Alaska mags advice needed

[STLHD]

I don’t remember singing Girdwood’s praises.


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[highangle]

You certainly didn't come to bury it, but it's hard to find a sense of community in the KPB when you're part of a seasonal influx of anglers and dipnetters from the Valley. You just get painted with that brush.

[STLHD]

Well you seems like a wonderful endorsement of Soldotna. OP: this is your new neighbor.


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[highangle]

It just sucks they can't find an Alaskan with the skills they need, amirite? Poor employer! I feel so sorry for them.

[wendigo]

As a former Ohioan If you aren’t interested in an adventure, don’t come. If you are, then ignore what anyone else says and make your own way. Sites like apartment.com are not likely worth the bother, things you are used to in the 48 don’t exist here.

Soldotna is pretty much a slope worker red neck town. If that’s your thing then no worries, if it isn’t then you’ll likely have a challenging time. Some beautiful country nearby and good folks all around. AK is weird, we have staunch republican union workers?!

/aside: ak was once full of people who were super nice and super capable, would help you as second nature , you might disagree politically but that was about the last thing to talk about. They still exist, the whiners drown out the signal a bit more than some 30 odd years, but progress...

[Svengali]

^

[shaggy433]

As a former Ohioan......

Soldotna is pretty much a slope worker red neck town. If that’s your thing then no worries, if it isn’t then you’ll likely have a challenging time. Some beautiful country nearby and good folks all around. AK is weird, we have staunch republican union workers?!

/aside: ak was once full of people who were super nice and super capable, would help you as second nature , you might disagree politically but that was about the last thing to talk about. They still exist, the whiners drown out the signal a bit more than some 30 odd years, but progress...

well that makes it sound just like Ohio then huh? What resources are the best to look for rentals? That is one of our biggest concerns is finding somewhere to stay we can afford until I can find a job..

Thanks for the insights everyone. We have a list of questions to ask about the job before we can move forward with deciding. if we get to a 90% chance of accepting we will plan a trip to visit and see for ourselves. Saw that we will need a negative covid test 72 hours prior to flying in.. Anyone know about driving into Canada and back into AK during the border shutdown?

[shaggy433]

It just sucks they can't find an Alaskan with the skills they need, amirite? Poor employer! I feel so sorry for them.

You are correct.. Braindrain is a huge issue in small towns all over the country. She looked into UofA and they don't have a program for her degree even offered so it would be quite hard to hire a local for something that the local colleges don't offer......

[highangle]

As a former Ohioan If you aren’t interested in an adventure, don’t come. If you are, then ignore what anyone else says and make your own way. Sites like apartment.com are not likely worth the bother, things you are used to in the 48 don’t exist here.

Soldotna is pretty much a slope worker red neck town. If that’s your thing then no worries, if it isn’t then you’ll likely have a challenging time. Some beautiful country nearby and good folks all around. AK is weird, we have staunch republican union workers?!

/aside: ak was once full of people who were super nice and super capable, would help you as second nature , you might disagree politically but that was about the last thing to talk about. They still exist, the whiners drown out the signal a bit more than some 30 odd years, but progress...

You sound like a fucking tour guide. Or a Federal employee who came here all expenses paid.

Real quick: Anyone who comes into the country should come by his/her own volition and effort, and be ready to do whatever it takes after they get here. If you don't earn it, you don't appreciate it.

[highangle]

You are correct.. Braindrain is a huge issue in small towns all over the country. She looked into UofA and they don't have a program for her degree even offered so it would be quite hard to hire a local for something that the local colleges don't offer......

Yeah, I graduated Ohio State in 1985 & 1988.

Let me guess...is this job related to 1. health care, or 2. the O&G industry, or 3. one of the woodsier branches of the Federal Gubmnt? Because...those are about the only orgs that would hire anyone from out of state at this point of the recession. The recession we've been in for a few years now.

What do you plan to do here, Shaggy?


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[shaggy433]

Yeah, we don't have a law school or neuroscience cirricula either, but do have a surprisingly strong rocket science program.

Let me guess...is this job related to 1. health care, or 2. the O&G industry?

Neither of these

[BFD]

I do not think the driving thing is happening. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020...another-month/
If the job in anyway involves government funding do not take.

[shaggy433]

I have no idea what I would do there. I'm just a dumb factory worker now....

Its a job with the local government though....

[highangle]

We don't have many factories in the KPB. What we do have is a fucking recession with high unemployment, a big burnt spot, diminishing salmon returns, and too many gelled-up FOB city slickers trying to make Alaska just like where they came from. You'll prob have an inside line to a lot of seasonal work with the City, but the more enterprising you are in Ak, the better.

Except for the far-off views, Soldotna resembles a small town in Michigan, with 1 main drag and a bypass. It gets cold there by KPB standards, they'll prob hit -20 below this winter. There's good land in the area though, but you need a lot of shit to own a spread in Alaska... That said, people will live in anything in Ak. You best give up your Ohio notions of real estate before you start.
4x4 is pretty much necessary, and aux lighting. The Sterling Highway through Cooper Landing is horrible, like driving in India, with ice and drunkies. It's dark for 18hrs/day in winter and moose don't stare at headlights or reflect like deer and tend to come through the windshield when you hit them. It's a long way to the next town from Soldotna. (No, Sterling and Kasilof don't count. Neither does Kenai. For practical purposes, they're just school districts.)

