Please tell me about Alaska

Alaska is great if you love pristine wilderness and have a lot of money to buy or build your own fortress. Say goodbye to affordable fresh food and summers with sunlight though. Also rednecks.

It's the Wild Wild West out there, OP, with people as brutal and unforgiving as the weather.

[quote] Say goodbye to affordable fresh food and [bold}summers with sunlight though[/bold]

Um, what?

Sorry, I'll try again.

[quote] Say goodbye to affordable fresh food and [bold]summers with sunlight though[/bold]

Um, what?

A lot of fucking drunks and meth heads. It's where the nation's crazies land if they have warrants or Florida is too hot for them

Do you have $2 million?

Alaska is like Texas...but colder and prettier. The men are mostly fat conservative Bubbas, and the women are Palin-esque. Great state if you like being outdoors, but the people suck.

Your makeup is terrible, OP.

It is Seward's icebox.

OP, Watch the TV shows "Living Alaska" and "Buying Alaska." I think one would really have to love and need wilderness and isolation, plus hunting, fishing, boating, hiking, and assorted other outdoor activities. Septic systems and water tanks.

These shows reinforce for me my comfort right where I am, and it ain't Alaska!

It's beauti

Grocery shopping in Alaska will come with sticker shock. Real-estate prices are consistently pricey across the state so you won’t find a deal on housing. Alaska is stunningly beautiful and if you love nature and don’t mind the cold it could be the place for you.

How so, R2?

Also I heard that Alaska has some of the best Summer produce, not to mention seafood.

Summers are great, winters are long and shrouded in darkness for six months. Much of the state is uninhabited because of climate and tundra issues. A lot of people live in mobile homes. The city of Anchorage is larger in area than the state of Rhode Island.

Was it Oprah that did the show on Alaska men years ago? The premise was that there were a great many single men in the state looking for potential girlfriends/wives.

The state is beautiful. Summer in the wilderness is amazing...just be prepared for the flies.

You'll be able to see Russia from your house.

Why would anyone willingly move closer to the trashbox Palin clan?

I watch "Building Alaska" and wonder why the hell anyone would ever want to live there.

Alaska's scenery is beautiful.

If it wasn't for the Deplorable MAGATS who settled there, the land would be a paradise.

My nephew lived there but left complaining of the lack of fresh food.

Why not somewhere like Montana? I couldn't do Alaska...just too extreme in regards to climate, cost of living, and isolation from the rest of the country.

I've street-viewed around Juneau and it's very pretty, but quite difficult to access. Only by plane or boat.

I thought Juneau looked pretty too, R22.

The only problem would be getting out of there in case of an emergency.

It would be impossible.

Howcome we don't hear more about the gay scene in Alaska, especially if the male to female ratio is something like 150:100?

Because the gay scene is so small, R24

A friend who went to the University of Alaska years ago said when one guy got the clap, everybody (all six of them) got the clap.

Maybe it’s changed.

Oh man, R25.

That's sad.

A gay Alaskan

Ella es fabulosa.

How are Alaskan men with hygiene?

I imagine them to have bad b.o. and dirty clothing.

Sort of like Yukon Cornelius.

Guns, drunkeness, Palinesque fighting, cold and darkness.

I agree r41.

If you love the wilderness and open spaces we have Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas. Plenty of open space in the lower 48.

To want the remoteness of Alaska is either something criminal you are running away from or mentally something weird.

O.P. If even a native hick like Bristol Palin high-tailed it out of there and moved to Texas it is not a ringing endorsement for the state.

R17 maybe to get away from the whorish Harris clan.

R6 Prices aren't that bad

Do you have to worry about wild animals attacking you outdoors all the time?

I heard that moose and bears and wolves just roam around, even in the city like Anchorage.

How about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula(below)? Close to Chicago and Minneapolis. Or northern Maine?

I'm not sure about the surrounding area but Corvallis, Oregon looks great for a city below 100,000

R37 I lived and worked down the road from Corvallis in Eugene for about three years. While Eugene is bigger and boasts the U of O, downtown Corvallis is an unsung gem. The center is well-organized and boasts all kinds of locally-owned shops. Eugene's downtown has fared poorly, in part because it is where many government buildings are located and their presence has split up what passes for a shopping district. The result is an often dreary mix of bunker type buildings and otherwise forgettable architecture.

