Anybody out there who DOESN'T like Anchorage? (Fairbanks, Ketchikan: private school, university)

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

I don't know about that. I often encounter more traffic on the stretch of the Parks through Wasilla than any place in Anchorage can offer.

If you are on the Parks from say 4 to 6 its crowded, but Anchorage traffic just doesn't move as well during traffic hours. At leasr Parks is a pretty straight shot.

[bmw335xi]

I grew up in Alaska and moved around many times and spent some time overseas only to return 10 years or so later. I no longer enjoyed living there because of some of the things you mentioned... darkness, weather, restaurants, and lack of activities. The main reason though was the isolation.

I really love traveling and got used to being able to just hop on a plane or car for a couple hours and be in a completely different environment. There are still things about Alaska I'll miss, but I can satisfy that craving with a 2 week vacation. People will either love or hate living in Alaska. There is not much middle ground.

[phlinak]

Originally Posted by akquestions

We moved here a year ago, and if I can be perfectly honest, I really hate it here. It seems most of the people on this board really like it though. Is there anyone else out there who lives here and wants to leave? Or used to live here but managed to get out?

We came from the Seattle area and I loved it down there. I would LOVE to move back but my husband wants to stay here. Ugh...

Ma'am,

Please let me offer to you the same advice that I was given when I arrived in Anchorage 9+ years ago.

Give it three years and you will either absolutely love Alaska (Anchorage) or absolutely hate it. There will be no ambivalence but you have to give it three years, for some reason that's the magic number to able to truly say.

Personally, I hated this place for the first three years and I couldn't wait to finish my commitment so I could transfer. However, just a few weeks beyond the three year mark, I was driving around Anchorage during breakup and it just hit me like a bolt from the blue. I realized that in spite of my attitude, this place had grown on me and had become home. When I got home that evening, my (then) wife came up to me and said that she actually came to realize that she actually enjoyed being here and was willing to stay. So 6 years and one recent divorce later, we're both still here.

So the moral to my story is to give Alaska (Anchorage) 2 more years and see if you feel the same way. You might be surprised.

[gobrien]

I remember once in the 80's, I was all set to move away from Alaska, and Anchorage. Then I went downtown and saw the Sleeping Lady Mountain, and just started crying. I couldn't do it. I stayed a few more years. But I'm from Alaska-just not from Anchorage so my issues weren't the same as a newby to Alaska. I like the dark. If I had my choice, though, winter would be a lot shorter.

[mizzile]

I don't blame you for not liking it. Anchorage used to be my favorite place in the world and now it just plain sucks. I've said it on this board before, but it's mostly because of all the people who have moved here and turned it into, well, Seattle. Too many people, crappy housing (I'm a homeowner and have watched my neighborhood deteriorate into a ghetto - but there are no good options for a single-income person in this city; affordable non-density neighborhoods are ghettos) and way too many people from the lower 48 who have successfully turned Anchorage into just another lower 48 city.

[LittleJazzyP]

Oh. Look who's back.

And here I thought this was a good day.

[roadfamily6now]

Originally Posted by phlinak

Ma'am,

Give it three years and you will either absolutely love Alaska (Anchorage) or absolutely hate it. There will be no ambivalence but you have to give it three years, for some reason that's the magic number to able to truly say.


So the moral to my story is to give Alaska (Anchorage) 2 more years and see if you feel the same way. You might be surprised.

it will be 4 years this June and the ONLY thing that would hold me here are the friends I have made and the volunteer work I do. Other then that, I really dislike Anchorage.

I do love Alaska and always will but Anchorage is no Alaska and I we do move back here after we are done traveling, it will be somewhere like Fairbanks.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

We've been here 11 yrs. We lived in Anchorage the first year. I was use to snow but not so much darkness in the winter. My first winter, it was around February I was tired and grumpy. Someone I worked with said it was the winter blahs and I needed to keep busy.

While we lived there I liked Anchorage; I still do, but wouldn't want to live there. Too crowded. The darkness, I still don't like; but I don't like it wherever I live. There's just more darkness in the winter; I 'tolerate' it is the best way to put it. The snow and cold I don't particularly like anymore..but where I came from has snow and cold.

I'll admit there is a sense of isolation in Alaska--best thing is to stay in close touch with family in the lower 48. What I do love are the summers; no humidity and lotssss of daylight, as well as beautiful, sunny days usually. Summers are too short.

I say give yourself another year and then see how you feel. Yes, it is very expensive to leave Alaska. Find some activities you and the kids enjoy.

Edit: On weekends take day trips to Whittier. Seward, Talkeetna...I still like doing that. Get out and see Alaska.

I feel the exact same way. I have been in Alaska for 21 years, 12 of those years in Anchorage. Coming from Los Angeles, Anchorage is a very small city. However, I prefer a more rural environment to live. Since I am unlikely to find work in my profession that pays as well anywhere else in Alaska, I am stuck working in Anchorage. However, I can still live in a more rural setting in the Valley and commute to Anchorage. I hate the commute, but it does allow me to enjoy a more rural lifestyle while continuing to earn sufficient funds to be comfortable.

[Slush]

Interesting views here.
Am I correct in believing that Fairbanks is considered more what "real Alaska" is like than Anchorage?

[gobrien]

Fairbanks is just a smaller city than Anchorage, but doesn't seem to be any more Alaskan to me than Anchorage. It's what is surrounding these cities that constitutes what I think of as "real Alaska". Things have changed all over the state from how it used to be. People outside of Anchorage do like to call it Los Anchorage or other names, though.