Have you seen Alaska, or the Seattle Suburbs?

[Sourdough]

Was talking to my Mom and Dad last weekend, when their choir director came over to visit.  Having met him before Mom wanted him to talk to me.  First thing he said was I've been to Alaska.  I've seen all the Alaska sites.  I've seen Bears, Wolves, Glaciers, Forest, Mountains, Whales, Birds, and the beautiful cities of Wrangle, Sitka, and Juneau.  He then repeated, I've seen all the Alaska sites. 

I hate hearing people say that, when it is apparent they never got out of Southeastern.  I finally replied with my usual response, "Too bad you never left the Seattle Suburbs".  "Half the people you met had moved there from Seattle".  "And few if any of them have ever been to the other 4/5ths of Alaska".  Actually Southeastern is only about 10% of the state.  Every time I go to visit friends or family in the lower 48 I get told by someone they have been to Alaska.  Then they reiterate the same things this guy did.  They just can't comprehend that little section of Alaska has more in common with Washington state than the rest of Alaska.  Climate, wet and rainy most of the year.  Industry, fishing and logging.  Small coastal towns and villages, it's only a narrow strip of land between the coast and Canada.  In fact there is one town where they won't accept your dollars, they only want the Canada Loonies.  (But that is another story for another time).  The man got so insulted by my response he hung up the phone and went outside to calm down.  I continued to talk to Dad, Dad knew what I meant, he has been here several times.  He finally came back and asked what I meant.  I informed him that Alaska has five completely different geographic areas, and none of them has much in common with the small area he saw.  If he wants to see the real Alaska, he needs to come to the Interior, Fairbanks.  The North Slope, Barrow.  The Seward peninsula, and western Alaska, with towns like Nome, Bethal, or Dillingham.  The Aleutians, Cold Bay, Unalaska, or Adak.    South Central, the Kenai, and Kodiak, with towns and cities like Anchorage, Seward, Valdez, Homer, Kodiak, and Whittier.  These areas are so differant from Southeastern, there is almost nothing in common.  He hung up again still not comprahending what I was trying to tell him.  In his mind he has seen Alaska.  He knows all about Alaska, and we should not hurt the Caribou by drilling for oil in ANWAR.  He's never seen a real Caribou.

It's ironic, our state capital is in Juneau.  The people there really do have more in common with Seattle than the rest of the state.  The Seattle Lobbiest have better access to our Legislators than we do.  And the people of Juneau don't have a clue as to what is going on in the rest of the state.

By the way:  Yall need to come and see Alaska at least once in your life time.  Just please see more than Southeastern.

[jager]

I'm one of those people that have seen mostly the Southeastern part of Alaska, even though I've been to Anchorage a couple of times. I must say that although my view of your state has been very limited, considering it is twice the size of Texas, after viewing the Alaskan mountain range the mountains of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone became a "non-event". You must admit that there are not many cruise ships that make it to Fairbanks . I hope to get to see more of your state in all its "immense grander" one day (one week, one month). Don't be so hard on us "Pilgrims", for even people who have never been outside of New York City don't know "Up State New York" is pretty rural and somewhat conservative. Best Regards, Jager

[Sourdough]

Jager:  Your statement about Alaska being twice the size of Texas made me think of my nephew.  My brother brought his family up to visit a few years back, they live in Greenville, Texas.  His son Dusty was in his mid teens, and my son Skyler was about 11 or 12.  For the first week all we heard from Dusty was how big Texas was.  One evening at dinner, Dusty was again telling everyone how big Texas was, when Skyler spoke up and said, "If we cut Alaska into three pieces, Texas would be number three, and California would drop to number five".  Skyler then handed Dusty a piece of paper where he had done the math.  We heard nothing else from Dusty the rest of the trip.

[magooch]

Hey Sourdough, don't feel like you'er the Lone Ranger; I'm a Washintonian and I assure you that the majority in Seattle have no clue about the rest of this state.  And by the way, Seattle isn't the capital of this state.  Heck, my guess is the people in government in Olympia don't have much of a clue about the rest of the state either.

I think that pretty much is universal around the country and even in other countries.

[bilmac]

My family and I were on the Alaska ferry on our way to my new job in Tok Ak. We were in the sunroom and there was a sourdough engaged in conversation. Couldn't help but hear his side of the conversation, he was a bull of a man with a voice to match. At one point he explained,"yep' I like Anchorage. It's just a half hour drive from Alaska."

[deltecs]

Luckily, my lineman and engineering work took me all over Alaska, from the North Slope, Seward Peninsula, Alaska Peninsula, South Central, the Chain, Interior and Southeast during the last 35 years.  Along with commercial fishing, I've been able to see a lot of Alaska's coastline beyond the cruise ship lanes.  Sourdough is absolutely correct.  There is still much of Alaska that I've not seen.  Much more much.  Although our Capital is in Southeast, most panhandle residents recognize the different geographies, climate and problems in other areas of the State.  I was Exalted Ruler at Juneau Elks Lodge #420, which was an informal meeting place for Legislators from all over the State.  From personal conversations with them, they realize our problems but cannot agree on the methods or finances to solve them.  What works in one area, is detrimental to another, so State law cannot be enacted without affecting the entire State.  Our diversity is our Catch 22.  The one thing I do know, I hope never to have to relocate somewhere else.  As someone posted above, the Tetons and Yellowstone were bah humbug compared to the sights I've seen up here.  And as a 40 year resident of Alaska, it is absolutely understandable that confusion and errors exist with people outside who have "seen Alaska".  I've not seen as much as I'd like and I've seen more than most of this States residents.

[rex6666]

Sourdough and Deltecs
You both make me sick wish you would shutup!.
The year i graduated from high school (1965) my aunt and uncle from Fairbanks came back
to Oklahoma. they begged me to come stay with them for a while. my uncle said, if you
do you will never leave. I had too many girls to chase at the time. I have kicked my butt
a thousand times since. When my son got out of the air force he was buddies with an
Alaskan boy that lived on a river some where and his dad had the mail contract, they ask
Clay to come stay a while, I begged him to go, but he didn't. I am 60 years old now
and will never get to see Alaska like i would want to, like you guys talk about.

[beemanbeme]

An interesting sidebar: A friend sent me a series of maps and overlays showing Alaska, the extend of ANWAR and how much of ANWAR would be affected by the oil drilling operation.  Now that really put things into perspective. Compare it to say half a block in NYC. He also sent a pix of a grizzly walking atop the pipeline rather than labouring thu the muskeg and a pix of one of the existing well sites with about a gazillion caribou grazing and sleeping about it. 

[bilmac]

I remember talking to the guys who ran  the Arctic Refuge back in the 80's. They used to say that they wished they would get on with the drilling because they could do great things with the rehab money that would come with it. I don't sppose that is the "official line"  The National Wildlife Refuge System is a lot different than most buraucracies. They remember what their mission is and will make personal sacrifice to improve wildlife habitat. That said the outfit was changing when I left several years ago.

[gstewart44]

Sourdough,

I got a chance to spend 11 days in the Alaska interior between Fairbanks (3days) and Denali (a week).   Yeah it was a canned trip but it was a gift from my mother in law.   I did not want to leave .....the interior was a place that just takes over your mind and spirit.   I do envy you and my wife and I hope to get back to the interior soon.   BTW  we have been to your Seattle suburbs and it is very touristy,  reminds me of Florida just cooler.   

Anyway I enjoy your posts.  Keep um coming.