Of course, I worked in Oregon back in 2008-2011, so I don't know how Corvallis has fared in the interim, especially during COVID. But I found Corvallis a much better place to hang out on weekends. And when I had the time, I would drive past Corvallis to Newport on the coast.

Alaska must be beautiful in the Summer.

I would love to eat some cold, fresh Alaskan King Crab.

R15, any of those men looking for cock? I wonder how acceptable it’s be to be out and gay. Yea, I know it’s not the 2000s anymore, but some places are just easier than other to be gay. These people sound more isolated then our friends in Hawaii.

OP, the odds are good, but the goods are odd!

Alaska is a total bitch!

There are two shows I binged on recently, Buying Alaska and Buying the Yukon. Two things I learned, Yukon is a province of Canada east of Alaska and north of British Columbia. For some reason I thought it was part of Alaska.

The second thing I learned is I could never live in either place. Endless winters and bears. I'd love to visit but I like to walk out my front door without fear of being mauled or eaten, and I would prefer to live in the country and not in town. The southeastern part of Alaska where Juneau is located seems to have milder winters and a more temperate climate then the north.

I think that Juneau still has bears, though R43.

I'm curious about Kodiak Island.

It seems like a quaint little place to live.

If you're really batshit crazy, move to the Yukon.

R44, yes, bears are around there, too.

Oops, better link for Yukon.

Oh forget it, the links take you back to the main page.

Yukon Territory is about the size of California R47/R48, but it only has 35,000 people!

YT is also very beautiful.

Whitehorse Airport in the YT was where all planes headed to the US, were routed to on 9/11.

Mountains in the Yukon are absolutely spectacular.

Emerald Lake, YT.

R34, It's ALASKA! Housing should be cheap (I.e., not $654K!) in that no-amenities wilderness!

In that house, I would wonder every minute when I was going to be murdered in a home invasion.

I’ve been there twice. I love it and I’m not a big outdoors person. You feel like you’re on a different planet there. It’s so remarkable. But, yeah, pricey and lots of drunks.

Yes, r55. The alcoholism is astounding. I went to a restaurant in Homer, and saw a guy stumbling, falling down, and throwing up in the parking lot. He proceeded to get into his truck and drive away. R54, the cost of building anything is outrageous in Alaska. Everything has to be imported and labor is expensive.

I googled Fairbanks, Alaska and was shocked at the crime stats:

[quote] Compared to communities of similar population, Fairbanks' crime rate (violent and property crimes combined) is higher than Alaska's average, which in turn is higher than the U.S. average.

(Numbers indicate USA-Alaska-Fairbanks stats per 100,000 people)

Violent Crime 366-636-659

Murder 5-6-12

Forcible Rape 37-105-120

Robbery 102-85-160

Aggravated Assault 233-440-366

Property Crime 2,596-2,760-3,840

Burglary 543-428-477

Larceny Theft 1,837-2,096-2,984

Motor Vehicle Theft 216-236-379

[quote] Fairbanks similarly has a higher than average rate of rape and sexual assault, and in 2010 was ranked the third most dangerous U.S. city for women with 70 forcible rapes per 100,000 inhabitants.

Scary!

LOTS of bugs. I went in the summer one year and was attacked by bugs the minute I walked outside.

But it was pretty. Lots of folks there are hunters. My friend's husband killed a moose and left it's body on the floor of the garage for days while he butchered it. It was cold enough to keep it fresh. Moose tastes like hamburger, btw.

Yikes at R57.

US Murder Rate = 5 per 100,000 people

Alaska Murder Rate = 6 per 100,000 people

Fairbanks Murder Rate = 12 per 100,000 people.

WTF?

US Forcible Rape Rate = 37 per 100,000 people

Alaska Forcible Rape Rate = 105 per 100,000 people

Fairbanks Forcible Rape Rate = 120 per 100,000 people

Double WTF???!!!

Jewel grew up there and now lives in Texas. The two states really do seem to be cold and hot counterparts to one another.

