Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'll answer your question based on a L48'r who moved up and likes it in Alaska.
First, I agree with most of your suppositions. I left my previous state and area because overall I didn't like it anymore. I don't want to change AK to be like it either. Some people do. They say they are leaving XXX to 'live free' and then they come up and try to change AK to be like that XXX. One example, If you don't like people hunting animals - don't come to AK. Not saying YOU have to hunt either. The other part, I don't see people not wanting folks to come up - what I do notice is that in AK people are more candid. This is how it is, no spin or sugar coating it. Anyone who has been in AK for a period of time has seen a L48's crash and burn in AK and it isn't pretty. So more of 'fair warning' that this is what it's like and this is what we see newcomers complain about or get up and go back to XXX over. Going to most other forums, for life in general, they are not talking about outhouses and hauling water to their dry cabin and hoping their 4WD vehicle makes it to the front of the cabin. Even in our limited time up there (going on 2 years now) we have seen families go back within days/weeks of arriving and some that can't afford to. Do you want someone to move near you and be miserable?
In the L48, it's a lot cheaper and easier to move. Not so much in AK. When I go back to where I was from, I tell people I live in Alaska and they ask how I like living in a foreign country. I just respond, "Yep, the USA is a great place to live, you should visit it one day."
Now granted, we live near the largest city in Alaska that one could argue is not the real Alaska, so it's easier for us to adjust. Although we have been to Fairbanks and I don't think we would have an issue. I would like to live more like Riceme and 6.7Traveler do too - rather than 'in town'. That is harder to do around Anchorage as already stated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GnomadAK
Really the reason that Alaskans tend to discourage outsiders from moving up is to protect them. Alaska is unlike anywhere else in the US and too often cheechakos are not prepared for the expense, the isolation (Alaska is almost like a sub-continent in relation to the rest of the US) and too often it ends badly. It's not discouragement as much as education and you can learn it beforehand from Alaskans or Alaska can teach you herself and she can be a harsh instructor.
There is the reality show Alaska and then there is the real AK and while a dry cabin sounds fine in theory it's no fun at -40. That frontier lifestyle takes a lot of time to survive and unless you take your value from the life itself there isn't anything left at the end of it, not much of a retirement plan. And if you fail there is no easy way back.....too often the baggage that brought people to the end of the road makes them particularly unsuited for the life there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by riceme
^This is my answer to the question as well. Very well put.
It can be very frustrating when we try to help protect someone that we see is about to put themselves (and maybe their family as well) in danger and they ignore us after they've asked for our advice. Or when they flat tell us we're wrong.
-48ers have very romantic notions about Alaska and frontier life, but sh*t gets very real very fast when winter comes... and then stays for seven months.
More than less i notice Alaskans tend to discourage outsiders about moving in, I cannot help to think of several reasons for this, perhaps; Alaskans are tired of newcomers complaining about the state and how things are better run back in [insert any place in the lower 48] or maybe Alaskans don't want transplants to come and change their modus vivendi by importing ideologies/policies that might destroy the state?
Anyone care to enlighten me?
I tell people that I love it here and would not live anywhere else. Then I tell them all the reasons people hate living here. For me the pros outweigh the cons, but I have seen enough people move up unprepared, or move up and discover it's not what they envisioned, that I think people need to be forewarned. Of course there are some derpy I ONCE WENT TO CHICAGO SO I KNOW ALL ABOUT WINTER people who cannot be helped, but one does what one can.
I would blame the terrible reality TV, but I think this has been going on since the gold rush.
I have thread up here asking about a young couple moving up and I seem to have gotten some of the same answers but I think I worded my post wrong were not wanting to move up cause of some tv fantasy I lived there as a child and loved It have worked in iowa through the winter coldest I have felt since we moved is -20 with a 30mph wind I'm not saying that I know all about the cold but i have a pretty good idea of what it's like I have wanted to move back to AK since we left the lifestyle and the way things work there are more to my lifestyle I lived on the air force base there I'm not even going to try to spell it cause I know I would butcher it..but we are a young couple and people my thank we are young and dumb and think AK is some dream land were ponys run free but I know it's harsh I know how bad it can get..I felt that more people were trying to tell me to wait cause they think I am young and would find something els I wanna do..I have a very good job that would give me a chance to save enough money to get me there and live for atlest 3 months before I have to go to work our plan is to come up and go to work asap I have a stash of get home money that would be used if we didn't like it or if we found it wasn't for us I'm not blindly jumping in to this I wanna come up and stay a full year before I make a choice on if it is were I wanna buy a house
I'll answer your question based on a L48'r who moved up and likes it in Alaska.
First, I agree with most of your suppositions. I left my previous state and area because overall I didn't like it anymore. I don't want to change AK to be like it either. Some people do. They say they are leaving XXX to 'live free' and then they come up and try to change AK to be like that XXX. One example, If you don't like people hunting animals - don't come to AK. Not saying YOU have to hunt either. The other part, I don't see people not wanting folks to come up - what I do notice is that in AK people are more candid. This is how it is, no spin or sugar coating it. Anyone who has been in AK for a period of time has seen a L48's crash and burn in AK and it isn't pretty. So more of 'fair warning' that this is what it's like and this is what we see newcomers complain about or get up and go back to XXX over. Going to most other forums, for life in general, they are not talking about outhouses and hauling water to their dry cabin and hoping their 4WD vehicle makes it to the front of the cabin. Even in our limited time up there (going on 2 years now) we have seen families go back within days/weeks of arriving and some that can't afford to. Do you want someone to move near you and be miserable?
