Have some questions about the areas of town, schools, general life there. If so, let me know and I can email you.

Yes.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Its been decades since I last lived there but the trends are probably the same.

The south side and foothills are the areas to be.

Summers are short and beyond awesome, the winters are cold and dark. How you handle it will depend on your personality type. You'll go to work in the dark and you return home in the dark. Take vitamin D supplements.

And everything is expensive. Including travel to get out for anything.

I live in Juneau but spend some time in Anchorage for work. I would be happy to try and answer some questions for you.

I grew up in Eagle River, just outside of Anchorage. It was awesome.

Looks line there is an Alaska aggies group https://www.aggienetwork.com/club/scaka/south-central-alaska-aandm-club/

I used to. But I moved back to the lower 48 in December of 08 so I may not be the best source.


But the answer is yes. You should move there. No doubt about it.

falconace said:

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I grew up in Eagle River, just outside of Anchorage. It was awesome.

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I went to ravenwood elementary.

agsalaska said:

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I used to. But I moved back to the lower 48 in December of 08 so I may not be the best source.


But the answer is yes. You should move there. No doubt about it.

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I can appreciate that. It might be on the table for 2025, TBD right now.

Sorry it's cold up there. I do work with a few Alaska boys and they don't like it here. They chafe up. 2 came from west Texas and said it was fine, but the humidity was horrible. It's a different cold and hot. I know it doesn't answer the question.

Have not lived there since 1969. Always meant to move back, but never worked out. Great place to live, however I could never get used to coming out of bars at 2:30am and it still being light.

Another huge point is if you're married or not.

If not, men out number women by a significant amount. Maybe that works in your favor or not.

If you are married, how your wife adapts will be a huge part of the happiness factor. The big issue is getting outdoors in the winter. Alpine/Cross Country skiing, snowshoeing etc... rather important. Alcoholism is a big issue tied to depression. There is no spring, its called breakup, when the ice melts and so do relationships.

Do you like watching football at 8am? Time zones are a thing as well, if trying to stay in touch with TX there's a 3hr time difference. Doesn't sound like much but it can be.

Kids generally adapt to it better. It's an amazing place but there are some significant things to consider. You need 2 different wardrobes. You'll need 2 different sets of tires for each vehicle as studded tires are needed for winter. Lots of hidden expenses.

There is about a 50% chance my wife and I move back and retire somewhere on the Kenai. If the time is ever right we would love too.

The one thing about raising kids there is drug and alcohol abuse. I know a lot of parents think 'Il never let my kids…'. Yea ok. It's like 1 in 4 kids have experimented with hard drugs, mostly meth and fentanyl by the time they are 18. It is an extremely high(no pun intended) number.

Don't get me wrong I know a LOT of good people born and raised there who have kids that have thrived there. But I also know a few that have not. It happens everywhere but happens more up there.

The other downside to raising kids in Alaska is the remoteness. I had several employees transfer to stores in the lower 48 who were back within weeks, often broke. It's really expensive to fly your kids to the lower 48 where they can experience things like interstates, real diversity(non native), traffic jams, elevators. It's hard to explain the kind of naivety they can have.

Of course there is a metric ton of upsides to living and raising a family there. I just gave some negatives.

agsalaska said:

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It's like 1 in 4 kids have experimented with hard drugs, mostly meth and fentanyl by the time they are 18.

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This an Alaska specific statistic?

I consider myself an outdoors person, but Alaska sounds like a miserable place to be permanently.

Howdy Dammit said:

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I consider myself an outdoors person, but Alaska sounds like a miserable place to be permanently.

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It's pretty binary. You thrive or depression/alcoholism/drug abuse/divorce. Choice of partner is a very critical issue.

Seasonal affective disorder got me big time. Had to get the special lamps, use tanning beds and exercise like crazy to fight it.

when we lived there, my parents had the three of us kids and i think that's probably a big help in maintaining a normal active schedule, even when the weather/season dictates otherwise. getting up for 6A hockey practices, going to evening basketball games, etc forces some normalcy. we also did plenty of outdoor stuff, which is also important.

AlaskanAg99 said:

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Another huge point is if you're married or not.

If not, men out number women by a significant amount. Maybe that works in your favor or not.

If you are married, how your wife adapts will be a huge part of the happiness factor. The big issue is getting outdoors in the winter. Alpine/Cross Country skiing, snowshoeing etc... rather important. Alcoholism is a big issue tied to depression. There is no spring, its called breakup, when the ice melts and so do relationships.

Do you like watching football at 8am? Time zones are a thing as well, if trying to stay in touch with TX there's a 3hr time difference. Doesn't sound like much but it can be.

Kids generally adapt to it better. It's an amazing place but there are some significant things to consider. You need 2 different wardrobes. You'll need 2 different sets of tires for each vehicle as studded tires are needed for winter. Lots of hidden expenses.

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We've been in a very small town, in a pretty remote area of Montana for the last 5 years. Population 250, closest grocery store is 45 minutes away, closest airport is 2.5hrs, doctor/hospital is an hour. Anchorage would actually be moving to a big city.

I do a 2.5hr roundtrip 1-2x per week for skiing. Anchorage probably won't have the quality of slope we are currently skiing (TBD on Alyeska), but proximity and availability of slopes looks like a huge improvement. My wife likes Nordic skiing (I have skis but haven't done it much), and we have enough acreage on our property now, but we're going into year 2 where there hasn't been enough snow to do it.