Ship your RVs/boats/airplanes/ATVs and/or bring them when Canada lets you. You'll need them. Buy your bikes here. Get some fucking skills. The cost of education in Ak is skyrocketing, but Alaska needs A&Ps, and refrigeration techs, and merchant marines, and camp cooks, and a bunch of other job-before-graduation skill sets you can pick up formally here.

Post pics of wife

[shaggy433]

We don't have many factories in the KPB. What we do have is a fucking recession with high unemployment, a big burnt spot, diminishing salmon returns, and too many gelled-up FOB city slickers trying to make Alaska just like where they came from. You'll prob have an inside line to a lot of seasonal work with the City, but the more enterprising you are in Ak, the better.

Except for the far-off views, Soldotna resembles a small town in Michigan, with 1 main drag and a bypass. It gets cold there by KPB standards, they'll prob hit -20 below this winter. There's good land in the area though, but you need a lot of shit to own a spread in Alaska... That said, people will live in anything in Ak. You best give up your Ohio notions of real estate before you start.
4x4 is pretty much necessary, and aux lighting. It's dark for 18hrs/day in winter and moose don't stare at headlights or reflect like deer and tend to come through the windshield when you hit them. It's a long way to the next town from Soldotna. (No, Sterling and Kasilof don't count. Neither does Kenai. For practical purposes, they're just school districts.)

Ship your RVs/boats/airplanes/ATVs and/or bring them when Canada lets you. You'll need them. Buy your bikes here. Get some fucking skills. The cost of education in Ak is skyrocketing, but Alaska needs A&Ps, and generator techs, and merchant marines, and camp cooks, and a bunch of other job-before-graduation skill sets you can pick up formally here.

Post pics of wife

quite a bit of anger here huh? Considering I actually did grow up in a "small town in the UP of Mi" of 1337, Brimley if you want to look it up (quite higher than I thought but its counting that as a 100^3 miles so that helps the count) it only had a stoplight about 3 miles outside of town and another one on the other side of "town" so your saying it would be almost like home! The wife is actually in Zoning so you know making sure people don't build stupid/unsafe/environmental harmful shit in such a wonderful sounding place.

I guess if we do decide to make the move I don't think I'll be searching you out to have a beer with......

[XXX-er]

Checking out the AK you probably wana fly cuz its a very long way to drive thru hostile territory

[shaggy433]

Checking out the AK you probably wana fly cuz its a very long way to drive thru hostile territory

To visit we would fly but if we moved we would have to drive... We priced having everything shipped up and it was close to 10k

[highangle]

Uhmm...That wasn't an angry post, brah.

When did you plan to visit?

[skifishbum]

quite a bit of anger here huh? Considering I actually did grow up in a "small town in the UP of Mi" of 1337, Brimley if you want to look it up (quite higher than I thought but its counting that as a 100^3 miles so that helps the count) it only had a stoplight about 3 miles outside of town and another one on the other side of "town" so your saying it would be almost like home! The wife is actually in Zoning so you know making sure people don't build stupid/unsafe/environmental harmful shit in such a wonderful sounding place.

I guess if we do decide to make the move I don't think I'll be searching you out to have a beer with......

been my experiances ifin you just judge them e books n kooks by the cover or a few random passages yur probably gonna miss sums good irl readin and interactions
id git this for the mrs.

with a name like hurricane dave
its gots to be

[highangle]

[XXX-er]

To visit we would fly but if we moved we would have to drive... We priced having everything shipped up and it was close to 10k

As I undertand it You can drive thru if you have a real need SO a job is cool, CBSA the federal Canadian gov will give you a rear view mirror plaque with a time limit written on it so you are expected to transit within that time

So when they say drive thru stay with your vehical, don't go site seeing, don't go hiking, don't visit national parks, don't have a vaca that is what they mean SO resist that urge to be a rugged individulaist


re: the brain drain kids gotta go away just cuz they gotta, we gots a whole buncha kids in their 30's coming home for quality of life and free babysitting with the grand parents

[highangle]

[AK47bp]

You should watch some Alaskan Bush People on Discovery Channel for a real taste of authentic AK life. Those people have it figured out and are dam near experts in everything Alaska. They have no resources, no money, yet they somehow make due.

Probably the most accurate representation of true Alaskans, ever, period.


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[XXX-er]

I met an Alaskan in Mexico who had come down with cash to hang out with a bering sea fisherman buddy running the airBnB, he runs out of cash had to borrow money becuz he had NO cards & NO credit of any kind, Buddy had always worked hard always owned all the usual stuff the cars/trucks/sleds/boats yada yada but no cards and it almost sounded like no bank accounts. I told him he needs to establish credit and he looked at me like I had 2 heads

[Svengali]

XXX-er, that was highangles neighbor.