One of my dad's cousins lived there for years on a military base and she hated it. She said that in the winters, the floor radiated freezing air and when the ground wasn't frozen, water regularly seeped through the floor. Sounds like an odd way to live.

But if you're very adventurous and low maintenance and up for adventures and self-sustenance, you may love it.

If you like a place where murder is a lifestyle, by all means go.

It's Nebraska with better scenery.

If you establish residency you’ll qualify for payment from the Alaska Permanent Fund. I think it’s about $1600 annually.

Yep, R61, Republican Sarah Palin was happy to take those socialistically distributed revenues from the oil biz.

Why would the floor be wet, R60?

R65 I don't really know if it was shoddy military housing or what but she implied it had something to do with the climate, I guess with groundwater freezing and then working its way up through the floor as it thawed?

"Living Alaska" marathon on now, Destination America HD Channel.

[quote] Is it as cold as everyone makes it out to be?

No. It's actually very warm

R68 - well, it depends. Fairbanks is cold as fuck as it is in the interior and no warmth from the ocean. Anchorage is very cold, but more like Minneapolis in my mind.

Juneau is rather temperate compared to the rest of the state.

I visited Anchorage a few years ago - it surprised me how much was there and felt like a decent city. But there were just too many weird stories of wildlife and people getting killed by nature. The airport is top-notch though.

Crime is crazy there. My friend lives in Wasilla and without doxing her, she does know the Palins. She had a ring camera and all kinds of perimeter cameras before I'd even heard of such things and regularly sends me the craziest footage. Meth heads stealing her tires off her truck and at one point they took all her bird feeders. Also giant moose just chilling and she can't let her dog out. Crazy shit. One time a native guy almost died in her front yard from alcohol poisoning and hypothermia. Luckily she saw him on the camera. Lots of fucked up people went to work on the pipeline in the 70s, stayed, met an equally crazy person and bred more crazy people who keep breeding. Religious nuts too. My friend who is very cool asked me if I'd ever heard of Q a year before I started to because it infected her workplace. She's getting the fuck out as soon as her pension and retirement hit

You can see Russia from your house!

HIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeee

A cruise up thru south east Alaska around Juneau sounds nice and scenic. The rest of the state looks like artic meth.

A friend moved to a village of 300 people for a job. It's 250 miles from Anchorage, The plane wirh mail and food comes in twice-a-week, unless there's bad weather. He's gotten used to 20 below temps, but some days it 40 above.. One grocery store, no bank, but he loves his job and the people in town.

R70 - I've been to Wasilla. It's a small suburb - not unattractive. But I believe it.

You have to love outdoor life in Alaska - almost everyone I met loves to fish, hunt and be out in the wilderness. I'm 'indoorsy' so no go for me.

When I was there they said they had only had 4 bear attacks in Anchorage that Summer. Now I know big cities come with some unsavory types - but they're not likely to chase and maul you to death. There are packs of bears that live in the city park in Anchorage - where people go biking and running all the time.

One high school kid was killed after a cross-country race through the woods around Anchorage. He went off the path just slightly and a bear saw him and ran after him. Apparently he was on the phone with his mom while he was being chased and eaten.

Stories like that are rare but not uncommon either.

R75, what a terrifying story. I spent much of my childhood in forested mountains (grandparents vacation home) and as I've grown older have developed a healthy fear of carnivorous mountain creatures. We'd get mountain lions at night, see their prints the next day. Have seen plenty of bears while camping, too. Once when I was a child a bear came into our camp while we kids were in the tent. My parents hid in the car while it nosed around and were terrified one of us would emerge from the tent but there was nothing they could do unless we did.

Many years ago Yosemite used to have a large dump near one of the entrances and you'd see bears scavenging it it. One time we even saw a bear running through our campground carrying a purloined picnic basket. Now you have to bearproof everything while camping, they are such ravenous gobblers.

My greater fear is of mountain lions. I know attacks are rare but any large animal attack is horrifying.

[quote]artic meth.

Oh, dear.

r77, Oregon had its first death by a mountain lion last year on Mt. Hood which is about 1.5 hours from Portland.

R51 That was only two of the planes inbound from Asia.

North Dakota in the summer. South Dakota in the winter.

Baked