Thoughts on Anchorage

[Reddie]

Anchorage Mad Dog guys (or anyone else who has lived there)
Looking for opinions on living in Anchorage vs MEM (QOL, cost, Schools, ect).
Also good areas to live in and any good real estate agents.
The wife has finally had enough of MEM and we're looking at options before the next bid.
Thanks

 

[Whale Rider]

Anchorage Mad Dog guys (or anyone else who has lived there)
Looking for opinions on living in Anchorage vs MEM (QOL, cost, Schools, ect).
Also good areas to live in and any good real estate agents.
The wife has finally had enough of MEM and we're looking at options before the next bid.
Thanks

Doesn't the US Gov't pay people to inhabit Alaska??? Thats got to be a plus.

 

[PurpleTail]

Anchorage Mad Dog guys (or anyone else who has lived there)
Looking for opinions on living in Anchorage vs MEM (QOL, cost, Schools, ect).
Also good areas to live in and any good real estate agents.
The wife has finally had enough of MEM and we're looking at options before the next bid.
Thanks

If your wife and kids don't mind the winters and the cold I would have moved to ANC. All trips out of ANC are international pay, cost of living could be worse (LAX) and there are lots of outdoor activities for family and kids.

For me, ANC was too cold for the wife and MEM was NOT even a consideration.

GL

 

[Chronic Jetlag]

You get a check every year as an AK resident called a Divident check. Check out a small town just north of Anchorage called Eagle River. It's less than 30 minutes from the airport. Nice little town. Anchorage is actually not as bad as say Chicago or Minnesota during the winter. It's dry and mild during the winter. I never actually lived there but spent about 9 years flying through and layover there; sometimes as long as 4-5 days at a time.

 

[psysicx]

Is it true the sun doesn't set in ANC in the summer?

 

[banned username 2]

Is it true the sun doesn't set in ANC in the summer?

It sets, but at around 11:40pm and rises around 4:20am (end of June)... In the summer it never gets totally dark at night, always a bit of twilight... At least from the beginning of June till about the end of July...

Now at the end of December it sets around 3:45pm and rises around 10:15am...

Now in Barrow, AK, the sun rises on May 11 and doesn't set until August 1, of course it sets on Nov 19 and doesn't rise again until January 22 (for a whopping 49 minutes of sunlight!)

 

[Miyagi]

Doesn't the US Gov't pay people to inhabit Alaska??? Thats got to be a plus.

THe program is called the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend and is run by the Alaska Department of Revenue. Here is a look at their five-year history:
2004 - $919.84
2003 - $1,107.56
2002 - $1,540.76
2001 - $1,850.28
2000 - $1,963.86

You can get more dividend history at: http://www.pfd.state.ak.us/dividendamounts/index.aspx​

 

[turbodriver]

And dont get your panties in a bunch about free money either. It ain't tax free.

I don't miss getting it myself. It just pushes my taxable income that much higher.

 

[CSY Mon]

ANC is nice, more so in the summer...Ya tolerate the winters...Then there is the non-stop pax flight to Hawaii for a week of R&R...Or it used to be.

I got married in ANC and did the honeymoon in Hawaii...6 hours straight South on a DC-10 if memory serves right,

So, yeah, ANC is good and far milder than ORD or MNP in the winter..

Also good people up there.

Would move back in a flash if I was not hooked on Florida anf them Bahamian Islands and my sail boat.

 

[HoursHore]

Purple Tail,

Where do guys live in LA? Is it possible to get anything nice for 300,000? Are LA Guys worried about the Domicile closing? Thinking about trying for LA on the next bid.

 

[psysicx]

You could buy a shack in Canyon County for under 300,000. And that includes a trout stream in your back yard. Or if you don't mind a little drive like an hour and half depending on traffic you could live in Wrightwood. Its up in the mountains by a ski resort. Buy a lot for 60,000 and use the rest to build your dream home.

 

[AlbieF15]

Anchorage winters are about like Chicago's, but you do get hit with some -40 weeks. Big problem with winter is not the intensity, but the length. Snow is still covering ground in April, and you've been longing for Spring since late Feb. Those last 8 weeks can be tough. That aside--loved it up there for 3.5 great years.

 

[inline]

Anchorage winters are about like Chicago's, but you do get hit with some -40 weeks. Big problem with winter is not the intensity, but the length. Snow is still covering ground in April, and you've been longing for Spring since late Feb. Those last 8 weeks can be tough. That aside--loved it up there for 3.5 great years.

Anchorage doesn't get temps to -40. In extremely rare occurances you might see a spike to -30 near the mountains. the average Jan temp is the mid 20s. Warmer than MSP. And when it's cold for the most part the wind is calm.

 

[Reddie]

thanks for all the replys guys. If this next bid has vacancys up there, does anybody know if training dates are awarded strictly on senority or on staffing need (ie we need crews up there faster than MEM so they get trained first).

 

[turbodriver]

Anchorage doesn't get temps to -40. In extremely rare occurances you might see a spike to -30 near the mountains. the average Jan temp is the mid 20s. Warmer than MSP. And when it's cold for the most part the wind is calm.

Anchorage does get temps down to -40. I've seen in on many occasions while living there. Doesn't happen too often anymore, due to the last few winters being very mild but 5-10 years ago, we were seeing -30, -40 type of temps.

 

[Singlecoil]

The lowest official temperature ever recorded in ANC is -34F in Jan. 1975 according to yahoo weather. The city does have a lot of microclimates, -40 could be possible on the east side of town.

 

[turbodriver]

Yahoo weather?

I can distinctively remember back when I was in junior high school one morning, before I walked outside my house to walk across the street to catch the bus to school, I looked at the thermometer. It read -40F in the early morning. THis was in the late 80's.

Back before yahoo....

 

[mrvmo]

F Street

Humpy's

 

[321 busdriver]

I lived there from 1979-1983 and never had anything approach -40. Back before there was yahoo wx and cheap outdoor thermometers.

Yahoo weather?

I can distinctively remember back when I was in junior high school one morning, before I walked outside my house to walk across the street to catch the bus to school, I looked at the thermometer. It read -40F in the early morning. THis was in the late 80's.

Back before yahoo....

 

[WorldOnTime]

From the National Weather Service's website, record low temps for ANC:

Top 5 Minimum Low Temperatures
-38 degrees...........February 3, 1947
-37 degrees...........February 4, 1947
-36 degrees...........December 25, 1917
-36 degrees...........December 24, 1917
-35 degrees...........January 30, 1947