I'll take a sunset like this any day, even if I've got to slap on some 99% deet for the blackflies



A morning coffee tastes better as well.

Zzz wrote:One thing I'm wary of is that it's within a day's drive of 80 million people.

G44 wrote:As for the Black flies, I got eaten alive one day at Stillwater

Something has to help us keep those 80 million at bay...

Yup, keep the Cityidiots in their place

Zzzzzzzzz,

Alaska has more "off airport" than all the lower 48 combined.
Alaska has more float plane flying than all the lower 48 combined.
Alaska has more ski flying than all the lower 48 combined.
I've got electricity, natural gas, and high speed internet and I don't live in a town or city.
The total population is about 750,000 people, and almost half of those are in Anchorage.
Just saying.


Of course the restaurants suck here.
And the winters are a little long, and kinda short days for three months.

pburns wrote:

Zzz wrote:One thing I'm wary of is that it's within a day's drive of 80 million people.

G44 wrote:As for the Black flies, I got eaten alive one day at Stillwater

Something has to help us keep those 80 million at bay...

Ok smarty pants, just so you lower 48 easties and southern Canada folk stay out of my home Alaska we will be good. We are still recovering from the invasion of Texans and Okies from back in the 70’s.

G44 was that you looking to barter & trade for a Widgon on Barnstormers

Here are a few comments from someone who’s lived in Vermont for just about 40 years now. (Hard to believe, actually.) I can’t speak to the back country flying as I haven’t branched out into that form of aviating but have operated a plane off pavement throughout my time here.

First, Vermont has a lot going for it. I would love to live in the West, but living is really pretty good here — except for the incessant clouds in November and December. With my home airport being in a big bowl, it gets limiting and depressing.

Taxes are definitely a drag, especially property taxes. Mine are typical and run close to five digits for a house that’s nice but not all that special or expensive. Also, airplane sales are taxed like anything else: 6%. It’s one reason I’ve owned the same plane since 1993.

The mountains are plenty tall enough to have an impact on weather and flying. Remember the flatlands here aren’t much above sea level so there’s more relief than you might expect.

Broadband is an issue, but the state government knows that it’s a big problem and is working to improve it.

As a retired public school teacher and administrator, I think we have pretty good schools and a reasonable educational system overall. I’m happy to talk to you about details. There are geographical disparities to be aware of.

Oregon180 is right. We have one of the best craft beer scenes around. Research Hill Farmstead for starters.

Finally, about the 80 milliion: We definitely get lots of what we call flatlanders, but more in the Burlington area and around ski hills than elsewhere. Even then, most of the visitation is Christmas week and President’s birthday week. I wouldn’t call it a problem.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything important to you.

No, not me. I sold mine years ago, wish I still had it but not in the market for one today.

Kurt

Not a whole lot of off airport stuff in New England. Plenty of grass strips though. Once you get some anfibs you can really explore. Not many places for fuel on straight floats.


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What you’re looking for is standard of living. That’s more than just waterfront property prices.

If I had the choice, I’d pick Northern Idaho. Vicinity of Sandpoint and Coeur D’Alene. The terrain is beautiful. The lakes are gorgeous. Lots of snow for snowmobiling. 4 seasons. And without getting into politics, let’s just say I’d be amongst like minded folk.

Unfortunately there’s an international border in my way.

There is a huge lack of cash in my way from living in Northern Idaho on one of the lakes. I would love to live there.

Upstate New York all the way through Maine you will find surprising. Beautiful, not that crowded except on Holidays and much less expensive lake front then Idaho. I owned a lake front summer home in upstate New York for many years. Great memories.

Born in Northern Maine (really Northern, Presque Isle) and grew up around small flying community of wheel, float, and ski planes. Scenery is very nice and would never run out of lakes for floats and skis. It has a feeling of lawlessness (in a good way) and very unlikely that anyone would have a problem with you landing anywhere. Property and cost of living are cheap apart from heating. Apart from a few bloggers like Bushwagon East, it is underrepresented online. Eventually everyone needs some city stuff like medical, international airport, and entertainment so you are always within a day's drive of Boston which has everything. Flying over rocky coast and to Martha's Vineyard is fun and close as well.
Downside is the Spring which never ends. You can't do much with 40 and raining so there are many no fly days which is maddening if your work is not flexible. It is also an old population and will have to search more for craft beer and food scene. Most people with money get the hell out for the Winter. I would rather fly around snowcapped rocky peaks but it is nice to not have to worry about density altitude.

