If you want to improve your sense of well-being, leave the Lower 48.
A new report ranking all 50 states based on residents' sense of well-being puts Hawaii at No. 1, followed by Alaska, which held the top spot last year.
Hawaii has been No. 1 in the poll five times since 2008.
"Alaska and Hawaii are both beautiful states in their own way but distinctly different," said Dan Witters, research director of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.
I know that our reputation has been somewhat sullied by the one who shall not be named, but really there is nothing anybody can do to damage the beauty and serenity of our beautiful state.
I lived in Hawaii for a year while I went to school, but in my mind there is only one place to live.
Agreed. Both Alaska and Hawaii are beautiful places, but I'm dreaming of a sandy beach, a palm tree, and gin and tonic made with fresh meyer lemons.
ReplyDeleteOh, and O/T
In lower 48, cops don't just shoot kids, they then SUE THE FAMILY afterwards for emotional distress.
http://wgntv.com/2016/01/28/police-officer-will-sue-the-estate-of-the-teen-he-killed/
I saw that and was totally outraged! I believe the vetting of people to be law enforcement officers needs to be reviewed and revised to get the best and the brightest, not the dumbest and most stupid. That said, it may be too frustrating for a good officer to work with the rest of the force :(
DeleteIn almost everyone's mind there is one place to live. A place that is or has benn, HOME.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I'm dreaming of the coast of Maine.
DeleteI vacationed in Hawaii. Can't wait to get Alaska off my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteAlaska is a place I had always wanted to visit until Sarah Palin came to prominence. Unfortunately,it slipped way down on my list, below Alabama and Arkansas, because of her.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous5:24 AM
DeleteAgreed. I did visit there in 09 after she quit and it is gorgeous! Nothing like the snow capped mountains as you land at the Anchorage airport and see that grizzly bear in the glass, inside...its Alaska and there is no where like it and its beautiful. I want to go back and visit Denali but I won't until they get rid of the BOG and change their predator policy. Then I will return. Don't let stupid sarah keep you from seeing this beautiful awesome place! Its so much MORE than a screeching wretch!
BOG? Predator policy?
DeleteAs long as there are Palins and Heaths breathing on Alaskan soil, no thanks.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the Palins. They live in Wasilla (referred to as the Valley - combination of Wasilla and Palmer) which is north of Anchorage about an hour drive on a main highway system.
DeleteThey are disliked very much in Alaska and don't show themselves much anywhere in the state! Wasilla folks don't even see much of them! They don't live a very inviting life in Alaska - that is for sure!
@6:22
DeleteThey don't even like her there! I was THERE in Wasilly in 09, the people were so fucking pissed she quit on them you couldn't find a pro palin anything anywhere!!! In Wasilla! I did find a tin of mints that said "Wasilla" on them and that was all. Go to ALaska and don't worry about the paymes. You will see mountains you will never see anywhere else(except maybe the Himalayas! ) and of course the glaciers, you want to go before they all melt!
Wait until Wasilla finds out why Sarah was thrown out of office.
Delete"Quit"? Yeah you betcha. Go ahead and keep telling people that Sarah. You are about to be refudiated.
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2010/07/sarah-palin-admits-she-quit-as-governor.html
How then is Alaska also the state with the highest suicide,sex abuse and alcoholism rates? Something seems skewed.
ReplyDeleteI agree. We rate #1 per capita in each of those catagories. Just held event for Homeless and 800 people show-up (I may have # wrong but it was a lot). Don't forget Spice, Meth, pills and heroin. I have done those surveys before and the questions they ask make it impossible to really quantitate how you "feel" about living here. If all the bigoted, gun, clinging oil field working people left or never came we would have a blue, libertarian and HAPPY place to live.
DeleteI heard this reported on the radio the other day, and I must say it puzzled me, given that Alaska is tops on the list for so many problems-domestic violence, drug use, etc. How can this be reconciled? Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is because it's the "sense" of well being rather than necessarily actual well being.
DeleteOr because it's like those "best steak houses" or "top skin docs" surveys in the magazines in the airplane seat pockets. And they pay to be there.
DeleteOr the survey was done in summer.
DeleteOr the survey was done on the road system and did not include "the bush", that's my guess. It's like two different states, culturally.
Delete5:24 & 5:36:
ReplyDeleteSP isn't harmed in the least by your boycott; only you.
Griff, you stayed in Hawaii as long as Palin. Too many Asians to get your groove on like her? LOL😄 Just kidding! You're a good man, Charlie Brown!
ReplyDeleteLong dark winters, thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with the Great Lakes.
ReplyDeleteNobody should move to Colorado. It's disgusting here. So don't move here.
ReplyDeleteWhy??
DeleteI don't know why, but I don't think anyone should move here. There's too much snow and too much sun and too much wide open space and blue sky. And Rt. 70 up to the mountains was way too crowded when I drove up last night. So, please don't move here. In fact, I'd say maybe a third of the population should leave right now.
Delete;)
Kind of surprises me that Alaska is on the top here. We have so many negatives going on with Anchorage currently, as an example. High crime rate for one!
