What is it about Alaska..........? (Fairbanks, Eagle: how much, homes, live) - (AK) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Grannysroost · 02-02-2010, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

We moved straight from Oklahoma to Barrow Alaska in 1984. My police experience in Oklahoma did not prepare me for the constant drunken mayhem in Barrow. Sometimes in an 8 hour evening shift me and my partner would answer 40 calls in a town of only 4000. And 90% of the calls involved drunks and domestics.

But you are still in AK, and just did another major move from SE to Anchorage....

malagagirl · 02-02-2010, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AADAD

Anyone else have this level of ambivalence?

I can completely relate to what you are saying. Today I found out I did not get the job I was hoping would take me to Alaska. Today I also found out my 13 yr old grandson in Michigan is going in for emergency heart surgery. Which do you think I am more concerned about? Yeah, the boy I love.

A piece of my heart will always belong in Alaska. But family ties mean a great deal to me. Alaska will always be there. My grandkids will only be children for a short time.

As much as a part of me says to keep looking for different jobs and find some way to get myself settled in the place I dearly love, no amount of natural beauty will make up for becoming a stranger to these kids. (I have 8 of 'em ranging in age from 4-15, all living in Michigan.)

So tonight I'm thinking long and hard about how maybe a move back to the midwest may be in store for me...who knows? Maybe Alaska will be the place I just vacation every year. Or maybe it will be the place I move to later down the road. I honestly don't know. But one of the price tags of our highly mobile society is that these days no matter where I live I'm going to have family and friends who are someplace else, so my heart will ALways be kind of scattered and torn, I suppose.

Rance · 02-02-2010, 08:19 PM

There is nothing I have hated worse than leaving my wife behind in Sweden every trip I've made the last year. But I still walk in the front door and just feel a heavy load off my shoulders. I'm home. I think the hustle and bustle of airports makes it seem so quiet and peaceful when I get here.
And that drive from Anchortown to the peninsula...I will never get tired of that. It's a different drive every time.

Grannysroost · 02-02-2010, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rance

There is nothing I have hated worse than leaving my wife behind in Sweden every trip I've made the last year. But I still walk in the front door and just feel a heavy load off my shoulders. I'm home. I think the hustle and bustle of airports makes it seem so quiet and peaceful when I get here.
And that drive from Anchortown to the peninsula...I will never get tired of that. It's a different drive every time.

When she arrives soon, it will be a complete home...

but then she will miss family and cycle begins again...

stiffnecked · 02-02-2010, 08:23 PM

I never get tired of it. Sometimes Anchorage just feels like any other big city. Until you go hike in Kincaid Park and any of the others. It has it's good points. But sometimes those bad ones drag you down a bit.

AADAD · 02-02-2010, 08:32 PM

I know Rance. I walk in my garage come up 2 flights of stairs and see the chucach forest and my whole body relaxes.

Metlakatla · 02-02-2010, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AADAD

Flew back today from San Diego via San Francisco visiting my adult children. Along the beach in SD we walked in 68 degree weather, ocean sparkling and in SF we chatted by the bay.

We talked about one day when they have their own kids I may divide my time between Eagle River and down South.

Then I flew back 2 quick flights both 20 minutes early and drove around did some shopping and then got to unpacking. I look out my window and there is such peace here. I know it's cold.........silly cold sometimes..........but so many of the things that I want are here, except them.

As they get on with their own lives (both married) perhaps it's best that I live where I love it. We shall see. Anyone else have this level of ambivalence?

Not anymore, no, but I can certainly relate to your ambivalence.

At this point in my life, if someone pointed a gun at my head and told me I had to choose, the Cascade Mountains of Oregon would win hands down. What the hell, even without the gun factor, it would win.

The opposite would have been true twenty years ago.

You can look at the mountains in AK all you want but you can't live in them.

The family issue is another thing; I have a lot of family in both states but I'm closer to those who live in Oregon. My son was born in Alaska but chose to go to college and live in Portland and I'd rather be able to see him more than a couple of times a year. My father doesn't have a lot of time left and I want to be around him as much as I can.

Whatever you decide to do in the future, good luck to you. It's a decision that a lot of people face and if you're able to offer yourself the best of both worlds, then you should do it.

AADAD · 02-02-2010, 09:00 PM

Appreciated.

My son says keep the Eagle River bunker in case the sh.. really hits the fan down south.

Metlakatla · 02-02-2010, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AADAD

Appreciated.

My son says keep the Eagle River bunker in case the sh.. really hits the fan down south.

Your son sounds like a very smart young man.

freezengirl · 02-02-2010, 09:49 PM

My husband and I have been struggling with these same issues the last few years, only we have been in Northern Minnesota. Now we will be moving to Alaska, even further from family and leaving our only child (adult now) behind in Minnesota. I don't think there is any kind of real answer except for what your heart tells you to do. Our daughter is the center of our hearts, but she also has her own life. We always encouraged her to follow her own dreams for her life, now she tells us to do the same. The letting go of the places and people in our lives as we all go through lifes changes is very hard to do. This last Christmas my husband brought our daughter exactly what she wanted from Alaska. She wanted a hooded sweatshirt that said Alaska on it so that when she was missing her "Pops" she could wrap herself in it and pretend her papas arms were around her. On his own my husband brought her a picture of the northern lights. We have spent as a family hours sitting out watching the aurora borealis in Minnesota over the years, he wanted her to know that wherever in the world we were we were under the same night skies.