Thanks for the great replies everyone!

frstnflt wrote: You can't do much with 40 and raining so there are many no fly days which is maddening...

That pretty well describes Portland, Oregon. Quite used to that.

After 10 years being 1 block from a lake, we are ready to be on a lake. It's not really possible on our income in the PNW because of the supply and demand for water properties. Those idaho lake properties? Haven't seen many under a few million. So that leaves the lakey states, as I call them. MN, WI, MI, ME. Taxes suck, but maybe there's a happy medium somewhere.

Was watching a travel video of NH around Lake Winnipesaukee and it seemed like Coney Island. Super touristy. Is that because of the tax situation or just the nature of the economy there? Homes on that lake, you might as well go back to shopping Coeur d'Alene. Pricey.

Anyway, I have time to research. Hard to get boots on the ground right now in these locations.

Thanks for the input!

Zane, I’ve lived all of my adult life in Alaska, but I really like Maine. I went to Twitchell’s there 20 years ago to get my float rating and really like it there. When I landed there, I looked around and saw lots of taildraggers and floatplanes and immediately felt at home.

As my instructor was prepping me for the oral, he asked how I could determine that a lake I was flying over was allowed as a landing area. After giving him the standard answer of checking the sectional for a seaplane base symbol, checking SPA’s Water Landing Directory, etc, I opined that if I was in Alaska, I’d land wherever I wanted. He said that Maine was pretty much the same way. The photo below is the storage yard at Twitchell’s in the fall as floats started coming off for the winter.

Just a few years ago, before ownership changed hands, we took a trip to Maine and rented a floatplane from Twitchell’s. This was a fun trip and although we stayed within the radius of the 172’s range without refueling, the list of potential refueling sites for straight floats that I looked at actually didn’t look too bad. I’m used to a serious lack of refueling sites in Alaska, so I thought Maine actually looked pretty good in that respect. There is no shortage of lakes either. The flying was fun and there are lots of places to go. I love the lobster rolls there too.

I grew up in PA and used to fly up and down the east coast with my Dad until just a few years ago. There are really lots and lots of places to fly to and to take the family. Two of my all time favorite flying experiences (outside of Alaska) were flying over Niagara Falls and the Hudson River VFR corridor in NYC. Those could be some nice diversions for you when you wanted to take a break from float flying.

I wouldn’t be wary of being in proximity to 80 million people. They’re all concentrated in the big cities. Stay out of the cities and the rural feel will be wonderful. If you’ve never driven in Boston, however, that is something to be avoided. You won’t see any western courtesy from other drivers, as they are as cutthroat as they come, not to mention getting lost in that area.

I think Pundy had the best comments about reasonably priced real estate in northern Maine. While visiting Maine, I even thought it would be a great place to live, so started looking around at real estate prices. All along the coast and the lakes, it is quite expensive, so looking up north would be worth exploring. I once knew a guy who lived in Caribou and their winters were much more northern than I’m used to in Anchorage (more snow, colder temps), so you’d need to be prepared for that.

All in all (politics and taxes aside), there is a lot to be said for flying in upstate NY or northern New England. Float and ski flying is good, scenery is decent, a lot of lakes and lots of fun destinations all up and down the east coast. Good luck shopping.

Ross

Thanks Ross. You might be one of the people I need to pay a phone call. I think I only have your wife's phone number.

The big obvious question is: why not Alaska?

Obviously I've enjoyed visiting and flying there. The flying benefits are overwhelming. I already have many pilot friends there. But, I've barely convinced the wife of rural living, but she seems pretty averse to the winter daylight situation in the northern latitudes. And Alaska suffers some socioeconomic issues with crime, drugs, etc. Not sure the school system quality. Nothing you can't find in the lower 48 but... I dunno. That's probably a deep political tangent I don't want to get into.

Most of you are probably rolling your eyes at me...

As others have mentioned already, I'd agree with adding upstate NY to your list. I have no firsthand knowledge admittedly. However, the NYC metropolis area really does not sprawl westward. The Adirondacks and Fingers Lake region looks very inviting from the flight deck on my transcons.

