I neglected to mention that DG and DDD ended up cutting me before prefs.:(

I am really enjoying this story! It's very heart felt.

Sorry...
 

I'm sorry you were cut, I know how much that hurts at the time. But, it usually seems like we end up where we were meant to be :-)

Love this thread!!!

Crossing my fingers for you :)

(from someone who has been 15 degrees below the Arctic Circle and knows what the midnight sun looks like)

i know what you mean, being from alaska saved me. if conversations weren't really flowing or they got a little awkward i just ended up talking about alaska. people act like it's the other side of the globe...but then again a lot of people think we're tiny and next to hawaii because of how we're always shown on maps haha.

Things I ws asked during rush....
 

1. Did you need a passport to get here?
2. Do people live in igloo's?
3. Do you have a dog team?
4. Is it cold all year round?
5. Isn't Alaska by Australia?
6. Is Alaska an Island?
7. How long did it take to get here? 12 Hours! What, did you drive?
8. Does it take like, 2 days to drive home?
9. It must be cool to live so close to California.

How can so many people not know where Alaska is? I came to understand that because Alaska is always shown on maps as being an island floating in the Pacific somewhere that people really believe this to be true. Some maps show Alaska to be situated north of Washington, neglecting to show Canada so it looks like it is very close to Washington. I don't get these types of questions much anymore. I think it is the popularity of things like The Discovery Channel etc. give people glimpses into what life in Alaska is really like. But back in the day there just wasn't a lot of exposure to Alaska and what life is like there.

When my daughter was in 2nd grade, she had to chart the daily temperature in Anchorage and Boston (where we were living) for the month of February. I was very surprised to see that Boston actually had colder temperatures than Anchorage for about 1/2 of the days.

All my military friends who were stationed in Alaska LOVED it, even the non-outdoorsy types. Some did end up using those light boxes in the middle of winter.

I agree. I felt my throat swell and my eyes started to water up a little. It sounds like Ole Miss to me lol ... I love this story!

oh no... where is the rest of the story? I was really getting into this one

HAHAHAHAHAHA!
These 2 have got to be my favorite questions EVER!

update update update!!! i love this one!!!!!!!

This was my favorite line....



Great story... looking foward to more.

This is such a great story, thanks for sharing. I can't wait to hear the rest, and I would love to hear more about your college experience. I really want to go to Alaska. Last year one of my high school students on a US map quiz, wrote down Cuba in the space for Alaska. I still laugh about that one.

This story is bringing back so many memories for me. The big question I still get all the time is "Isn't it like dark there all winter and light all summer?"
During school my favorite question was "Do you have a pet moose?" because at least for that one I could say "Yes, we had a neighborhood moose. It made getting rid of our Halloween pumpkins so much easier."

I did have one especially ignorant person ask if it was strange for me to see all of the people with different cultural backgrounds in CA (not quite their words, I believe they used the word colors) Um, just because I am blond, blue eyed and Day-glo does not mean that I represent the make up of the entire state, moron. In fact, coming from my HS it was strange for me to not see as many different groups as I was used to.

Great story! I can't wait to see where you end up.

we want more!