Alaskans?

[the_bard]

So who all's from Alaska on here?

 

Reason I ask, my wife's looking at a couple jobs up in the aforementioned state, once she graduates in May. The farthest west I've ever been is Erie, PA... the farthest north is Massena, NY... so I've never been out there.

 

Both the people I know from Alaska love it, and can't say enough about the state in general.

 

I just have one question... how many old Sube's are around? . Seems like the NW is the place to be, from the amount of traffic I see on the USMB from the NW, but I might warm up to the idea of moving that far away if I knew there were more old Sube's around.

 

Also heard they don't use salt up there... that'd be nice... *curses NY salt*.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

I grew up in Alaska. I wouldnt recommend moving there if you've never been there before. I would say visit for a few weeks, then make the desicion.

 

As far as subaru's, there is no other state that has as many subaru's per person than Alaska. But all the old ones are rusted out.

 

The cost of living is higher, and job opportunities are slim. If you want to work on a fishing boat, or in a oil field, then your in luck.

 

-brian

[northguy]

Brian, keep going. We love to hear ideas like that as it keeps out the riff-raff and tourists.

 

Bard, PM me and I'll go into specifics with you about opportunities and standard of living. There are a ton of old subbies, but they are all (almost) rusty. Nevertheless, there are a bunch of them and more places to off-raod than anywhere else in America.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Key Points to Alaska:

 

1) Hardly any people. Keeps the Stupidity factor down.

2) the place is HUGE!! There's always someplace to go to hide, if your being followed or tracked.

3) There are no billboards. They are banned from Alaska, and should be banned from every other state as well.

4) Its beautiful. You wont find another place in the US like it.

5) Fishing and Hunting cant be beat.

6) Once your a citizen, the state pays you aprox $1500 a year in PFD.

 

Downsides:

 

1) Its a 4 day drive to any other state in the US

2) Alcoholism is a HUGE factor.

3) Cost of living is ALOT higher. The $.99 taco at taco bell here, is $1.39 in Alaska... and the $.39 Taco from Del Taco here, is... well, there are no Del Taco's in Alaska. Or Jack in the Box, or Carls Jr.

4) Daylight/night time. Your head will get screwed up in the 1st few years with the daylight and night cycles of summer/winter.

5) Speaking of Summer/Winter... those are the only 2 seasons Alaska has. Unless you want to count 2 or 3 stages of Winter, and 1 Stage of summer.

6) and last but not least.... ITS FRIKKEN COLD!!! Expect -20 with -40 windchills between December to Febuary.

 

That's about it.

Any other questions?

 

-Brian

[northguy]

If you're going to visit, don't come in the summer. You'll fall in love wih the place and not even consider the winter. If you come in the winter, come prepared to enjoy the out-of-doors. If you don't enjoy winter sports (skiing, sledding, snowmobiling, x/c skiing, icefishing, hunting, trapping, snowshoing, dogsledding,...) winter is an unbearable time.

[torxxx]

Don't move to Alaska.

We dont need any more people/tourists here.

 

lol........

Yeah come here in the winter, so it will scare you and you won't want to come back.

 

About # of soobs.

 

There are more soobs then there are every other brand of car combined..

[the_bard]

Here's the story so far:

The jobs she's seen up in Alaska start her out about $55k a year. That's about $20k higher than here in NY. That should cope with a higher cost of living rather well, I think ;o).

 

The big catalyst for this concept of moving right now is her best friend... who's from Alaska. Her dad owns several houses & some sort of housing development, all of which he rents out. My wife's friend wants to rent out from her dad with us, so we'd be housemates with the landlord's daughter. We all get along rather well, and her and my wife have lived together in a dorm before, so it wouldn't be a blind move in together (been there, done that, not good).

 

As for Alaska... well... I've never been somewhere that cold before, but I can remember the cold days growing up in the north-western Adirondacks. As long as I've got a heated garage, I'll be happy. I love hills, forests, and generally anything away from suburbia. Winter sports are a plus, along with snow... gotta have a practical excuse to have 4wd. And I like what I'm hearing about the number of Sube's.

 

If it wasn't so gawd awfl far away from my parents... my dad's turning 72 in July. He might be amazingly healthy for his age, but its still a long distance to be away if something happens....

[northguy]

Got the name of the town you're looking at? And the name of the company she'd be working for? The politics here are crazy and some weird things may happen soon. Could give you some insight.

[torxxx]

same here... give the name of the town and we can help ya out

[northguy]

If it's Fairbanks, say NO. No way.

[torxxx]

hahahahah

FBKS is way nicer then the valley northguy..

 

At least I think so.. mostly because we lack the amount of people that the Anchorage Area has.

 

There is hardly any bad traffic up here..

Rush hour, it takes me maybe 3 or 4 minutes longer to get home from work than it does during offpeak (I have to drive right through downtown which is 10x more confusing than Anchorage's downtown)

 

The lack of sun in the winter gets to people.. about November you start seeing peoples attitudes changing (SAD)

 

Other then that, its nice as hell here

[Snowman]

It's probably just my personal preference saying this, but I would't recommend living in Anchorage, and I would avoid tiny villages that you can't drive to like the plague. There's just something about Anchorage itself that I don't like. I think living out in the valley like Matt or over in Fairbanks like Torxxx would be alright though. You definitely want to stay away from tiny villages though, because the cost of living is ABSURD since just about everything has to be flown in, and there are very weird politics (like most of AK, but often worse), and unless you are the hermit type, it's just not very much fun.

