Why don't you wait until you hit 10 posts before you start another thread. Try reading them too, and responding. This is from the Newbie welcoming committee
Kiddos are finishing up Rip Van Winkle or an essay on American Romantacism/Last of the Mohicans...independent practice rules!!!
I spent 3 years in Alaska when I was in the military and the native lifeforms there would always say crap about size and other bs. Then I would inform them that Texas has over 18 million productive citizens, an economy that involves more than piping oil into tankers, and an education system that goes past 3rd grade. Not to mention that for 7 months out of the year Texas isn't a frozen wasteland like Alaska and all of our neighborhoods don't look like slums. Have you ever been to Alaska? It has the dirtiest cities I've seen in any of the 20 something states I've visited.
Thanks for leaving it to the rest of us who like it. And just so you know, my entire family lives in Houston/Texas so I know plenty about both places. Just out of curiosity, did you get assigned up here or did you pick it?
In a state that has enjoyed such large growth in their tourism industry in the past few decades, I have to assume that three years in the military must not have shown him the nicer parts.
I got assigned there for my first active duty station. Alaska is okay if you're already married and really enjoy doing outdoors stuff. But if you're a single 18 year old male who enjoys clubs, live music, and female companionship then it's not a good place to be. Needless to say, that heavily influenced my opinion of the state.
Although I don't think this was directed to anyone on this board... I went to Alaska two summers ago. I went in throguh Anchorage. I thought it was a nice quaint town. Sure there were some aspects of it that weren't the the cleanest, but for the most part I thought it was clean. Anchorage has a nice downtown and a great summer. But the winters must suck. It was about freezing even ont he longest day in the summer. I was on a cruise out of Seward one day when it was about 4o degrees, but I was up in Denali the day before where it was 100. It also helped to have a guide who lived there. I enjoyed the small towns along the line and really loved the nature. I mean those bears won't stop for you!!! But the coolest thing was it being 11 at night and the sun fully bright, so it seemed like 3. Carr's (supermarket) was the best I've ever seen. It was huge, had everything. The one, most-puzzling aspect of the trip was the fact that there were virtually NO minorities. I mean I wasn't very north or didn't go to Juneau (if it makes a difference), but I swear I counted no more than 25 African-Americans and VERY few "Eskimos" or Native Americans. I was expecting to see more. I was informed that most natives live in the northwestern part of the state, and that most are frontier settlers (duh!). But you gotta expect more from a state that makes up 1/5 of the entire country's landmass. I say sell the whales!
