Anyone on here from Valdez, AK?

Valdez is awesome in the summer, great fishing. In the winter there's so much steep and deep around you'll think you died and went to heaven.

I doubt that after living there for that amount of time that you ever go back home

You are gonna love watching the oiltankers fill up with AK crued. And all the refineries around and when you go fill up your truck/sled/boat/car and you end up paying more than you currently are paying.

no nightlife, 8-10 hour drive to anchorage i think, you're either there to ride or fish or both, bring your own girl and try to make some money.

Google a map. Anchorage is a fair drive, you gotta go the "Long way". I had buddies that were there and killer sledding, I think the nightlife is lame and stores expensive as is all of AK. Housing is not much better. Check Valdez real estate for an idea.

But it's Alaska, Some people love it, some hate it. You will never know unless you do it.

My grandparents lived there for several years and I was able to go up and see them back in 94. If you love the outdoors, there are few places better. The town itself is split between tourist, fishing, and oil during the summer. In the winter it is mostly oil and snow removal

Anchorage is a 6 hour drive away. Just make sure your rig is gassed up and in good shape. There's little help along the trail. There are alot of bars in the town. Either you drink or go to church. Alot of folks tend to feel like they're hemmed in because of the mountains around the town. Grocerys are spendy as is the housing. Shoveling snow all winter tends to get old quickly. I used to live there back in the wild wooly days of the pipeline and hauled out of there during the oil spill.
The sledding in the 'pass' is great!

Population is about 4500 in the winter. 5 or 6 bar/restraunts here, and 11 churches. 300 + annual inches of fluffy white stuff in town, 800 + on Thompson Pass 27 miles north. Housing market kinda sucks, either a 250,000.00 house or 10,000.00 POS mobile home in a park, no in between for middle class. I work for AKDOT and mechanic on the side to make enough to keep my nice house for my wife and kids. Only one grocery store here and they are expensive, but a lot of people drive to Anchorage and buy bulk and save. 305 miles/ 6 hour drive to get to McDonalds....
We have cable TV thru GCI, or Dish network. SIRIUS or XM don't work well, really sporatic..

Now the good news...... sledding is awesome. You can ride your sled or ATV on city streets with Alaska tags and a drivers licence. I can take off from the house in town and climb Hogback Mountain 0-3000 foot in about 30-45 minutes and from there we can access other glaciers and go deep into the mountains. We usually have good snow after Thanksgiving and can ride till May. I've ridden Thompson Pass in July on a patch next to the road just to say I've done it...Also trailering up the highway there are numerous trails accessing more boondocking backcountry in the middle of nowhere..
Hope this answers your questions.
Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have any more ??'s. I've lived here for 31 years now after being born in Fairbanks a few before that...

Oh yeah,,, Forgot to mention it pronounce Val-Deeze not val- dez (like Juan Valdez that hypes the coffee)