Orlandobabe, it is different living in Alaska. For starters our state is more than twice the size of Texas with a population of around 750,000 for the entire state and 400,000 just for the largest city Anchorage.
Its mostly white people with the native indians like the Athabaskans, Tlingkits, Aleut (AL-ee-ute) and about a couple more mostly live north and along the coast.
We have no "slums or ghettos" but a lot of people that homestead out in the bush or interior where there are no roads. I hav'nt seen a colored person in years, its mostly rednecks where I liveand thats 50 miles north of Anchorage in the Mat-Su Valley, it was settled in the 1930's by several hundred Norwegion families.
Almost everything is flown in or shipped by barge, if I need hobby supplies, paint or specialty items I must buy on the internet, land is cheap sometimes its free but thats way out in the middle of the bush and you must fly in to it. My home sits on 8 acres, two story house around 2,000 sq. ft. I think, its always expanding, paid $55,000 for it, have less than $6,000 on the balance. I moved here in 1992 from Lake Tahoe,NV where I was a marine engineer on the Tahoe Queeen a large paddle type of sternwheeler cruise ship.
Since 1995 I have been a mechanic, welder, electrician, plumber and concrete mixer driver at a company called Consteel the largest concrete batch plant outside of Anchorage. I work sometimes year round often outside when its -40, usually we only get 5 good months of warm weather from 50-70 degrees with over 20 hours of daylight. Working days are sometimes 6-7 days of 12+ hours.
Thats right, in the summer sunrise is at 3:30AM, sunset about 11:30, inbetween its light enough to not use headlights driving. Everything grows on a fast scale, potatoes 2 feet long, cabbages 5 feet across, carrots the size of baseball bats. Thats also when the tourists arrive, we get swarms of HUGE land yachts, bigger than highway bussess towing a car, its a long long hard drive of about 2,000 miles up the Alaska Highway through Canada to get here, most is gravel, one road only, I have driven it three times, very hard on the vehicles.
Cost of living is a little higher, but housing is very affordable as per buying a house, renting though is high. Wages are way above scale for skilled people and those that must work outside in winter. I do OK in that area
Almost all Alaskans of at least one years residency get whats called a "Dividend" its money from the state for revenue of the sale and investments of oil, usually its about $1,500-$1,800 but can go higher as it does every year. So about 1/4th of Alaskans by my guess use this money for winter vacation, many opt for either Hawaii or Orlando, we plan for it every year. Also many own homes in Arizona like my employer and is there from around jan-april.
Winter is long, dark, dreary,and can be depressing because of so little daylight and thats the complete opposite of summer. I have a full home theatre, 53" widescreen TV, satellite, DVD and well over 200 movies, XBOX 3 computers and games for the family, myself I build model tanks, planes, trains and also my gunsmithing.
It takes people that are hardy to live up here, whiners and slackers won't cut it through the first winter, have seen them come and go year after year. Living here can be dangerous, we have bear both the small black bear and the monster Grizzlies, they are everywhere. Herds of moose roam in town and around. I always carry a firearm when I am outside the house especially in the springtime when the bears come out of hibernation and are foraging for food.
Alaska I think is a good place to raise a family, sure we have drugs and kids shooting kids and occasionally a drivebye shooter but much much less than the urban cities in the lower 48. Only reason I would leave is because of the brutal winters and thats just for a couple of months.
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