Tell me about Alaska

[Tailleur17 361]

Just relocated to Anchorage with the wife. 3-5 year commitment. Beautiful scenery. 

Any surls in the area? 

[Twizzler 176]

Can you see Russia from your house?

Don't live there, but curious what comes from this thread.  Spent a couple childhood years in anchorage. 

[futureman 22,566]

America is only about a mile from Russia.  pretty crazy. 

[CooterBrown 18,117]

Fuck a Palin. Everybody else has.

[PRONG HORN 3,167]

41 miles away.  Lucky you

https://www.alyeskaresort.com/

 

[HouTex 1,902]

Alaska is great. Anchorage has a surprising number of really good restaurants. People are super friendly. Some of the last pioneers.

[Lhorn 5,045]

Never been to Anchorage, just the places cruise ship stopped (Haines, Ketchikan, Juneau).  Beautiful place.  I'd seriously consider moving there.

[Macanudo 13,103]

Get out to Homer, Soldotna and Valdez.   They aren't big but the scenery is amazing.   If you like to fish, go out on a charter and get some salmon, halibut and rockfish.  Nothing like fresh fish for dinner when you caught it that day.

Moose's Tooth has good pizza and beer in Anchorage.    Get used to lots of daylight during the summer and lots of darkness in the winter.   You won't get 24 hours of either but it will be 20+.   

Are you military or oil/gas?   

[Beau Vine 55,030]

Biggest mosquitos I have ever seen, and it's not even close.

[irishtexan 11,598]

Kid I grew up with has lived there for years. He loved it but he’s one of the weirdest dudes I know. Heard it’s beautiful. I think I would struggle with the winters and only have five and a half hours of sunlight a day in mid-December.

[Grippe 313]

I grew up out past Chugiak (Mustangs!) so here's a few notes:

• Find a bug repellent that works for you (bug repellent is to Alaskans what Sun Screen is to pasty white Texans)
• Have a personal sidearm, train on it, and use it responsibly
• Pepper spray is effective on bears, wolves and mama moose (the last one I can speak from experience on)
• Get an ATV or side by side, have it on a trailer
• Get a canoe and swap it out on said trailer when not using the ATV
• If you don't fish/aren't an angler, learn how and do everything you can to avoid the tourist destinations (e.g. the Kenai - stay the fuck away)
• Make a friend with a private pilot - you can pay tourist prices for flying into the interior or have a friend who only wants you to go dutch
• Winter blues is BS, I used to hear about people getting depressed - Winter is for social gatherings (Parties, going to UAA hockey/basketball games, celebrating holidays together,  FUR RONDY!!!!), summer is for going out and exploring the wilds individual/family
• Do NOT drink and drive - the State Troopers are allowed to lock you up for 48hrs on suspicion of being under the influence... this is not a joke
• Yes, try the fireweed honey when its offered to you, it's awesomeness
• When skiing at Arctic Valley, you MUST do the 5 mile trail - there's nothing like it anywhere in the lower 48
• Don't piss your pants over earthquakes, unless the roof on the building you're in collapses it absolutely is NOT a 'big one'
• Engine heaters are not an option in winter
• Nether are studs/snow chains - they cost extra to have and to have put on in the fall and taken off in the spring but thems the breaks kid
• Whore's happen - it's a male dominated demographic and the working ladies have lives to live, don't stick your nose up at them
• Once you find a bug repellent that works for your, buy more of it

 

[staboner 5,017]

eat halibut fish and chips all goddamn day long

[Stoogey 219]

Global warming is a real thing. 

A highlight of an Alaskan cruise is sailing Glacier Bay. First time my wife and I saw the glacier calving icebergs twice during the hour we the ship spent there. The ship is far enough away that you see the iceberg falling before hearing the sharp crack noise of the ice separating, rumble and splash. On our most recent trip it sounded like being at a rifle range, the glacier was calving so frequently. The activity has caused the glacier to retreat more than twenty miles from Captain Cook's maps in some places. 

Also the lake in front of the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau - I would have described it as a pond thirty years ago.
 

[HouTex 1,902]

Glaciers have been retreating and advancing for millenia. Under some of the recently retreating Glaciers in Europe they are finding evidence of ancient forests.

[Planet Houston 4,943]

I have about 24 hours to myself in Anchorage week after next - what is a good one-day activity this time of year? I’m thinking of this day-long ATV tour to see as much of the surrounding area (including the glacier) as possible, but if anyone else has a must-do for one day, I’m all ears:

https://49smt.com/

[PRONG HORN 3,167]

Fishing fresh or salt.  

[HouTex 1,902]

Yes, go fishing. Salmon runs may be over-but maybe some Silvers are still running. Trout fishing should be good in the Kenai.

[Longboard Horn 41,081]

I lived in Alaska for a summer. The sun never sets and the mosquitoes are giant. They’ve also built up an immunity to Off, so most bug sprays don’t work well. The mosquito jokingly has been dubbed “the state bird of Alaska” lol.

[HouTex 1,902]

The mosquitoes must be localized.  I've fished north of Anchorage in early June and in the Kenai in late August and never saw/felt a mosquito.  And I've been in Anchorage throughout the year and never saw/felt one.

[Grippe 313]

Best trout fishing I found is at Lake Louise, both on the shore and out in a boat/canoe.

Best fish to fight?  Grayling, hands down, those little bastards fight like shrews.

[Tailleur17 361]

On 8/15/2018 at 6:01 PM, Macanudo said:

Get out to Homer, Soldotna and Valdez.   They aren't big but the scenery is amazing.   If you like to fish, go out on a charter and get some salmon, halibut and rockfish.  Nothing like fresh fish for dinner when you caught it that day.

Moose's Tooth has good pizza and beer in Anchorage.    Get used to lots of daylight during the summer and lots of darkness in the winter.   You won't get 24 hours of either but it will be 20+.   

Are you military or oil/gas?   

Completely forgot I created this thread. Been here a little over a month now. I'm a geologist for an O&G company that has an office in Houston as well. 

Moose's Tooth is damn good. Beer is great. Seems like every brewery around here has great beer. Growler fills are a good value up here compared to sixers.

Have been down to Girdwood/Alyeska a few times already. Beautiful country. The drive along the Turnagain Arm might be the most scenic highway I've ever seen. The weather sucked here in August but we've had about 7 days in a row of 65 and sunny. Incredible weather. 

Been hiking in the Chugach quite a bit. You could probably hike a trail every day for a year and not repeat any. Kincaid Park on the inlet coast is also really cool. Saw a Moose yesterday there. 

[Grippe 313]

2 minutes ago, Tailleur17 said:

Been hiking in the Chugach quite a bit. You could probably hike a trail every day for a year and not repeat any. Kincaid Park on the inlet coast is also really cool. Saw a Moose yesterday there. 

From the time I was 10 until I was 15 I used to go up into the Chugach on my three wheeler (185S!) and disappear for a few days.  I'd fish, camp and just be alone as a young teen - it was incredible, it got me away from my family and in touch with nature.  Best way in the world to grow up.