We're pretty well covered for the wardrobe already and have 2 sets of tires for my wife's vehicle. My truck has done fine with good tires, but would probably look at putting studs on. Would really like to find another set of rims to make it easier on myself.

I grew up in Anchorage as my father worked in the oil business. I really loved living there as a kid but I would never live there again as an adult. I don't mind the cold but the prolonged darkness would be a deal breaker for me.

I have visited over the years since and the while the people are nice there I find them not all that welcoming even from someone who grew up there. To me Anchorage is a great jumping off point for the rest of Alaska but the city doesn't do much for me.

There are a ton of groomed trails for Nordic skiing. Miles and miles available at multiple locations throughout the city. I was competitive in HS and I attended Service High on the south side.

Sounds like your family would be pretty well adapted to moving. The real issue would be how often you'd travel to the Lower 48 as that costs will go through the roof.

Is it just me, or are there a LOT of cigarette smokers in Anchorage?

Aggie_Boomin 21 said:

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agsalaska said:

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It's like 1 in 4 kids have experimented with hard drugs, mostly meth and fentanyl by the time they are 18.

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This an Alaska specific statistic?

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I will try to find it later but it is the worst in the US. Worse than Oregon and Washington.

aggiederelict said:

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I grew up in Anchorage as my father worked in the oil business. I really loved living there as a kid but I would never live there again as an adult. I don't mind the cold but the prolonged darkness would be a deal breaker for me.

I have visited over the years since and the while the people are nice there I find them not all that welcoming even from someone who grew up there. To me Anchorage is a great jumping off point for the rest of Alaska but the city doesn't do much for me.

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I spent two summers living there in the late 70s while my father was directing mining exploration programs in the Brooks Range. We rented a house out on Campbell Lake and as a kid, it was an awesome place to be in the summer. We never had to find out what the winters were like, but I can't imagine myself liking the winter darkness at all. I definitely want to go back to visit, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't want to try going through a winter there.

Alaska is an AWESOME place to visit in the summer. But the winters are too dark, cold, and long… I could never live there full time.

Ham Slice MRE said:

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Seasonal affective disorder got me big time. Had to get the special lamps, use tanning beds and exercise like crazy to fight it.

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Yea, that gets a lot of people. I never needed the lamps, but I did tan and spend a lot of time in the sauna for a while.

I never lived there, but I spent 10 years working on the slope rotating out of AK. I don't care about skiing, but I fished a lot with buddies down in Kenai and numerous halibut trips.

Whaler said:

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Alaska is an AWESOME place to visit in the summer. But the winters are too dark, cold, and long… I could never live there full time.

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I loved the winters. Absolutely loved them. I also like to ski and drink beer in bars so that helped.

Key to the winter is to get out and do things.

I hated the spring when everything melted.

RK said:

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falconace said:

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I grew up in Eagle River, just outside of Anchorage. It was awesome.

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I went to ravenwood elementary.

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Me too... back when the rock was yellow. What years did you go there? I was at Ravenwood in the early 90s

rather be fishing said:

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AlaskanAg99 said:

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Another huge point is if you're married or not.

If not, men out number women by a significant amount. Maybe that works in your favor or not.

If you are married, how your wife adapts will be a huge part of the happiness factor. The big issue is getting outdoors in the winter. Alpine/Cross Country skiing, snowshoeing etc... rather important. Alcoholism is a big issue tied to depression. There is no spring, its called breakup, when the ice melts and so do relationships.

Do you like watching football at 8am? Time zones are a thing as well, if trying to stay in touch with TX there's a 3hr time difference. Doesn't sound like much but it can be.

Kids generally adapt to it better. It's an amazing place but there are some significant things to consider. You need 2 different wardrobes. You'll need 2 different sets of tires for each vehicle as studded tires are needed for winter. Lots of hidden expenses.

---

We've been in a very small town, in a pretty remote area of Montana for the last 5 years. Population 250, closest grocery store is 45 minutes away, closest airport is 2.5hrs, doctor/hospital is an hour. Anchorage would actually be moving to a big city.

I do a 2.5hr roundtrip 1-2x per week for skiing. Anchorage probably won't have the quality of slope we are currently skiing (TBD on Alyeska), but proximity and availability of slopes looks like a huge improvement. My wife likes Nordic skiing (I have skis but haven't done it much), and we have enough acreage on our property now, but we're going into year 2 where there hasn't been enough snow to do it.

We're pretty well covered for the wardrobe already and have 2 sets of tires for my wife's vehicle. My truck has done fine with good tires, but would probably look at putting studs on. Would really like to find another set of rims to make it easier on myself.

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Alyeska is pretty awesome... also love that most of the mountain is lit so you can night ski

Because it's dark in winter...gotta make those bucks.

The twilight hours really mess with your depth of perception when on the slopes. Long shadows can be tricky to navigate.

In town is Hillside ski hill. Good for beginners. My high school backs up to it and we'd ski up the backside of the hill, then through the trees and go down the hill. Their "ski patrol" would chase us but as we're on X country skis, we'd hit the flat and just take off.

Nordic trails...over 100 miles.

https://anchoragenordicski.com/trails/

Yep, the flat light sucks. I use that time to get a beer or two at the Sitzmark