The gym (or field house) alone makes it worth being stationed here. It is big. Really big. There is an INDOOR soccer stadium the size of a football field and a full-size basketball court. Along the sides of the soccer stadium are rooms with glass windows full of work-out equipment; the basketball court has a few bikes and eliptical machines lined up on one side. Thus I can take the kids with me and exercise while they play – and it is highly encouraged (I guess they do all they can at this base to keep the suicide rates down low in the winter time).

There is a large indoor pool that is open year-round that is free for military families. The community center has a large indoor play area (kind of like a super-sized McDonald’s play land).

The commissary is a bit pathetic but there is an army base (Ft. Wainwright) about 25 minutes away with a fabulous commissary that is worth traveling to two or three times a month. With Alaska prices on food I will be taking the time to travel north to the army base when I need to do some major grocery shopping.

Some of the items that seem to cost the most around here are: gas (currently about $3.79 per gallon), milk, meat and produce. Off base everything is quite a bit more expensive (at least in grocery stores) – restaurants seem to be about the same. Fairbanks does not have any sales tax. There are no malls or department stores for a couple hundred miles (gotta go to Anchorage). The main shopping places withing a thirty minute drive are Fred Meyer, Wal-mart, Safeway, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Sportsman’s Warehouse (Peter’s happy about this), and well, that’s about it. Fast food restaurants are aplenty but larger chain ones are few.

The city of Fairbanks seems to be close to the size of Price, UT. It ain’t big at all – only about 35,000 people. Once you drive around it once or twice you can find your way around and through it with no problemo.

The city just to the north of us is North Pole. It is between Eielson Air Force Base and the Ft. Wainwright/Fairbanks area. This is where our ward chapel is. This city includes city streets such as St. Nicholas Drive, Santa Claus Lane, etc… The light poles on Santa Claus lane look like candy canes. There is an RV park called Santaland and a few other local businesses with Christmas names or themes. You can go to Santa’s “house” and sit on his lap at any time of the year.

People around here wear what they want whenever they want. Tidy hair and new clean clothes are not mandatory to fit in around here. Camping and hunting wear are the norm with the locals. Almost every truck (and believe me folks, there are tons of them) have a dog sitting in the front seat. And they aren’t little dogs either.

The radio stations are awesome. I found a “country” station that plays the most random songs – not just the 20-40 most popular current songs, but many oldies and other less-known country songs. Sometimes the stations plays songs that aren’t country. I love it!

There is a huge anti-establishment culture in the area. Almost every truck, trailer, and RV has bumper stickers railing on government and the current administration. Also are MANY funny ones about guns, trucks, snow, moose poop, etc…

After all is said and done, I think we’re going to like it here.