There is five different geographic regions to Alaska. Each one has different climatic conditions also. As for travel only a small portion is on the road system. Some of the areas between the roads are inaccessible except by air. We are the only state in the union whose State Capitol is inaccessible by road.
I came up here (as did most folks that I know) with the military. Fell in love with the place and stayed. I live in the Interior, near Fairbanks. Yes, we have rough winters, but the summers make up for it. In May, June, and July, we seldom see the sun set. It does not get dark even after it does set, because it drops just below the horizon and then right back up. The temp can be anywhere from the 60s, 70s, 80s, or as high as 90. Most days are a carbon copy of the day before, sunny and warm. That's here in the interior, other parts are way different.
I stayed for the hunting and fishing. Then my wife and I started a family and realised it is a great place to raise kids. The people here are very independent and take care of any problems themselves. Because we do have wild animals living in our neighbor hoods our kids are taught from an early age to be watchful. They are also taught to shoot at an early age. My wife started teaching our son to shoot a .22rf at the age of five. By the age of 10 he was shooting skeet with a 20ga. At 12 he killed his first bear. Unlike in the lower 48 most homes here have multiple guns inside. They are not locked up or hidden, they are standing behind the door, or in a corner loaded. Our kids know they are there and how to use them. But because they are so common, and not a mystery there is no desire on the kids part to mess with them. Now if you were a pedifile, child molester, or burglar, would you feel comfortable here. I don't think so. Yes that does happen here, but not often. North Pole is a very conservative community. We have one grocery store, two gas stations, and about 30 churches.
As for the area around Anchorage, we lived there for seven years. Anchorage is a big city, and has big city problems. Just like in the lower 48. As for the weather, several friends compared it to living in wisconsin. They claimed the weather was nicer than places like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or Chicago. I just found there was too many people there. So we moved back to the Fairbanks area.
