When I was younger, whenever I pictured how my life would turn out I always saw myself traveling the world. When I was eight, my parents moved us up to Alaska, and while at first I hated it, in time I grew to truly love the state. As I got older, my dreams of taking off on adventures clashed with my deep desire to stay in Alaska. In my eyes, Alaska is the most beautiful place in the country. I cannot put into words just how much I loved living there, and I knew that no matter where I went I would miss it horribly. So I had to choose between following my dreams or staying put in the place that truly is my home. It was harder decision then I would have thought, but ultimately I knew that I needed to go off and explore, so that 20 years from now I wouldn’t be looking back wondering “What if…”. Even after I made the decision to leave, the question of ‘where to go’ took months to decide. My original list of possible places had at least 10 states. Slowly, very slowly, the list was narrowed down, and finally I decided to go to Maine. With one exception, I have not regretted for a second my decision (that one exception being the day I forced my cat to endure 17 hours of being locked in a kennel as she took three flights to get here). It has been almost six months since I drove onto a bridge in New Hampshire and drove off the other side in Maine. I had been on the road for 12 days, and was more exhausted then I was willing to admit to myself. Seeing the sign that said “Welcome to Maine”, the reality that I had just driven from one side of the country was a little overwhelming, and for a moment I was a bit teary eyed and emotional.
For the most part, I have loved exploring Maine and the rest of the New England. But, like I knew before I left, there are times I miss Alaska so much it hurts. Obviously I miss my family and friends, my house, my cats, I even miss my sisters neurotic little dog. But more than that I just miss the state itself. There are things in Alaska that don’t exist here. The people here in the east coast do some things a bit differently then back home. There are things here that don’t exist in Alaska, and sometimes I have a very hard time wrapping my mind around it. Maine really is a beautiful, fun place to live. There are so many things I love about it, but I will write about those things another time. This particular blog is going to be about all the bad things. I won’t list everything here, just thing things that seem to run through my mind the most. . .
· First off, I miss mountains. Maine does have some mountains; however they are located in a different part of the state from where I live. And also, they are like little hills when compared to the mountains of home. I miss being able to look in any direction and see a mountain with snow still covering the top even though it’s the middle of July. I miss seeing the colors of sunrise and sunset reflecting off the snow that blankets the entire mountain in December. I have always grown up with mountains, even before moving to AK, and in some strange way they’re like silent protectors watching over my life and the people I love. Ridiculous yes, but that is how I feel, and now when I go outside, when I drive to work, when I do anything I look and there’s nothing…I don’t think that is something I will ever be able to get used to.
· I also really miss having an actual winter. Now to be fair, everyone in Maine is saying that this insanely warm weather is anything but normal and that most winters the weather does actually get cold, and snow really does fall. However, this is little comfort to a person who has not only grown up with long cold snowy winters, but LOVES them. And I am a little tired of 40 degree weather in December and January. I love snow, I also love the cold, and while everyone back home will think I am totally insane I wish we had the snowstorms and below zero temperatures you guys have been having.
· Conversely, I know that in just a few short months summer will be here and I will be dying of heat and humidity. I won’t say anything more on that, because I’m trying to ignore the awful inevitability of it.
· The PFD. I don’t think I’ll really be able to appreciate how much I’ll miss it until October, but yeah, I definitely loved getting that check every year!
· I miss the star on the mountain in Anchorage.
· Something I never thought I would miss as much as I actually do is Fred Meyers. I miss it more than I can possible express. Yes, I miss a grocery store, but that is because it is the best grocery store ever. You can get everything you need at one store. Drop off your pictures to get developed, buy all your food for the next week, get a new shirt for work, stock up on some new bathroom towels, buy a new couch get an extra key for your house made, pick out some new yarn to crochet a scarf with, and pick up the latest season of your favorite TV show. Before you leave you can deposit your latest paycheck at the bank, and if that was really nice paycheck, pick up something really special at Fred Meyers Jewelers before heading home. Oh and I almost forgot, there is also a Starbucks. Here in Maine I would have to go to at least five different places to get all those things. I wish, I really really wish that Fred Meyers would consider opening up a few locations on the east coast, starting with Portland Maine.
· One very different thing over here is that the state has the ability to change the speed limit on the highway whenever they see fit to do so. Basically whenever they think the weather makes driving conditions too hazardous. I have to say there is a very big difference between what I consider to be bad weather and dangerous driving conditions and what the state of Maine does (and most of the time I am right). Mostly I find peoples reaction to bad weather amusing, and laugh as the list of school cancellations and delays grows longer. However, I find it much less amusing when the speed limit suddenly goes from 65mph to 45mph. The objective safe side of me does grudgingly admit that maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world, at least not on the few days the weather really is bad, but the more dominant side, the side that likes to drive fast, and usually needs to because I am running late for work, is seriously annoyed whenever this occurs.
· And speaking of driving, one of the undercover cop cars here is a mustang. I can’t exactly describe why I have such a problem with this, but everything about it just feels wrong.
· One last driving thing is for whatever reason New England doesn’t think it’s necessary to put up street signs. Big cities do, but everywhere else only labels a few streets and just figures everyone can figure the rest out on their own. Without my GPS I would be getting lost pretty much on a daily basis. It drives me nuts!
· I miss all the drive thru coffee stands back home. Here in Maine I have seen exactly one, and it is nowhere near my apartment. Although, I guess this is good for my bank account.
· I REALLY miss Jitters – the best coffee shop ever!!
· Something that really boggled my mind when I first got here, and to be honest I’m still not used to it, is the east coast love affair with Dunkin Donuts. I don’t even know if there is one in Alaska and here they are EVERYWHERE. Granted the donuts are good and the coffee isn’t bad, but I’d gladly choose Starbucks any day.
· Places here in Maine have a tendency to close early. It drove me nuts when the few places back home did this. I hate it that the majority of places here do.
· Something that is very different here is daylight/nighttime hours. To me summer automatically means days where the sun barely sets, and winter is full of days that look like night. Anything different then that just does not make any sense in my world. When I first got to Maine this really threw me off when I wanted to go for a walk at 7:00pm and it was just too dark. Now, just how early the sun rises throws me off. I wake up, look outside and the sun rising, and I feel like I’ve wasted my entire day, because back home if I were to wake up just as the sun was rising I would be waking up around 10:00am.
· Lastly, I miss the Eagle River Nature Center. It is without a doubt my all-time favorite place on the planet. A beautiful and peaceful place I could always count on it to lift my spirits on a bad day, and to make a good day perfect. It is really hard not being able to just jump in my car and drive there for a good hike, or just a quick trip to the viewing deck. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I can go back for a visit.
