Alaskan Nomads

Our story started in a place that looked very different from the Alaska wilderness we now call home.

Jenny and I were both born and raised in Oregon in the Willamette Valley. When we first met, I was playing guitar in a metal band and Jenny was friends with one of the other band members. She kept showing up at our practice sessions and whether she was really there for the music or had another reason is still up for debate, but before long, we started spending time together. The rest, as they say, became our story.

We have now been married for 20 years, and for most of that time, moving to Alaska was a dream we kept coming back to.

I first visited Alaska in 2002 while serving in the United States Coast Guard as an Operations Specialist and immediately fell in love with this place. The mountains, the wildlife, the wide-open spaces, and the feeling that adventure could be waiting around any corner left a lasting impression that I couldn't shake. After returning home, Alaska never really stopped calling.

For years, we talked about moving north and building a life up here. In June of 2016, we finally took the leap. We packed up our lives, moved to Alaska, and discovered that it was everything we had hoped it would be, along with plenty of surprises, challenges, and lessons we could never have anticipated.

Alaskan Nomads began as a way to document our adventures and share the place we love with others that may never have the opportunity to visit this amazing place. That has included camping in the Alaskan wilderness, enduring bitter winter temperatures, fishing, cooking over fires, exploring remote places, and occasionally wondering why we thought something was a good idea in the first place 😂.

Now, we are beginning one of our biggest adventures yet: building an off-grid cabin on our own piece of raw Alaskan land. We are learning as we go, doing as much of the work ourselves as possible, and sharing the victories, mistakes, costs, and realities along the way.

At the heart of everything we do is a love of Alaska, the outdoors, and experiencing new things together. We are not experts or survivalists. We are simply a husband-and-wife team chasing a long-held dream, learning new skills, and trying to make the most of the incredible place we are fortunate enough to call home.

Thanks for joining us on the adventure.

Justin & Jenny
Alaskan Nomads