Five go on an adventure
 

So, my life this year has been an interesting one. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it here at all, but I was laid off at the end of April, after my company sold a big package of assets. I went to a few job interviews over the following months, but nothing ultimately came of them. I did pick up some good contracting work for a couple of months, but that finished in August. Me being free left us able to do this, though:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...c2f7f36100.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...872f099e92.jpg

Yes, we've just moved from Texas to Anchorage, AK, with my wife's work. I'll be driving kids to and from school and keeping the house running for a while, but I will be looking for work in my field too. It's going to be cold and sometimes challenging, but we're all looking forward to it. The first snow is probably coming next week.

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Wow what a large move in every sense of it

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I envy you the move. Alaska is a beautiful state, regardless of the weather, and Anchorage is one of the major cities. Enjoy the change and I'm sure you will be a great cook and bottle washer for the family until you find employment.

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Thanks Rete,

Yes, it's beautiful, and it's great to be somewhere less flat. The school for the younger two is nestled up close to the edge of the mountains above the city, and the sunrise after I dropped them off on Monday was a great welcome.

And I'm OK with not working for a while. It gives me time to help everyone settle in, and there's plenty to explore when I'm not keeping the household running.

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Wow - Congratulations, I'm sure it'll be a great experience.

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Oh, man, I'm sorry. Arkansas sucks. Keep your chins up, things'll turn around soon.

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So does the OP's SatNav device if it took him through Arkansas!

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You mean you're running away from Houston crazy weather. From all the chemical plants. From the flat ugly scenery. From the humidity and the mosquitoes. From the hurricanes and the flooding.

And you are happy to leave? Wow, you gave up the Texas life for somewhere else. Really there is no pleasing some people!

Seriously, I am totally envious and really pleased for your new adventure. Well done that man ( and his family)

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Thanks, it's all going well so far. It's unseasonably warm this year, so we've arrived before the first snow, which will most likely come on Sunday or next week. The kids have had no break from school, and that seems to be working well. We're going to have them try out skiing and/or snowboarding and sledging over the winter, but we won't be exploring the rest of the state much until spring arrives.

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Thanks, I appreciate that.

Honestly though, we were pretty lucky with where we were in Houston. We lived in one of the nicest parts of the suburbs, with lakes and trees and plenty of walking paths. Harvey didn't flood any of the houses in our own neighbourhood, though it did hit many places along Cypress Creek and Little Cypress Creek in other parts of Cypress, some only a couple of miles to the north. And the chemical plants are all much closer to the coast and the Ship Channel.

That said, I won't miss the flat terrain, or the humidity and mosquitoes, or the hundreds of identikit strip malls, or the highway traffic.

Alaska is going to be amazing in many ways, but the winter is going to be very dark and very cold. Time will tell if that becomes a problem.

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This is one move that you'll have to keep us up to date with - I think most of us have considered Alaska at one point or another.

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You've not escaped mosquitos or black flies, unfortunately. They are bred even bigger in Alaska, I understand.

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Good luck on the move!

That's quite a change in weather, the heat of Texas to the cold of Alaska.

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AK is Arkansas, not Alaska; that's AL. Dumasses in this thread.

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Well well, who shit in your coffee today ?

And it's dumb-ass BTW....

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State/DistrictAbbreviationPostal Code
Alabama Ala. AL
Alaska Alaska AK
Arizona Ariz. AZ
Arkansas Ark. AR

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You forgot one:
Dumbass DA :lol:

I think a geography lesson is needed for a few people.

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I know my states. All 56 of them.

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Most people here claim the mosquito is the State Bird of Alaska - as a joke, it's actually the Willow Ptarmigan.

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And they are a beautiful bird. Saw one when touring Denali National Park, along with a mother Grizzly and her two cubs. Of course, the state horse is the moose.

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That makes no sense. A horse is an odd-toed ungulate (Order: Perissodactyla), whereas a moose is an even-toed ungulate (Order: Artiodactyla). A horse is no more a moose than a bicycle is a duck.
To state otherwise is simply to sow chaos and fear.

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I'm sure the nation will be ok, Fox News are too busy scrubbing a certain white van's images from all their reporting at the moment to spend any time spreading that rumour. :lol:

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Thought you'd got a job as a truck driver!

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I love the story that Chicken, Alaska was so named because the founders wanted to call it Ptarmigan but couldn't spell the word, so settled on Chicken instead.

I've visited Alaska in the summer and the number of mozzies was astounding to me, far worse than midges on West Coast of Scotland. Worth it for the stunning scenery though. Best wishes for the move and the next stage of your life!

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Hoping and praying that Owen and his family fared okay in today's 6.6 quake in Anchorage, AK.

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Thanks Rete. Yes, we're OK, but it was pretty scary. We're pretty lucky. We had a jar break falling from the pantry, our power was out for three hours, and the kids will be off school at least until Tuesday.

We've only been in our new house for the last ten days, and it's up on the hillside in south Anchorage, away from the softer soils. The rental place we just moved out of was near the airport, actually only half a mile from the off ramp at Minnesota and International Airport that's been shown on the news, completely impassable.

We're now just hoping there aren't any major aftershocks to come. Our cold weather clothes are by the front door in case we need to make a quick exit.

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Sort of assuming that the title is an End Blyton reference, I do not recollect any quakes however so you may be breaking new ground.

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Whoops! You can't stay away from disasters can you mate.
Glad you are ok but not the kind of welcoming you really want in your new abode. Stay safe and stay warm.

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I hope so too. Bluddy hate quakes.

Read about the quake and its size. Nightmare ! Glad you are safe and sound.

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Can't imagine that after the big quake, you guys have had 190 more small ones.

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I know. We slept on the rug in the family room with our two younger kids last night, as they were too scared by all the aftershocks to sleep in their own rooms. We had quakes above 5 magnitude at 10 and 11pm last night, but it's mostly been below 4 since then. Hopefully there won't be any more big ones, and our kids will relax.

It's lucky it happened yesterday and not today. It was cold but dry yesterday, so the kids could sledge on the hillside by our house instead of having to sit inside. Today it's wet, with 30mph winds.

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