Greetings. Forgive the re-post. I’ve jumped at the past week of good weather in Alaska and enjoyed Seward and Soldotna. I’ll see you next week.
Have you ever considered visiting the 49th state, or even moving to Alaska?
Every summer, thousands of tourists visit Alaska. With it’s strong economy and exquisite wildlife, Alaska has also become home to a growing number of adventurers in recent years.
If you’re thinking of coming to Alaska, please do. But for the sake of us all, keep the following Four Laws of the Land in mind.
1) You can’t pee in the pool.
Although great in size, Alaska is still a small town. The land is rugged and the temperatures are extreme. It doesn’t take long before you realize that you need the people around you to survive. On two occasions last winter alone, my neighbors helped dig me out of my driveway so I could eek my way to work after snowstorms buried my car. A state trooper friend told me he had to ask an offender’s family to give his patrol car’s dead battery a jump after he arrested their son on a warrant. And a delightful dog I know named Lewis relied on his compassionate neighbors for sustenance and walks when owner Bob Eder was mauled and nearly killed by a grizzly this summer as he hiked around the neighborhood. http://www.adn.com/2012/07/24/2554460/man-mauled-by-grizzly-bear-is.html
(After weeks in the hospital, Lewis’s owner is doing much better now).
2) Birds of a feather don’t flock together.
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| Community activist Ma’o Tosi |
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| Inuit band Pamyua |
When you travel, do you like to be with people who mostly look like you? People who eat the same foods and listen to your kind of music?
If you answered Yes, you might want to stay home.
This past year, the U.S. Census Bureau found that Caucasians were minorities for the first time ever in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. Over 100 languages are spoken within the local school district. While many people think of Alaska as home to the Eskimo, the reality is that there are many different kinds of Alaska natives. Immigrant populations come from the Pacific Islands, Sudan, Bhutan, Gambia, Laos, and many other countries I can’t spell. And neighborhoods aren’t necessarily clustered by race or culture. We’re all snuggled in together, trying to get along, pushing each other out of snowy ditches or warning one another about bear cubs in the neighborhood.
3) Plans cannot be contingent on good weather.
An Alaskan that waits for good weather to execute their plan is a frustrated, inactive human. If you decide Alaska is for you, you’ll learn to like hiking in the snow in April, or fishing in the rain in June (After all, the fish are already wet!). Today at the state fair, I was among hundreds of other Alaskans standing in the wind and rain, happily listening to the super-group from the seventies, Styx. Life goes on, regardless of what the weather dishes out.
4) The odds are good, but the goods are odd.
I’d love to tell you that I made that phrase up myself. I didn’t. Legend has it that it came about when women learned that the ratio of men to women were something like 5 to 1 in rural Alaska twenty years ago, a mecca for husband-seeking females until they got up close and personal with the men in question. Looking for love? You might want to consider casting your net far and wide. Something about the extremes of the Last Frontier seems to bring out the quirks in us all.
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| Me, flanked by odd goods. |
Alaska is a place of mystery and wonder. If you haven’t already been here, I hope you’ll come. And if you’re considering it or have questions about it, please leave them here! And as always, thank you for visiting my blog.
For more information on visiting Alaska, check out alaska.gov/visitorHome.html
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