Alaska

[MmkLucario]

What do you guys think about Alaska? If you had the opportunity to come to Alaska, would you? If you did come to Alaska, where would you go, and when? Would you live up here?

If you have any questions about Alaska, I’ll try to answer them since I live here in Anchorage.

I believe @AlaskaMoose lives up in Fairbanks, if I’m not mistaken.

 

[KaliYoni]

What do you guys think about Alaska? If you had the opportunity to come to Alaska, would you? If you did come to Alaska, where would you go, and when? Would you live up here?

If you have any questions about Alaska, I’ll try to answer them since I live here in Anchorage.

I believe @AlaskaMoose lives up in Fairbanks, if I’m not mistaken.

Before I post, can you tell us if the questions are for personal or for professional use?

 

[RokinAmerica]

My mom and dad lived there before I was born, Fairbanks. One of my cousins has been a nurse there for maybe 30 years?

 

[MBAir2010]

Alaska is like Nebraska without the N!

 

[MmkLucario]

Before I post, can you tell us if the questions are for personal or for professional use?

Personal. I’m curious to see what the community thinks about Alaska

 

[KaliYoni]

I’m curious to see what the community thinks about Alaska

I've been to Alaska twice: during the 1970s and during the 2010s. One trip was a self-directed land based trip (Anchorage, Denali National Park and Preserve) while the other was a small boat trip (Juneau, Gustavus, Glacier Bay and adjacent areas).

I like the outdoors activities and the preserved wilderness areas. I currently would not become a permanent resident because of the extremely high cost of living, the lack of major city cultural activities and nightlife, the long distance from family members in other parts of North America, and multiple demographic and psychographic factors.

 

[MmkLucario]

I've been to Alaska twice: during the 1970s and during the 2010s. One trip was a self-directed land based trip (Anchorage, Denali National Park and Preserve) while the other was a small boat trip (Juneau, Gustavus, Glacier Bay and adjacent areas).

I like the outdoors activities and the preserved wilderness areas. I currently would not become a permanent resident because of the extremely high cost of living, the lack of major city cultural activities and nightlife, the long distance from family members in other parts of North America, and multiple demographic and psychographic factors.

Ah, I understand about the high cost of living, though we don’t income tax which is nice and no state sales tax and no sales tax for the municipality of Anchorage so that’s nice. Sales tax varies between the different boroughs in Alaska.

 

[Herdfan]

Personal. I’m curious to see what the community thinks about Alaska

The wife and I took a cruise almost every year. We even got engaged on a cruise. And we took our daughter on her first one when she was 2 and continued that as she grew up. We her and my wife decided they wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise. I wanted no part of it since I used cruises as a way to dive as many places as possible.

But they convinced me to go and and we went in the summer of 2011.

I can't wait to go back. It was the best vacation we ever took together. I went salmon fishing in Ketchikan while they toured Totem Bight State Park. (I got the better end of the deal as we sent 30+ lbs of salmon back home), in Juneau we all did a whale watching excursion and saw plenty of them and ate dinner at the top of Mt. Roberts. Then in Skagway they went glass blowing while I did a helicopter tour of the glacier and then we all panned for gold.

But the scenery was stunning no matter where you looked. And bald eagles were everywhere. Like pigeons here.

We had hoped to have gone back by now, but will for sure in the next 5 years.

 

[Rafterman]

Did you ever see the show on Discovery, The Alaska Triangle? UFOs. Bigfoot, all the cool stuff

 

[MmkLucario]

The wife and I took a cruise almost every year. We even got engaged on a cruise. And we took our daughter on her first one when she was 2 and continued that as she grew up. We her and my wife decided they wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise. I wanted no part of it since I used cruises as a way to dive as many places as possible.

But they convinced me to go and and we went in the summer of 2011.

I can't wait to go back. It was the best vacation we ever took together. I went salmon fishing in Ketchikan while they toured Totem Bight State Park. (I got the better end of the deal as we sent 30+ lbs of salmon back home), in Juneau we all did a whale watching excursion and saw plenty of them and ate dinner at the top of Mt. Roberts. Then in Skagway they went glass blowing while I did a helicopter tour of the glacier and then we all panned for gold.

But the scenery was stunning no matter where you looked. And bald eagles were everywhere. Like pigeons here.

We had hoped to have gone back by now, but will for sure in the next 5 years.

Wow. I haven’t been to southeast Alaska yet as it’s not accessible by road. Glad that you had a great time in Alaska!

 

[shadow puppet]

I was born in Anchorage (Elmendorf AFB) but we moved when I was 2. I've always hoped to make a visit as an adult. The photos I've seen are beautiful. Not to mention the amazing wildlife.

 

[sparksd]

I worked up there in '74 (surveying Cook Inlet) and have returned for trips - climbing in the Alaska Range and going up the Dalton Hwy. to beyond Atigun Pass in the month of January to view the Northern Lights. I love the state but would not want to live there full-time because of the long Winter dark spells. Beautiful state and great people, though. I live in Seattle.