In the L48, it's a lot cheaper and easier to move. Not so much in AK. When I go back to where I was from, I tell people I live in Alaska and they ask how I like living in a foreign country. I just respond, "Yep, the USA is a great place to live, you should visit it one day."
Now granted, we live near the largest city in Alaska that one could argue is not the real Alaska, so it's easier for us to adjust. Although we have been to Fairbanks and I don't think we would have an issue. I would like to live more like Riceme and 6.7Traveler do too - rather than 'in town'. That is harder to do around Anchorage as already stated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GnomadAK
Really the reason that Alaskans tend to discourage outsiders from moving up is to protect them. Alaska is unlike anywhere else in the US and too often cheechakos are not prepared for the expense, the isolation (Alaska is almost like a sub-continent in relation to the rest of the US) and too often it ends badly. It's not discouragement as much as education and you can learn it beforehand from Alaskans or Alaska can teach you herself and she can be a harsh instructor.
There is the reality show Alaska and then there is the real AK and while a dry cabin sounds fine in theory it's no fun at -40. That frontier lifestyle takes a lot of time to survive and unless you take your value from the life itself there isn't anything left at the end of it, not much of a retirement plan. And if you fail there is no easy way back.....too often the baggage that brought people to the end of the road makes them particularly unsuited for the life there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by riceme
^This is my answer to the question as well. Very well put.
It can be very frustrating when we try to help protect someone that we see is about to put themselves (and maybe their family as well) in danger and they ignore us after they've asked for our advice. Or when they flat tell us we're wrong.
-48ers have very romantic notions about Alaska and frontier life, but sh*t gets very real very fast when winter comes... and then stays for seven months.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostnip
I tell people that I love it here and would not live anywhere else. Then I tell them all the reasons people hate living here. For me the pros outweigh the cons, but I have seen enough people move up unprepared, or move up and discover it's not what they envisioned, that I think people need to be forewarned. Of course there are some derpy I ONCE WENT TO CHICAGO SO I KNOW ALL ABOUT WINTER people who cannot be helped, but one does what one can.
I would blame the terrible reality TV, but I think this has been going on since the gold rush.
All excellent responses, thank you all. That pretty much confirms what I been thinking all along for years of reading this section.
Greetings!
I have thread up here asking about a young couple moving up and I seem to have gotten some of the same answers but I think I worded my post wrong were not wanting to move up cause of some tv fantasy I lived there as a child and loved It have worked in iowa through the winter coldest I have felt since we moved is -20 with a 30mph wind I'm not saying that I know all about the cold but i have a pretty good idea of what it's like I have wanted to move back to AK since we left the lifestyle and the way things work there are more to my lifestyle I lived on the air force base there I'm not even going to try to spell it cause I know I would butcher it..but we are a young couple and people my thank we are young and dumb and think AK is some dream land were ponys run free but I know it's harsh I know how bad it can get..I felt that more people were trying to tell me to wait cause they think I am young and would find something els I wanna do..I have a very good job that would give me a chance to save enough money to get me there and live for atlest 3 months before I have to go to work our plan is to come up and go to work asap I have a stash of get home money that would be used if we didn't like it or if we found it wasn't for us I'm not blindly jumping in to this I wanna come up and stay a full year before I make a choice on if it is were I wanna buy a house
No one told you not to come up until you have jobs because you're young. We told you to wait because there are no jobs to be had. In particular, not likely as a carpenter, which you said was you skill. The takeaway should have been to secure jobs before you come up, and as you mention, to save money. Lots and lots of money.
Don't be angry at the responses you got on your thread. We live here. We are trying to help you.
If I were you I would dial up the ole Google and start looking up articles on the economy and job market in Alaska, particularly in the areas you work in. They say we are probably already in a recession because of the price of oil. We get 90% of our state budget from oil, so...
I have thread up here asking about a young couple moving up and I seem to have gotten some of the same answers but I think I worded my post wrong were not wanting to move up cause of some tv fantasy I lived there as a child and loved It have worked in iowa through the winter coldest I have felt since we moved is -20 with a 30mph wind I'm not saying that I know all about the cold but i have a pretty good idea of what it's like I have wanted to move back to AK since we left the lifestyle and the way things work there are more to my lifestyle I lived on the air force base there I'm not even going to try to spell it cause I know I would butcher it..but we are a young couple and people my thank we are young and dumb and think AK is some dream land were ponys run free but I know it's harsh I know how bad it can get..I felt that more people were trying to tell me to wait cause they think I am young and would find something els I wanna do..I have a very good job that would give me a chance to save enough money to get me there and live for atlest 3 months before I have to go to work our plan is to come up and go to work asap I have a stash of get home money that would be used if we didn't like it or if we found it wasn't for us I'm not blindly jumping in to this I wanna come up and stay a full year before I make a choice on if it is were I wanna buy a house
You have a good plan that could work - we're just giving you fair warning that times are even TOUGHER right now and look like they are going to get even TOUGHER before they get better. With a job and money coming in, I could live just about anywhere. Without one, you'l be miserable in even the easiest of climates. Wife came up with a job lined up and within in a year was phased out. She did get another one. Just saying be prepared for set backs. If you are resilient you'll make it work, if you are the first to give up when any small roadblock gets in your way you won't last.