Zane,

Happy wife, happy life. Happy spouse, happy house. Only you can decide. I'm sure you will find a happy medium that supports both your goals and income yet supports the family as well.

As a dad and husband of almost 30 years its all about compromise. One thing we often forget as pilot's we are one slight misstep from losing what we love to do. Be that physical or a mental lapse of judgment or a physical limitation etc. We all like to think we can easily fly till to 90. I'm here to tell you it can be snatched from you in an instant. BasicMed is a godsend. Just saying.

Do what's best for family. The rest will follow.

MW

Twitchells has been sold, fuel is on call as far as I know. Old town had fuel but it’s a battery operated trailer thay usually doesn’t work. Rangley has fuel, not sure if tou have to call ahead or what. Not much else for fuel, might be able to find some marinas with auto fuel. I got anfibs this year and wouldn’t go to straight floats ever again.


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Zzz wrote:The big obvious question is: why not Alaska?

Well, I was trying to answer your original question without steering you somewhere you weren’t asking about. ☺

Alaska is the place for me, but it is not for everybody. Barnstormer already took a good stab at trying to sell you on that. I’ll agree with pretty much everything that he said. We live in Eagle River, which is just outside of Anchorage. Anchorage may be a big city, but the best thing about it is that it is only 15 minutes away from Alaska.

I love the float flying, which has been my dream ever since I was a little kid. We have a cabin on a 2 mile lake, stocked with rainbow trout, that is inside the Wrangell-St Elias Natl Park (I actually consider the park a negative, other than it has the beauty you would expect of a national park). I bought the lakefront property when I was a lot younger and it was only about $8000 and I’ve been working on the cabin ever since. I wouldn’t live anywhere else, although I do like Maine, as I mentioned, as well as many other places that I like to visit.

As for the things that concern you about Alaska:

• Rural living 15 minutes from Anchorage is awesome
• Winter daylight has never bothered me, although it does bother some. You just need to be done with your outdoor activities by 4 PM this time of year. You make up for that in the summer when you can fly past midnight without it being very dark.
• I’ll put the Anchorage school system up against most. If your kids are good students, they would thrive in that school district. Pull up standardized test scores for the elementary schools and there is a great disparity depending on the type of neighborhood the school is in. I had two kids, both in their 30s now, who had a quality scholastic and sports experience in that school district. Their elementary school even had a Spanish immersion program, which was fantastic.
• I don’t think crime or drugs are any better or worse than most places. Watch where you go after midnight and don’t go looking for trouble, but we have had no issues over many years. We have added an alarm system and security cameras to the house in the past couple of years, but neither have proven to be needed so far. There have been problems with the druggies stealing mail from mailboxes, but we put in a super, heavy duty, locking mailbox – end of problem (for us).

Having said that, neither of my kids lives in Alaska as the economic opportunities are much more limited than when I moved here 40 years ago. If you’re going to work remotely, that is largely a non-issue, the tax situation aside. I don’t want to stray too far off topic, but we are the only state that has neither a sales tax nor an income tax. That could change because oil no longer pays all the bills like it used to and too many people have gotten addicted to the “free money” that the state passes out every year.

As for flying, it is pretty tough to beat Alaska. People in aviation are numerous, so it is easy to find others to join up with. There is no shortage of parts houses, maintenance shops, training opportunities, etc. The scenery is incredible and the float flying, ski flying, off airport operations, etc, are virtually unlimited. We don’t have as many VFR days as Arizona, but on a good day you can see forever.

I’d be happy to show you around if you want to come check us out, although it sounds like you’ve been here. My wife is also “alaskaprophoto” on Instagram if you want to see some of our flying opportunities. BTW, thanks for the hat – I’m looking forward to proudly wearing it to show off my membership in this great BCP fraternity that you’ve created.

Ross

The view from our house. And this is just a small piece of the view as we are in a valley with a 360 degree mountain view. This is a 20 minute drive from Anchorage.

Ski flying on a glacier near our house.

This is a rainbow trout that I caught in the lake where our cabin is. This is not unusual.

This is our 182 tied up to the dock at our cabin. Less than two hours from Anchorage.

Typical glacier and mountain view.

This is my wife with our 182 at Lower Paradise Lake. There is a very nice Forest Service cabin here that you can rent. Floatplane is the only access, so it is easy to reserve.