Moving to Alaska from Florida?

ah....North to Alaska (my old childhood home as I was raised there...and hmmm would love to go back someday soon)...

My experience was that I lived there in the Fairbanks surrounding area in a tiny little town called ......(drum roll)....North Pole, Alaska...yes there IS a town by that name....

First...get ready for a climate SHOCK.....very different from Florida...I know the Air Force moved us FROM Alaska to Florida) It is a very dry climate year round (generally have to run humidifiers inside home to keep wood furniture from eventually cracking. Summer is absolutely beautiful...temps averaging from 70-80 (above zero) I have seen it get to 100 degrees in the summer a few times, but it feels nowhere near like 100 degrees in humid Florida at all...in fact homes aren't generally equipped with air conditioners mostly...fans will do. In the winter in Fairbanks, the snow was so dry it would NOT stick together in order to make a snowball. In the end of summer (August) the mosquitoes come out (we jokingly called them the "Alaska State Bird" as they are so huge). The almost 24 hour daylight in the summer is something that takes much getting used to but eventually you do....when we were little kids and new up there, our parents would often forget to call us in at night since the sun was still up and we'd find ourselves out at 2-3 am wondering where all our friends were....on the opposite end the nearly 24 hour darkness (few minutes of daylight each day) during the peak of winter is a little harder to get used to sometimes...

When you get a chance to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) you will be in awe...absolutely beautiful!!! Most generally bigger and brighter on the coldest winter nights and I can remember as a child sitting in front of my window for HOURS just watching them dance across the sky.

My first winter there...I was so excited to see snow as I had previously actually lived here in Texas where I do now and never saw it...however once the first big snow fall fell somewhere around late October, it sticks to the ground, accumulating until "Breakup" (spring thaw out and melt) starting in April...I did very quickly tire of the snow....but definitely miss it now. Learning to drive on ice and snow takes some practice for sure...though they are experts at caring for the roads with salt/gravel but there are still hazards. Ice fog....happens generally in much colder temps (50 degrees below zero or colder) and it at times get soooooo thick that you can't see the vehicle ahead of you from even two feet behind it....making the entire highway traffic travel at 20 mph or less....I've never before or after seen fog like that.

They STILL have the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend ...that is where the state department of Revenue takes a percentage of the oil royalties from the Alaska Pipeline and divides it up between all the residents (have to prove residency requirements of like a year or more) are given a check each year...you apply for it much like a tax return and it generally comes out each year about the same time as tax refunds...but yes..it's a different amount each year but each man, woman AND child gets one..every year...I just read that this year's amount is $900 per resident. I can remember when my now grown kids were little and we were pretty damned poor, those checks always made it certain that I could give my kiddos a really decent Christmas every year, as well as buy some of the other things they needed

Otherwise....if you like the possibility of having moose come up to your back door looking for the old lettuce/cabbage heads you'll throw out to them....(just beware of them when they are alongside the highways, they dart out quick and will total a vehicle in a couple of seconds), or going salmon fishing, cross country skiing or any number of outdoor things...Alaska could be the experience of your life!

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Moving From Alaska

Alaska is quite expensive and jobs are available in the large cities such as Anchorage. But again cost of living is high

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Saying you are moving to Alaska is like saying that you are moving to the lower 48 states. Just like Seattle is different than Chicago, which is different than New York City, which is different than Miami, Alaska covers a huge land area and various parts of the state are drastically different both in climate and culture.

Juneau and much of SE Alaska is temperate rain forest. People who think it rains a lot in Seattle have never been to SE Alaska. It rains so much out there that your lawn will grow moss instead of grass if not constantly treated with chemical moss killer. Mold and mildew in homes is a fact of life. I've gone months there in the summer where it has rained everyday and you really never see the sun, just dreary gray.

You go up into the interior like "Jane" and you will have an entirely different experience. The temperatures are much warmer. The climates are much drier. You have access to more amenities and things that make life similar to the lower 48 states. You can drive home if you have the desire.