 

[MmkLucario]

I worked up there in '74 (surveying Cook Inlet) and have returned for trips - climbing in the Alaska Range and going up the Dalton Hwy. to beyond Atigun Pass in the month of January to view the Northern Lights. I love the state but would not want to live there full-time because of the long Winter dark spells. Beautiful state and great people, though. I live in Seattle.

I understand about the dark spells. If the winter season had more daylight, it’ll be a lot funner.

 

[HDFan]

Flying into Anchorage on a cloudy day. Mountains on both sides, tops connected by clouds, looked like a ceiling. Just like all of those Star Wars attacks through Death Star canyons. Awesome!

Taking a DC3 (?) from Fairbanks to Kotzebue. It was a combination cargo (in the front) and passenger (in the back) plane. Vivid memory of blood running down the center of the aisle (DC3 when at rest had quite a pitch) from the deer carcass which had been loaded in the front cargo area.

 

[TechRunner]

I've always wanted to spend some time hiking around and exploring Alaska, and I'll get there. My daughter and son-in-law spent a week exploring around Anchorage last year and loved it.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Went on a cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver in the summer of 1993.

It included a side trip to Denali National park before the cruise. There were 22 hours of daylight that day. Didn’t get to see Denali as it was covered by clouds.

I love Alaska, it is so beautiful. My wife and I talk occasionally about spending a winter in Fairbanks some year.

 

[eyoungren]

Personal. I’m curious to see what the community thinks about Alaska

I love airplanes (mainly looking at them, not flying them) so primarily my thoughts about Alaska relate to DC-3s, De Havilland Twin Otters and bush flying. There are a lot of remote communities in Alaska that are only reachable by air and that survive only because of flight. Alaska is a refuge for old aircraft because they are tough and easy to maintain and can do the job.

Alaska also brings to mind F-15s scrambling to intercept Russian Tu-95 Bear-Ds. I'm an 80s kid, so that was a common theme in my childhood. Did you know that at one point our air defense was provided entirely by Canadian CF-18 aircraft?

Canadian fighter jets temporarily fill in for U.S. air defences | CBC News

Canadian CF-18 fighter jets helped plug a hole in U.S. air defences for almost two weeks this month after American jets were grounded as part of a crash investigation.

www.cbc.ca

Alaska is also home to our early warning radars that serve as part of NORAD. Then there are the TV shows covering the Alaska Coast Guard.

Coast Guard Alaska - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Admittedly, my focus is very different than most normal people. But my dad was a Marine who had a career later on as a civilian in the aerospace industry. As a teen, I could get on base because our cars had base stickers. So, a military focus on a lot of places is always a part of me.

 

[Herdfan]

Wow. I haven’t been to southeast Alaska yet as it’s not accessible by road. Glad that you had a great time in Alaska!

Yeah we did the roundtrip out of Seattle. Next time we are going to do the one way north so we can get up to Anchorage and take the train up through Denali.

 

[velocityg4]

Can't really think of what I'd do there. I imagine it's a lot like being in Maine, just bigger. Damp, warm and humid to dry and cold, lots of mosquitos and other bugs and not much to do. For outdoors excursions. I much prefer desert type environments or warm dry coasts. Basically the southwest.

Really though, my main interest is in visiting ancient structures, museums and some scenic towns/cities in Europe and Japan.

 

[MmkLucario]

Alaska also brings to mind F-15s scrambling to intercept Russian Tu-95 Bear-Ds. I'm an 80s kid, so that was a common theme in my childhood. Did you know that at one point our air defense was provided entirely by Canadian CF-18 aircraft?

I did not know that about Canada covering for us. Thanks!

 

[MmkLucario]

lots of mosquitos and other bugs and not much to do.

There’s a lot of mosquitoes, but we don’t have a lot of other bug species, such as centipedes.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I've been to Alaska twice: during the 1970s and during the 2010s. One trip was a self-directed land based trip (Anchorage, Denali National Park and Preserve) while the other was a small boat trip (Juneau, Gustavus, Glacier Bay and adjacent areas).

I like the outdoors activities and the preserved wilderness areas. I currently would not become a permanent resident because of the extremely high cost of living, the lack of major city cultural activities and nightlife, the long distance from family members in other parts of North America, and multiple demographic and psychographic factors.

Agree about Alaska's very high cost of living.

 

[eyoungren]

I did not know that about Canada covering for us. Thanks!

Yeah, 2007. I myself didn't know until last year. Periodically I poke around the web for the fighter aircraft models I like and that came up. Pretty cool that they were just able to slot in with minimal difficulty.

 

[MmkLucario]

Yeah, 2007. I myself didn't know until last year. Periodically I poke around the web for the fighter aircraft models I like and that came up. Pretty cool that they were just able to slot in with minimal difficulty.

If I remember correctly, there are only three military bases where the F-22 are stationed: Honolulu, Hawaii; somewhere in Virginia, and Anchorage, Alaska.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

If I remember correctly, there are only three military bases where the F-22 are stationed: Honolulu, Hawaii; somewhere in Virginia, and Anchorage, Alaska.

F-35's near Fairbanks.