ALASKA The Last Frontier by Robert Swetz
Growing up in the Midwest surrounded by 10,000 lakes I always dreamed of going to Alaska. I can't even remember how many times I would say to family and friends, I am going to go to Alaska some day.
One day my friend that owned a company I was working for said, Bob we are tired of you always saying your going to Alaska.
So back in 2001 I purchased a 3 foot x 6 foot map of Alaska for about $80 dollars and put it on the wall of my home. As I looked at this map of Alaska that covered the whole wall I would say to myself "I will be going to Alaska soon."
In fall of 2001 I had the chance to go with believe it or not, a friend of the boss that kept telling me he was tired of me always talking about going. We flew up to Alaska, rented a car and drove 1500 miles to the major cities and towns like Anchorage, Seward, Homer, Palmer, Wasilla just to name a few.
When I came back to the Lower 48 all I could talk about was Alaska, it was in my blood and the memories were imprinted in my mind for years.
I have been traveling all my life and have traveled through 40+ states across the USA and also traveled in beautiful places around the world. Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Idaho, California just to name a few.
Of all the places I have ever traveled there are 2 states that come close to the beauty of Alaska ... California & Oregon. Both states have the mountains, ocean, lakes and rivers. But the real difference is Alaska has more wildlife than people, approx 650,000 people live in the whole state of Alaska and 1/2 of the 650K live in Anchorage. Can you imagine? San Jose California alone has over 1 million people ...
Alaska is Mother Natures playground and people that that live and travel to Alaska are just visitors. There are millions of animals, fish and birds that out number people a thousand times fold. You will never see this in the lower 48, not even Yellowstone.
In 2008 I met a soon to be friend and associate at the ActiveRain Real Estate network named Debra Leisek. For the first 3-4 years at ActiveRain Debra and I would comment back and forth. I would always mention to Debra how beautiful Alaska was and so she started sending me listings on acreage around Homer Alaska.
Well in 2014 a dear friend of mine moved to Alaska and asked if I would like to come and visit, within 2 weeks I was once again on my way back to The Last Frontier. In 2015 I purchased some acreage through Debra in Alaska and in 2018 closed on a small home in Alaska through Bay Realty in Homer Alaska. Who would ever thought that my connection with Debra in 2008 at the ActiveRain network would lead to a close friendship and associate, and actually owning property in Alaska?
In fact I have spoken to Debra several times about getting licensed to sell real estate in Homer Alaska. I signed up for school, printed out the study guide for taking the Alaska State Exam but have yet to complete it. I have around 4 more years of working construction and then I will be spending 4-5 months in Alaska through the summer's and possibly selling real estate with Debra.
Since my first visit to Alaska in 2001 I have been spending time from 2 weeks to 4 months when I lived in Anchorage in 2015, between 2014 to 2018, and will once again be in Alaska this coming June 2018.
So many of my family and friends aways say ... "I would love to visit Alaska but can't imagine living there."
And I always say to them why not? Once your retired what place could possibly be more beautiful, relaxing with fresh air, less traffic, less people, etc, then Alaska. Some say to me it would be so boring ... come on boring to me is sitting in traffic for hours, or a line at the store, or listening to all the noise and negativity coming from people's mouths, just to name a few.
I am completely sold on Alaska The Last Frontier and couldn't think of a more beautiful relaxing place to live or travel in. And I am proud to own several pieces of land and a home in a area that I only dreamed of when I was growing up.
Alaska has become my home away from home and I look forward to that last day of working construction and hanging up my hat, packing my suitcases and flying up to Alaska for those long summer days & nights ;o)
Please take note: All the photographs on this post were taken by Robert Swetz between the years 2014 and 2017, and All Rights Are Reserved.
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