Head out the Aleutian Islands to Unalaska and suddenly you are out in the rain again, but the temeratures don't fluctuate all that much year round.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the point. Having grown up in Alaska and lived and traveled around the world, I can tell you there are some constants in Alaska I would be prepared for.

1. Alaska is untamed. I was helping out a family member and painting a shed in the backyard this summer in Juneau and I could hear something huffing at me, kind of like an exaggerated dog sniff. I turn around and there is a bear at the chain link fence less than 10 yards from me sniffing at me trying to figure out what I was. Just a day or two ago, a black bear walked into the Alaskan Hotel and Bar in downtown Juneau (they have video on Facebook. They are Alaskan Bar on there). I could go on and on about whales and sealions and moose and lots of other things, but my point is in the populated areas of the capital city, there are bears wandering down the sidewalks and walking through your yard. All I can say is How Awesome Is That?

2. You're Gonna Miss This: Unless you move to Anchorage (maybe Fairbanks where Jane was...haven't been there to be honest), you are not going to have things that you take for granted. One of the biggest shocks is the restaurants. There is nothing worse than sitting on the couch in Juneau having a beer (or 10), seeing a Taco Bell commercial on TV and thinking that looks good right about now only to realize the nearest Taco Bell is 1000 miles away. If you have spent anytime in a sizable city in the lower 48, even Anchorage will seem more like a suburb than a city. Auto parts can take days to a week to get. Live in a place like Haines and when you have a baby you fly to Juneau or drive to Whitehorse Canada to deliver the child. Things you are used to having right down the road won't be there anymore and sometimes simple things take planning.

3. Mosquitoes: You have never seen a swarm of mosquitoes in your life until you hit the Arctic regions in summer. The farther north you go, the worse they are. If I had to choose between air to breathe and bug spray North of the Arctic Circle in June, I'd probably opt for the bug spray.

4. Guns: They are common! Hike a trail and people are carrying them (concealed and open). When I hike by myself and have a handgun in a shoulder holster, you know how I tell the tourists from the locals? The tourists look at me funny and kind of move out of my way. The locals will walk up and say "Hey, whatcha carryin'?" If you are scared to death of guns, know that they are up there

5. Money: Things are expensive in Alaska. In Juneau, a case of soda pushes around $12. I fly up from Chicago where I can get a $1.99 watermelon on sale and suddenly they can be almost $10 up there. Milk, beer, meat, houses, carsthey are all expensive. About the only thing that is similarly priced to the lower 48 is local seafood (and that is not as cheap as you think it would be if you don't buy it direct from the fisherman).

6. People: I had never really experienced racism until I left Alaska and lived in the lower 48. People tend to value others in Alaska based on the value of a person's word. If you are a liar and a cheat, you will be seen as a loser. If you are helpful and do what you say, then people think well of you and treat you good.

7. Be An Alaskan: This is a bit of a strange topic. There was a doctor at one of the Native Medical Centers in Alaska that came from out east. He had credentials that would make most doctors say "WOW!". He was high ranking person at a prestigious medical school/teaching facility and was an excellent doctor. He came to Alaska and people really didn't like him because he was an Easterner. The doctor bought a boat. He asked peopl how to fish and he learned. He learned what a "hootchie" was and brought pictures of halibut. He learned how to set crab pots. He became an Alaskan and be became a very highly thought of doctor by the locals!

Alaskans tend to be warm an accepting. People who are not locals tend to be treated a bit differently. Not badly, but you are kind of thought of as kind of a tourist type. However, you take the time to try and act like an Alaskan, you will become an Alaskan! If you don't know how to fish, ask for help and people will tend to bend over backward to help you! Learn to shoot, learn to hunt, learn to smoke fish and you will not be that person from Florida, but you will be an Alaskan!

First, summer's over up here. We've already had snow.

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