I love it here!
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9/20/2006
I have lived in Faibanks for about four years now. It was a drastic change from Yakima and Tieton, Washington, but I came to think of Fairbanks as my home. I don't know how to explain it, but somehow the people here are so different than the people everywhere else. Sure, Fairbanks has its bad things, too, but if you look at the good instead of the bad, you will find that the people here are friendly and they look out for each other.
Contrary to what many people believe, this is not the North Pole, and we do not live in igloos. I have never even seen an igloo. We are not all Native Alaskans or Eskimos. There are many white, black, and Asian people here, as well as Natives. Fairbanks is unlike any other place. In the long, cold winters, it is as if the people of Fairbanks come together as one giant family.
There are many things to do, such as attending concerts and theatrical performances, skiing/snowboarding, both indoor and outdoor miniature golf, hiking/backpacking, boating, martial arts, gymnastics, bicycling, mushing, snowmobiling, etc. In the summertime, I often see a hot-air balloon. Fairbanks is a lot like any other US city in the way of places to shop and such. It's not a city out in the middle of nowhere, like so many people think it is. It's a thriving place or industry, not a rinky-dink, podunk, rundown, old town. It's a great place to live, though you have to know how to deal with the cold weather. Last winter it got as cold as -55 degrees Fahrenheit. As long as you dress for the weather and anticipate extreme cold, you should be fine. The weather is somewhat unpredictable, as it may be +30 one day and -40 the next. Usually such extreme temperature changes do not happen that fast, but it has been known to happen and is not really uncommon.
Overall, I love this place, and I hope you will too if you decide to visit the Golden Heart of Alaska.
Angela | Steele Creek, AK