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Old 10-24-2021, 04:56 PM
 
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Hello! I am a retired military member who is currently in Alaska. I love Alaska but would like to travel more and flying 4 hrs just to get to Seattle takes a lot of pleasure out of adventures. We have been scouring the lower 48 for an "Alaskan lite" locale and Maine seems to fit the bill. We have visited and truly enjoyed the friendliness and down to earth mentality we encountered. We are thinking and hour outside of Portland/Augusta would be ideal, if employment opportunities presented themselves than further north would be wonderfu, but I would imagine civil engineering jobs will be scarce outside of the major cities. Been lurking so I'd figured I'd introduce myself.
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Old 10-24-2021, 05:02 PM
 
Location: Western Maine Mountains
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I've never been to Alaska so I don't know how similar Maine is. That said, I would check with the state for employment opportunities since that could offer you the chance to live farther north depending on what they are looking for.

Maine is even farther from Seattle. Don't know if that matters.
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Old 10-25-2021, 04:57 AM
 
Location: Newburyport, MA
12,384 posts, read 9,483,835 times
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I did a backpacking trip to AK for 3 weeks - Inside Passage up from Seattle, Glacier Bay, Denali and Wrangell St Elias... that was over 30 years ago, but it certainly made an impression on me - vast and spectacular outdoors and true wilderness :-).

When you say you want to travel more and cite Seattle, it sounds like by travel, you don't just mean to more woods. The distances in Maine are definitely smaller than in AK, but for a state in the lower 48, it's still fairly lightly settled. You haven't said too much so far, but from my impression I am also thinking the Portland and Brunswick region sounds promising, possibly Bath. Mid-coast, you might also look at Rockland/Rockport/Camden, and further up the coast, in Ellsworth. Some parts of Maine that have beautiful nature have substantially lower population as well as economic activity and I am not a civil engineer, but I don't think there would be many local projects using civil engineering firms.

P.S. one outfit I know of in the Rockland/Rockport/Camden area is Gartley & Dorsky. They happened to do the surveying on the property I bought and my local realtor said they might be the biggest firm in that area - looks like they have offices in Camden and Damariscotta and they have a portfolio of case studies on their website that gives you an idea of their work.
https://www.gartleydorsky.com/

Last edited by OutdoorLover; 10-25-2021 at 05:36 AM..
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Old 10-25-2021, 07:47 AM
 
Location: Mid-Coast Maine...Finally!
337 posts, read 429,245 times
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I loved Alaska when I visited a few years back. My wife and I fly-fished for Silvers far North about 400 miles from the Russian border and stayed at out-camps. Our guide had a Beaver that thrilled us with the scenery. You don't know what color the sky really is until you see it in Alaska!

You will be most comfortable if you look North of Portland. Mid-Coast Maine exhibts a lot of similarities to Alaska in many ways. You'll have a better chance of finding an affordable home there as well. Start at Belfast and work both sides of Rt 3 in York and Waldo county. If you need a realtor email me and I'll have one to recommend to you.

For work may want to check this website out:

https://www.maine.gov/portal/employment/jobs.html

There is lot of growth occuring here in Maine and the need for technical jobs seem to be growing. Good luck and welcome "Home". That's what the sign says as you drive into the state on 95!
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Old 10-25-2021, 08:19 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,452 posts, read 61,360,276 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AK_2_ME View Post
Hello! I am a retired military member who is currently in Alaska.
Welcome



Quote:
... I would imagine civil engineering jobs will be scarce outside of the major cities.
Another poster recently [ YloSno ] came here asking about Civil Engineering jobs. He was thinking in terms of Municipality employment. I know two local guys who have Civil Engineering degrees, so I suggested that I could introduce this new poster to these engineers. Less than a week later I bumped into one of these guys while out running errands, and I was assured that there are plenty of engineering openings in the area. But they are not listed on job sites. You need to walk into the office and have a cup of coffee with the fellas.

If you would like, the next time that you are here visiting Maine, you are welcome to contact me and I will gladly make an introduction with my local Civil Engineering buddies.

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Old 10-25-2021, 04:53 PM
 
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Maine is even farther from Seattle. Don't know if that matters.[/quote]
I understand that, just saying where we live in Alaska we have to fly at least 4 hours just to get to hub of Seattle before we could travel anywhere.
Sorry for any confusion.

We want to live in a rural area, and I agree north of Portland is a better fit. The small the town the better! I love the beauty of Alaska and the slow disconnectedness of it, but -50s are getting old! I like the idea of a shorter winter with all 4 seasons.

He has applied to Gartley and Dorsky as the currently have opening so thank you for that info!
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Old 10-25-2021, 07:19 PM
 
Location: Newburyport, MA
12,384 posts, read 9,483,835 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AK_2_ME View Post
Maine is even farther from Seattle. Don't know if that matters.
I understand that, just saying where we live in Alaska we have to fly at least 4 hours just to get to hub of Seattle before we could travel anywhere.
Sorry for any confusion.

We want to live in a rural area, and I agree north of Portland is a better fit. The small the town the better! I love the beauty of Alaska and the slow disconnectedness of it, but -50s are getting old! I like the idea of a shorter winter with all 4 seasons.

He has applied to Gartley and Dorsky as the currently have opening so thank you for that info!
When we went up, I think it was in 1988 or 1989, we went the last week in July and the first 2 weeks in August, and I don't think we saw *any* weather in the 60s. It was all 30s, 40s and 50s, and we got some snow in Wrangell. In Denali the Dall sheep were turning white already. I was living in NH at the time and back home during those weeks you could have weather in the 90s. I can remember thinking "This is awesome, but if this is what summer is like, I want no part of the winter!" LOL

Good luck to him, G&D looks like a good place that gets some interesting projects.
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Old 10-25-2021, 07:57 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,452 posts, read 61,360,276 times
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I have been to Seattle many times. I owned a home in Bremerton. I served on one sub that decommissioned in Bremerton, and then I served on a different sub homeported at Subase Bangor.

I prefer living in Maine.
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Old 10-25-2021, 08:19 PM
 
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I totally agree, I have no attachment to Seattle., it's just the closest hub city that we can fly to before catching flights elsewhere. My spouse served on subs, he was stationed in Groton. Maine is a close to Alaska as we can get in the lower 48, few people, beautiful country and lots of wildlife, plus it's a lot lower cost of living!
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Old 10-25-2021, 08:27 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,452 posts, read 61,360,276 times
Reputation: 30392
Quote:
Originally Posted by AK_2_ME View Post
I totally agree, I have no attachment to Seattle., it's just the closest hub city that we can fly to before catching flights elsewhere. My spouse served on subs, he was stationed in Groton. Maine is a close to Alaska as we can get in the lower 48, few people, beautiful country and lots of wildlife, plus it's a lot lower cost of living!
I have spent a lot of time in Groton. My bride was from Groton.

My first submarine was homeported there. The river near Groton, is the Thames and it is not deep enough for boats to fit in the river so we were never allowed to try to surface there. We were homeported in Groton and our sub was only allowed to surface in Scotland, we flew back and forth a lot.
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