ReplyDeleteHawaii would be a place I'd love to spend throughout the entire winters, but it's very expensive! I've vacationed there multiple times throughout the years - on the various islands. Maui and Molaki are my favorites! The Hawaiian people are wonderful!
Alaska is one of the WORSE states to live in. It's like a black widow spider - beautiful to look at, deadly if bitten. Number one per capita in so many venues: rape, domestic violence, gun violence, STDS, alcoholism, drug overdoses, overall crime, divorce, suicide, lousy medical care, state-dependent welfare recipients, fetal alcohol syndrome, small aircraft fatalities, vehicle deaths, poverty, malnutrition, homelessness, police brutality, psychiatric disorder, SAD, mental instability (the Palins being the poster children), you-name-it.
ReplyDeleteLeft in the '80s and never looked back. Everyone is fucked up there. Everyone. This after DECADES of living in Anchorage/Palmer/Wasilla. Flew around the state as a flight attendant for three Alaskan-based carriers; much worse conditions in the Bush.
Just speaking from experience. To those who visit Alaska and rave about its beauty, great. For those who LIVE in Alaska, it's another story.
Agreed. Especially, if your work is with OCS, and other in the trenches positions, where you see dysfunction at it's finest on a daily basis. I have worked for the past 30 years, in urban and rural communities..the issues have escalated...the resources..have decreased.
DeleteHow does "well-being" square with all the negative statistics of Alaska? Beauty aside as no one disputes that, isn't AK first for domestic violence, depression, suicide, alcoholism etc? The lack of sunshine in winter would be enough to send me over the edge.
ReplyDeleteAnd that explains the high suicide rate?
ReplyDeleteLol. End it all while riding the peak of ecstasy and enlightenment I suppose?
DeleteVisit Alaska. When you do, you will see the beauty.
ReplyDeleteLive in AK if you can, and you will see the ugly under belly - the social and criminal problems mentioned above. They are getting exponentially worse.
After 32 years in the cold and the dark, I can say I am now ecstatic to be elsewhere. Never looking back.
Pros - no venomous spiders, no fleas, no ticks, no indigenous rats or snakes except the human kind.
Cons - Oil prices low, state is going broke - look for the perm fund to disappear, and income tax to be instituted. Look for the paltry services to decrease (8, count 'em, troopers for the Valley, which is the size of WV and a hotbed of crime). Political atmosphere such that the Fed gov is fought tooth and nail when they try to bring help to the poor. Case in point, the ACA.
When I arrived in AK from New England, it was a breath of fresh air - friendly people, helpful people. It has now become an armed camp, with neighbors suspecting neighbors. And religious nutcases coming out of the woodwork.
I am not the only one who feels this way - a number of friends have either already left, or are planning to do so soon.
It is the desert for me. Reading the above
ReplyDeletecomments of all of the rampant social and domestic problems , as Governor, Palin
took you all for a ride, ran out on you
to line her pockets and to work on her "look at me" career. She did nothing
to alleviate these problems. If somehow
you Alaskan citizens could put a stop to
her "look at me" career, hopefully the
name Sarah Palin and Palin herself would fade away. Your beautiful State deserves
rescuing from this disgusting yoke around it's neck.
Coming from Atlantic Canada, as a kid, I pledged never to live again in a place that had hard winters. Having lived across the country, and in the eastern U.S., love the northern Atlantic. Have to see ocean and feel there's quick access to warmer climes. It's easy to just drive if one doesn't want to fly.
ReplyDeleteAlaska is unique and beautiful, however, 'north' to me makes me feel trapped. Just me. I suppose I longed for the grass that's greener, and then found what I always yearned for is what attracted my ancestors.
Who shall not be named?
ReplyDeleteIt isn't Alaska's fault that people like Joe Miller, Jerry Pervo and Francis August Schaeffer Cox decide to move to Alaska.
Was it one of these three you didn't mention? Or was it Bill Veco Allen? Or Robert Hanson? Guess that's the thing when people flee the lower 48. You tend to end up collecting folks like these. Whatever happened to the Heaths from Idaho?
I am considering traveling to Alaska for the first time in late March for a dog show in Anchorage. I will be driving with two, possibly three, dogs and coming from Texas, no less. It isn't that there's a dearth of shows closer to me, it's just that I'd like to combine a vacation of sorts with something fun with my dogs.
ReplyDeleteCan any of the AK folks here recommend some fun things to do in Anchorage in late March\early April? Also, too, any recommendations for a nice pet friendly hotel in Anchorage? I own large breeds but they are exceptionally well trained and behaved, as we attend about 30 shows a year and they are accustomed to staying in hotels, riding elevators, etc. Thanks in advance for your input.
I've been to Alaska twice and there's something mystic that makes me want to go back. Been to Hawaii about a dozen times, and find it highly overrated and expensive as hell, even when it was on the company's dime.
ReplyDeleteAlaska's landscape and it's people were fantastic when we last visited about fifteen years ago. Flying on those cessna planes scared the shit out of me, but it was the only way to get to a few towns my husband has friends in. The big urban areas are the same as here, the burbs and tract homes, malls etc... but once you hit places off the grid is when it gets interesting.
If you've never been to Alaska, put it on your bucket list. Beautiful beyond words.