Moving to Kodiak
1 - 20 of 34 Posts
We are waaay south of the arctic circle, so the shortest day here has 6 hours of 'sun' (it's low angle, like 11 degrees, but it's there).
Yes, we get the aurora. It needs to be clear skies to see it so that's a problem regularly.
I can't specifically tell you what the jobs market is like since I have not tried to look for one recently, but in general I would say it's not depressed like the lower 48. There is a job service office downtown that will have all the listings and they are great at getting applications to those hiring. If you are flexible, I would certainly think you could try your hand at any number of things up here.
The Kodiak campus of UAA is a community college and offers Associates degrees and credits would also transfer to the rest of the UA system. It's a small but active place and all the basic courses are offered.
A 2wd will get you around, but a 4wd can make life a lot easier in the winter when we get bad ice or they fall behind clearing snow. Town is sort of hilly though the base is pretty flat. Studded tires are a good idea in any case. We drive a Subaru with all season tires and that car is super. They do salt and gravel when needed, but the roads can get gnarly. Just bring your car up and buy a beater 4wd here if you need it.
Lots of fishing to be had, either along the rivers for Dolly Varden (trout-ish) or salmon in the summer or saltwater fishing off a boat. The base has ~22' skiffs you can use, I believe. I usually just put a gill net out and catch my salmon that way. I'm not a big hunter or fisherman. I just want to grab the animal and be done with it and go for a hike or ride instead.
Housing is really tight/expensive in town so if you can get base housing, definitely start with that.
Overall I love this place and won't be going anywhere soon. It's small but not tiny, and the town is generally buzzing thanks to active industries and a general frontier mentality. And remember, there's no bad weather, only bad clothing.
Yes, we get the aurora. It needs to be clear skies to see it so that's a problem regularly.
I can't specifically tell you what the jobs market is like since I have not tried to look for one recently, but in general I would say it's not depressed like the lower 48. There is a job service office downtown that will have all the listings and they are great at getting applications to those hiring. If you are flexible, I would certainly think you could try your hand at any number of things up here.
The Kodiak campus of UAA is a community college and offers Associates degrees and credits would also transfer to the rest of the UA system. It's a small but active place and all the basic courses are offered.
A 2wd will get you around, but a 4wd can make life a lot easier in the winter when we get bad ice or they fall behind clearing snow. Town is sort of hilly though the base is pretty flat. Studded tires are a good idea in any case. We drive a Subaru with all season tires and that car is super. They do salt and gravel when needed, but the roads can get gnarly. Just bring your car up and buy a beater 4wd here if you need it.
Lots of fishing to be had, either along the rivers for Dolly Varden (trout-ish) or salmon in the summer or saltwater fishing off a boat. The base has ~22' skiffs you can use, I believe. I usually just put a gill net out and catch my salmon that way. I'm not a big hunter or fisherman. I just want to grab the animal and be done with it and go for a hike or ride instead.
Housing is really tight/expensive in town so if you can get base housing, definitely start with that.
Overall I love this place and won't be going anywhere soon. It's small but not tiny, and the town is generally buzzing thanks to active industries and a general frontier mentality. And remember, there's no bad weather, only bad clothing.
I almost forgot. Here is the Kodiak Alaska Picture and movie MEGA THREAD.
That's awesome. You never really know who you're going to talk to on here.fourflys said:
As for the frustration, she's a pretty tough girl, and the only thing I've ever seen get to her is the separation from us. Which is now going on 5 months. It's really hard to make the food taste perfect when you're cooking with the huge amounts they do. She told me that one of her mixers could hold four of her. I think she'll be way more in her element when she gets to independent duty, and only has 12+ people to cook for.
I'm really proud of her and how well she's done. She wasn't the only one with formal training, but she was the only one with college behind her. So she had a lot to prove and she's done it well. I've instilled the "quiet professional" mentality into her that I learned when I was in, and her instructors have definitely noticed.
If there is a trail building group I'll have to check into that. I'll definitely have time to donate.
I looked into the Kodiak College UAA, and luckily they do have the program I'm looking for. So that's awesome, and it looks like it's all going to work out well.tscheezy said:
As for the weather, it sounds like it's a lot like where we're comming from, Flagstaff, AZ. Our first winter here we got over 120 inches of snow. We were second in the nation for snow fall. First place went to North Dakota, I think.
