up there, you just have to get out and meet them!

[Lakester]

$700 for what ?? Unless your car needs other work, sounds like someone is taking you for a expensive ride. A good battery and antifreeze good for -40. Check all fluids - done. You have a garage - no need for a engine heater. If you want one, put in a inline heater, allot cheaper to do and works darn near as good as a in block heater.

[NomadicBear]

As far as "bloom where you are planted" goes, I think the old saying "different strokes for different folks" applies. While some people would never even think of leaving their home towns, others cannot wait to get out, if for no other reason than to see what else the country, or world, offers. Some will find that the grass was not greener, and return home happy and content to never leave again. Others will find great happiness in new environs, and wonder how they survived for so long in their old haunts. While I love my home state, I also enjoy exploring in the off chance I find something more suited to my lifestyle, and the excitement such experiments bring.

[LS57]

Well, I was 'planted' in West Texas for a number of years. No matter what I tried, I simply wasn't happy there. Not necessarily 'unhappy' - but I stayed too long trying the bloom-where-your-planted thing. Finally I realized I had been existing for several years, not living. Location does matter in lots of ways - access to generally like minded people, recreation that interests you, a climate that you like or can deal with. Allow a reasonable period of time for adjustment, then if Alaska doesn't do it for you then find someplace that does- life's too short.

[Rance]

This has actually been a pretty pleasant winter on the peninsula. It usually rains in January and gets the coldest on February.

I can give you a phone number for an excellent mechanic if you'd like another estimate to have your van checked or winterized. He has a private shop and lives out here in Sterling. It's the only guy that get's to touch my newer vehicles.

With a degree in Chemistry...he might try MI Swaco in Anchorage, or any of the petroleum plants in North Kenai, like Tesoro, BP, or ConocoPhillips, and the same named offices in Anchorage. A handfull of rigs are starting up now so there could be work with the drilling fluids companies (MI Swaco) as they deal with mud products and chemicals for the rigs. Just an idea.

[AADAD]

Going through the "lean" times when you miss family and friends and living in a place where you don't have memories to surround you can be stark. But, I hear an "echo" in many people here like my own. It is worth it.

About 0300 early this Tuesday morning I heard the dog whining, they bark when they are upset, they whine when they are scared. I got up and looked out. There were 3 or 4 huge moose in the back; biggest I had ever seen; foraging in the 1/2 moonlight. I opened the back door quietly and decided against taking a pic. And there for a moment I was in the wildest place (at least to me) and I thought these magnificent animals have been doing this for centuries oblivious to us, just living on the planet. It was a moment like one of many many that have happened to me since I got here. If my license plate would fit it it would say. Every Day An Adventure.

Sure it's cold and certainly it's way to dark but every day, something changes and most days it's simply amazing here. One of my friends asked me about what it like to live here and I said, "it's like the Shire, just colder".

Stay if you are able to. You won't regret it.

[freezengirl]

I must say you all of you give the most wonderful advice! I have been following a lot of these threads for months now because I knew that I was going to "have to move to Alaska". I never thought my husband and I would leave our beloved Northern Minnesota. I have asked for and recieved advice from this forumn as we struggled to make our decisions. Now it is made, gladly, freely and with genuine joy and excitement. We kept an open mind about location but have decided to make our new home in Homer Alaska. I hope someday I will get to meet some of you who are so generous and caring and show your love of Alaska to those of us like Kelly that are struggling.

Kelly, all of the advice you have been given was excellent. You are and have been struggling with a lot of major life changes. It really does take time to reach some sort of balance. I would like to add that you may or may not be able to adjust to a "northern climate", but that is okay when and if you make that decision. For now just be kind to yourself, glean every bit of joy and pleasure out of your daily life, keep yourself open to the ones you love the most and turn to the ones you share your life with. Trust that things will work themselves out eventually.