Damn you, Farley Mowat!!!

When I was younger two of my favorite authors were Jack London and Farley Mowat, both of whom wrote adventure novels of the Alaskan and Canadian wilderness. Everyone knows Jack London, so I won't bother describing his work, but Mowat is mostly known to Canadians. He wrote the book "Never Cry Wolf", which was turned into a fairly successful movie back in the mid 80's. Also, his book "A Whale for the Killing" was made into a pretty good made-for-TV movie around the same time. And I've never read his book "The Snow Walker" but it was made into a movie back in 2003 (directed by Charles Martin Smith who starred in "Never Cry Wolf"), which we rented earlier this year and it re-invoked my desire for wilderness adventures.

For the most part these wilderness desires of mine are kept far back in the recesses of my mind and labeled "unrealistic" by the sensible adult in me, but every once in a while the foolishness is rekindled. Back in 1995 when Barb and I were finishing our undergraduate degrees we both applied for grad school at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. We were in middle of the application process when I got hired for my consultant job at Pcubed. We decided that I should stay at that job and save up some money, but then they kept promoting me and giving me more money... we bought a house and had kids and left those Alaskan dreams behind us.

I haven't really thought of it a lot since then. I had more of less written it off as foolishness, but a few weeks ago something happened that brought it all back again. I was at school chatting with some other students waiting for class to start and we were talking about job hunting. One woman, who is graduating in December said she'd been looking at Alaska jobs because they pay so well. I said, "huh?... tell me more..." It turns out that Social Work jobs in Alaska do pay quite well and there are quite a few of them. In Michigan starting salaries can range from $25K-45K or so, but I've recently found Alaska jobs that range from 45K-70K, and they often include signing bonuses, living stipends and moving expenses (up to 5K just for moving).

And, on top of that, Alaska has no sales taxes and the state has a NEGATIVE tax for residents. They pay you to live there.

Then, I mentioned this to my attorney and HE started looking at Alaska jobs as a public defender and found out that they pay really well also. He's even gone so far as to apply for one in one of the most remote places on the planet, the city of Barrow, which is along Alaska's northern coast, right on the Arctic Ocean. I'm very jealous.

That far north might be a bit too much, though. I've been looking at Anchorage, which is south, central, AK, or in the S.E. of the state, perhaps even including Juneau, which you can't even drive to, but must fly into or take a ferry boat. However, I did see a job involving helping kids at an orphanage on the ocean in N.W., Alaska that paid well and offered some nice benefits (relocation costs + signing bonus) so that is something to consider too.

Barb still seems willing to consider the idea and sounds interested by it, if not entirely as excited as I am. We've talked about whether or not we'd have to sell our house or if we could rent it out. This latter option would be nice because we could maybe move to Alaska on a "temporary" basis (2-3 years) and then come back to our own house if it wasn't something we wanted to do permanently. That would also give time for the housing market in the Detroit area to improve.

If we do decide to move to the far north, it won't be immediately. Most of the jobs that I've found require a state Social Work license, which would require 1-2 years of post graduation work experience anyway. But, at the very least, this goal might help me figure out what kind of work experience I'd need for that move. I've become very interested in trauma therapy lately, because of my work with kids at my current internship, but I think I'd also need to focus on working with drug & alcohol dependency. I'm thinking that if I could work at a local Veteran's Administration after I graduate, that would cover both bases and would set me up both for getting my LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) and would provide the experience needed for many of the Alaskan jobs.

Anyway, I can't keep my mind off Alaska again. Here's a couple of interesting items:

fairbanksorbust.blogspot.com is a blog about a public defender in Alaska. When it begins it is about a lawyer and his pregnant wife living in California and dreaming about Alaska, much like I am. I'm working my way through it now.

Arctic Cam is an online cam of Fairbanks.

Top 100 Things I Love About Living In Alaska. Actually, it's only 26, but it is a good list. My attorney sent this one to me when he got the bug too.

Living in Alaska FAQ. Lots of good info by the same author as above. Both of these make Juneau sound very attractive. The cost of living does sound a bit high, but that is true all over Alaska. The large number of boats sounds pretty nice though. I've always wanted to learn to sail.

Librarians in Alaska. All around the state, librarians describe what life is like up there.

Life in Alaska. Nuff said.

Life in Alaska Another Blog.

Most importantly, though. It turns out that homeschooling laws in Alaska are just as flexible as those in Michigan; meaning that there practically aren't any. No documentation or registration with the state of any kind is required. Woot!