If you want to work for TSA I believe the Feds have a job for you, your wife and any adults in your family that want one. (Assuming that you are hirable). Have a medical background - great - that area doesn't seem to be getting hit hard right now. The trades are taking a huge hit and that means lots of people with those skills looking for work.
BTW, Anchorage isn't colder compared to what you mentioned. My friends/family in the Mid-West and Mountain States (Montana, Iowa, Michigan) all seem to get at least as cold if not colder than most areas of Anchorage. (some areas in ANC get those 100mph winds and sub zero temps) Obviously other areas are different.
To give credit to Riceme, it isn't that it gets -50F in Fairbanks, is that it stays -50F for weeks on end. I have only seen in the teens below zero for about a week straight in Anchorage in the past 2 years. But of course next winter could be 20 foot of snow starting in September and -20 until May of the following year...
Disclaimer; sort of non related to OPs question... sort of.
I've been reading CD for quite a while, the Alaska sub-forum being a favorite among U.S. sections if may I add. Threads like this come upo quite often, people wondering what is like living in such vast and wild frontier land. More than less i notice Alaskans tend to discourage outsiders about moving in, I cannot help to think of several reasons for this, perhaps; Alaskans are tired of newcomers complaining about the state and how things are better run back in [insert any place in the lower 48] or maybe Alaskans don't want transplants to come and change their modus vivendi by importing ideologies/policies that might destroy the state?
Anyone care to enlighten me?
Thx and I do apologize if my grammatical structure is a little off beat.
We don't want people to die. That sums it up, generally. There are those that want to come up and change Alaska into where they came from, which it isn't.
One of the first pieces of advise given to me by a sourdough was this:
Alaska will kill you, if you treat it like what you know. Don't let it kill you.
I have thread up here asking about a young couple moving up and I seem to have gotten some of the same answers but I think I worded my post wrong were not wanting to move up cause of some tv fantasy I lived there as a child and loved It have worked in iowa through the winter coldest I have felt since we moved is -20 with a 30mph wind I'm not saying that I know all about the cold but i have a pretty good idea of what it's like I have wanted to move back to AK since we left the lifestyle and the way things work there are more to my lifestyle I lived on the air force base there I'm not even going to try to spell it cause I know I would butcher it..but we are a young couple and people my thank we are young and dumb and think AK is some dream land were ponys run free but I know it's harsh I know how bad it can get..I felt that more people were trying to tell me to wait cause they think I am young and would find something els I wanna do..I have a very good job that would give me a chance to save enough money to get me there and live for atlest 3 months before I have to go to work our plan is to come up and go to work asap I have a stash of get home money that would be used if we didn't like it or if we found it wasn't for us I'm not blindly jumping in to this I wanna come up and stay a full year before I make a choice on if it is were I wanna buy a house
To be brutally honest, your posts are hard to follow. I'm not a grammar nazi, but communication is key.
Now that I know what you want to do, my advise is still the same. I say wait, check out what the economy does.
In order to live for just three months, you are going to need close to $10k and you would lose all your deposits (most rental require a lease).
Your trade skills are needed, when construction is happening, but aren't really needed when there are no construction projects, and as a new guy, you'd have to earn your stripes.
Also, your girlfriend's skills aren't that desirable for a job. Might be having to foot the whole financial bill by yourself.
I'm glad that you were able to handle a couple of hours of -20 and living in Anchorage you won't see to many subzero temps, but there is always the chance that you will encounter weeks of -20 on construction projects (especially if you end up traveling for work).
More than less i notice Alaskans tend to discourage outsiders about moving in, I cannot help to think of several reasons for this, perhaps; Alaskans are tired of newcomers complaining about the state and how things are better run back in [insert any place in the lower 48] or maybe Alaskans don't want transplants to come and change their modus vivendi by importing ideologies/policies that might destroy the state?
Anyone care to enlighten me?
It's mostly that there's a significant difference between reality and what a lot of people think Alaska is. If you'll notice, the ones who are discouraged from coming up are the ones who generally seem to be operating under an illusion. There are plenty of discussions here where posters are actually encouraging, but those seem to take place when OPs have a good plan and realistic expectations. Of course, with the recent downturn in the economy, it wouldn't be wise to encourage even well-prepared people to move up on spec.
ETA that even in the best of times, I saw it every autumn for years....people would come around at some point in Sept. looking for work. They'd moved up, had a summer, worked a couple of jobs and....then couldn't make it home because they ran out of money living the dream.
ETA again...I've never really heard many newcomers complaining about the state or advocating for change.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 02-09-2016 at 03:51 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
