To start out, I live in a state that is five times the size of Texas but has a population around the same size as Austin. We have less than 1500 miles of road within the state and our state capitol is not accessible by road. You either need to boat in or fly in to do state business there.
Russia lives 50 miles off of our Western shores. In the winter, when the water freezes, it is possible to walk between Russia and Alaska. It's dangerous, but possible. If you go from Alaska to Russia, you will be met with guns and arrested immediately. Not so if you are coming the other way.
On the North Slope of Alaska, the sun does not go down in the summer. It just makes a circle in the sky. In the winter, the sun does not come up. The temperature drops to 80 below and that is before you take into account wind chill. And believe it or not, the North Slope of Alaska is flat. There are no mountains there. Just miles and miles of flat, frozen tundra.
I live in a small community. We are on the road system but three hours from a decent sized city. Our estimated population here is around 4,000. However, a number of the 4,000 go south for the winter and in the summer 30,000 tourist hit our shores. There is no Target, Sears, or Nordstroms. It has been so long since I have been in the lower 48 that I am not sure if Nordstrom still exist.
In the town I live in nearly all the restaurants carry the same menu. You have your choice between burgers and fries, mexican, greek, or pizza at nearly any restaurant in town. The is no Red Robin, Chili's, Olive Garden, Roadhouse. (Man, I miss the never ending salad bowl and breadsticks!) No real chain restaurants to speak of except MacDonald's and Arby's. There is a Carl Junior the next town over and they have a Pizza Hut too.
There is not a lot of industry here. Many of the men work as guides or commercial fisherman in the summer. Or, like my husband, they fly to work either on a platform or up on the North Slope and are gone for a week or two, or three depending on their schedule and then they come home for a couple weeks before going back again. Other men work in the mines and are gone six months at a time. There are plenty of women that work those jobs too but there are more men up there. Someone has to stay home and watch the kids.
The snow flies here by Halloween and normally does not melt until May. Winter feels like an eternity. And did I mention that it is dark to boot. Here on the peninsula we have around 3 hours of daylight per day in the winter. Temperatures drop as low as -40. Summer is nice. We rarely rise above 76 degrees in the summer and it is daylight for nearly 24 hours. It might get a little dusky, but not enough to interrupt fishing.
As I posted in an earlier blog, the wildlife is amazing. Moose come directly in our yard. Unfortunately for our last rabbit, so do bear. Garbage and dog food cannot be stored outside. Do not hang brid feeders, ever!!!! And you darn well better believe we skin and filet our fish at the river. You best not plan to do it in my backyard. If you try it, I will send you straight back down to the river with your bloody fish carcasses. No reason to purposely attract bear into the yard. I can handle losing a rabbit or two but I want to do my best to keep my children safe. We have had bear eating moose right across from the end of my driveway and I cannot see that a bear will differentiate between a moose and my child.
We homeschool more children here than in any other state. I too have joined the ranks of homeschooling momma's. We also have less regulations on homeschooling so we have some real smart ones and we have some real idiots. Spend some time here and you will discover that homeschooling has been around for a long time here. At least I assume the problem with some of the people I meet can be blamed on homeschool. Or maybe it is just inbreeding. I truly hope my children fall into the smarter category.
The area I live in was originally close to a native village. Homesteader's were given land for free providing they lived on the land that they were given. Alaska is not a very forgiving place to homestead. I cannot even imagine how the early settlers in this area survived. I can tell you that many of the original homestead families still exist. Not the homesteader themselves, but their children and grandchildren. Yes, their children. The missionaries did not really settle into this area until the 1940's. Prior to that, the area was native and russian orthodox. There is still a large Russian population and many of the Russian Orthodox live in small isolated communities at the end of the road system. Their villages are not easy to get to and they do not really like uninvited guest. As a whole, they are polite and friendly people. They just like their privacy. As for the native village, well, it is long gone. We still have plenty of villages out in the bush but the villages did not survive along the road system.
Alaska is a carry and conceal state. Most of the population owns firearms. If you have a problem with that, I invite you to go hiking, unarmed, into the Skilak Lake wilderness area. If you come out alive, then we can talk. Skilak Lake is home to more bears than any other area in Alaska. Both brown bear and black bear live in abundance there. If you want to distinguish black bear skat from brown bear skat, just look for the bear bells. Bear bells are bells worn around a hiker's ankle and they are suppose to help warn bears you are in the area. A bear will hear the tinkle of a bell and run away in fear. I personally think they work more like a dinner bell. They ring "supper's ready, come and get it!" Your other non firearm option is bear spray. Unfortunately, most people carry bear spray in their backpacks. There is not a lot of time to search your pack when a bear is charging. I have not heard of an bear attack yet that was thwarted by bear spray. There just isn't enough time to react.
One of my favorite misconceptions about bears is that when you go out in a group, you just have to be the faster runner. Most people do not realize that a bear chooses it's target. That bear could very well charge past your slowest runner if it decides you are it's intended dinner tonight. And did you know that a bear can smell blood up to five miles away. Need I say more ladies....
We have tons of moose here. Despite what tourist tend to think, moose are wild animals. They are not similar to horses and I definitely advise against attempting to pet them. Chasing them with your camera in hand is also not the best option. They will charge you and stomp you to death. They do not like people. They are not friendly. And no, female moose do not have antlers.
Oddly enough, we do not have skunk here. I cannot believe I am going to say this but I miss the sweet aroma of skunk. Not close up skunk smell but the smell of skunk that has been discharged in the distance. Far enough away to just get a whiff of it, but not close enough to sting your eyes and permeate your skin. We also do not have snake, raccoon, or possum here.
To be continued.....