This winter has been relatively mild. But our volvo made it through just fine. So I'll probably pick up some snow tires here and ship them with our stuff since they're probably three times as much in Kodiak.I have to say those pictures and especially the top video are amazing. My daughter and I watched them together, and it's hard to believe we're going somewhere so beautiful.
Haha... I wont ask. But we do have to watch what we do. The CG doesn't have a need for people so they're quick to let you go for small infractions. So we just watch what we do real close since my wife is planning on making this a career.chugachjed said:
TSCheezy - is there a trail building group or is it just you and you're wife doing all the work?
Also, I know how expensive things are there, but is the seafood cheap at least?
And is there a good bike shop in town? I used to try to do my own work on my bike, but I always seemed to mess something up. I can fix anything on my autos, but I can't work on a bike.
It's really a lack of bike tools and knowledge.
I would not worry about the salt. They salt the poo out of the roads here so your car's undercarriage will be covered in the stuff when you drive around town anyway. Give it a good rinse with a hose when it shows up on the barge (or drive it in the rain a few times- not like you can avoid that anyway) and you won't be any worse for wear.
I wonder what they mean by "leaks". Everything leaks. A couple of oil drips wouldn't be a deal breaker. They probably just don't want a few quarts on deck. Wipe up the obvious stuff and throw it on the barge. You could also tie an oil absorbant diaper to whatever is leaking and it will arrive without any stains on the deck.
islandtrails.org is the local public access and trails advocacy group and I'm on the board of directors. That said, I generally build my own trails. There are official channels, and then there are chain saws.
The seafood is free when you catch it. No one really buys seafood here.
There is a bike shop, though it is pretty limited in size and the owner can be a little grumpy. If you buy a bike from him, great. If you bring him a beater to fix, not so great. If you bring him ebay parts to put on a beater, really not great. I have every tool you could need and I'm a very good bike mechanic, so let me know if you need work done. I do it for everyone else.
I wonder what they mean by "leaks". Everything leaks. A couple of oil drips wouldn't be a deal breaker. They probably just don't want a few quarts on deck. Wipe up the obvious stuff and throw it on the barge. You could also tie an oil absorbant diaper to whatever is leaking and it will arrive without any stains on the deck.
islandtrails.org is the local public access and trails advocacy group and I'm on the board of directors. That said, I generally build my own trails. There are official channels, and then there are chain saws.
The seafood is free when you catch it. No one really buys seafood here.
There is a bike shop, though it is pretty limited in size and the owner can be a little grumpy. If you buy a bike from him, great. If you bring him a beater to fix, not so great. If you bring him ebay parts to put on a beater, really not great. I have every tool you could need and I'm a very good bike mechanic, so let me know if you need work done. I do it for everyone else.
You would think that it wouldn't be a big deal, but every article I see online says that if there's any visible leak the vehicle will be denied. Now this could go either way. They could be that anal or kinda lax, but I don't want to show up on my ship date and get screwed last minute, you know.tscheezy said:I would not worry about the salt. They salt the poo out of the roads here so your car's undercarriage will be covered in the stuff when you drive around town anyway. Give it a good rinse with a hose when it shows up on the barge (or drive it in the rain a few times- not like you can avoid that anyway) and you won't be any worse for wear.
I wonder what they mean by "leaks". Everything leaks. A couple of oil drips wouldn't be a deal breaker. They probably just don't want a few quarts on deck. Wipe up the obvious stuff and throw it on the barge. You could also tie an oil absorbant diaper to whatever is leaking and it will arrive without any stains on the deck.
islandtrails.org is the local public access and trails advocacy group and I'm on the board of directors. That said, I generally build my own trails. There are official channels, and then there are chain saws.
The seafood is free when you catch it. No one really buys seafood here.
There is a bike shop, though it is pretty limited in size and the owner can be a little grumpy. If you buy a bike from him, great. If you bring him a beater to fix, not so great. If you bring him ebay parts to put on a beater, really not great. I have every tool you could need and I'm a very good bike mechanic, so let me know if you need work done. I do it for everyone else.
Other CG that we've talked to advised us about the mist that will freezes to the bottom of your vehicle rotting it out at the same time. They told us that if we bring a car we care about to get an undercoating on it. I'm sure it couldn't hurt, but is it that bad?
They salt the roads here too, and we've never had a problem that I can see.
1 - 20 of 34 Posts