 

I really like most of the towns in southeast though. Not as much snow but lots of rain, although not as cold, and most of them are big enough that cost of living is reasonable without being a big city.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

I would much rather live in the Valley than Fairbanks. THe problem with Fairbanks is its surrounded by mountains, and there's like 2 roads out of Fairbanks. Ontop of that, it takes 5 hours just to make it anywhere civilized.

 

The Valley (I'm assuming the Mat-Su Valley) is only 1/2 hour from Anchorage, and there's actually ALOT of cool stuff to do in the Valley that cant be done in Anchorage.

 

Anchorage is nice cause its about as Modern as Alaska will ever get. Doesnt hold a candle to any big city's like New York or L.A.

 

Be prepared for a huge culture shock. ALot of things your accustomed to in the lower 48, are alot harder to come by in Alaska. Leaving is the 1st thing that comes to mind.

 

-Brian

[torxxx]

Anchorage has major gang problems

There was a huge shootout in downtown anchorage in December

The valley has a huge theft problem. I've watched probably 10 friends move to the valley and within 2 years end up in Jail from getting caught up in some dumb ****

 

Fairbanks rarely has anything like that happen. There are NO gangs and the crime rate in Fairbanks if very low.

 

I've been living here for 3 years and I never lock my car, theres always a key in the ignition. No problems

 

FBKS is pretty damn modern. Movie Theater, Malls, Sams club, Fred Meyer Safe way, Home depot, Office Max, walmart (in progress) and just about every kind of fast food places as ANC.

 

Just the thoughts from the interior....

 

I'm out

[northguy]

Fairbanks = "It's COLD in them thar hills.":D

[torxxx]

heh, yea its cold. but compared to being on the coast where its humid, -30 F here is like 0 in anchorage

[the_bard]

I believe she was looking around Anchorage... at least, that's where her friend is from. From what she's said earlier today, though, the job is an old posting, and it was filled when she called.

 

She's posted up on Monster.com, and we did flag Alaska as somewhere we'd be willing to move to. I don't know how much searching she's done up there, but she hasn't said anything else about it yet, which means she's not excited about it.

 

I'm not too worried about how modern the place is... I do tend to be a bit of a hermit ;o). As long as I've got a place I can go for parts, and a decent internet connection, I'll be happy.

 

I'm not liking the mentioning of crime & gangs, though. I've got a bit too much redneck in me... I don't put up with someone breaking into my car or house. Got a tendency to get involved when I see it happening to someone else, too. Not a good idea when you're my size ;o), so I try to stay away from situations like that.

 

Politics, huh? I'm not sure I know how wierd politics could get in a larger city like Anchorage, but I have a feeling I know about the smaller towns, at least to a degree. Check out Oswegatchie, NY sometime in mapquest ;o). I'll agree with you, completely... I don't want to get involved in the politics of a small and isolated town.

 

We'll have to see what sort of offers she gets, and go from there...

[northguy]

Don't let Torxxx's mention of gangs scare you too much. What passes for gang activity in AK is pretty small potatoes compared the real world. There are some wannabes but no real gangsters here. Ilive about 25 miles from Anchortown and work in the Valley. My wife works in Anchorage so we split the commute. It's about a half hour and it's 4 lanes in both directions. No big deal. There really is no such thing as traffic jams. If you do decide to move keep us informed. We can help.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Yeah, the gang activity is almost nothing compared to any other city. The biggest problem is homeless alcoholic's, and there are alot of them. Most the crime and alcoholics are confined to certain area's of Anchorage. Downtown of course, Fairview, Moutainview & even now the Muldoon area is starting to get bad.

 

-Brian

[the_bard]

That's alright... I think Troy's got one of the biggest gang/durg problems for being what amounts to a tiny city. I personally haven't had any problems with 'em... as long as you don't visit certain sections of town at certain times (like midnight... duh...), and you show respect (not fear), they don't give you any trouble. Mostly it's with another gang, or over drugs. Nasty stuff.

 

I'd rather not live in a city again, anyhow... I'm not sure I can stand suburbia. If I can see my neighbor, they're too close...

[northguy]

Live in beautiful Eagle River/Chugiak. It's a 20 min commute.

[NikFu S.]

if you live in anchorage or wasilla, you've seen me. i live on muldoon. moved from jewel lake. before that i lived on college gate for 9 years.

 

whoever said there is no Carls Jr. here, you might be glad to know there is one in Wasilla near that mall and one in Anchorage near abbot.

 

id be glad to give you directions.

 

as for gangs, i dont see it. ive known people involved, but its really not that big of a problem.

the valley does have a *HUGE* theft problem. that and other forms of mischeif/violence.

 

being an SVX owner, i cant live anywhere aside from anchorage (which is fine by me) due to the fact octane ratings suck everywhere else.

[northguy]

Nikfu - welcome to the board. We'll keep you posted on the next meet and greet. Good to see another Alaskan.

[NikFu S.]

sweet deal.