Seward, Alaska rentals - searching for a rental

Well, today was a quiet day of unsuccessful house/rental hunting. After more searching, Seward is still looking like a no-go.

It's hard to find a house for rent in a town of 700 people. There are a couple of homes for sale, so I'm going to call them and see if they want me to house-sit while they try to sell the homes.

There are also two commercial properties available, and I'm going to call and see if they want me to live in one of those. :) One is a former dance studio, the other looks like a suite down at the wharf.

If it sounds like I'm willing to try crazy things to live here, it's because the area around here is sooooo beautiful. Snow-covered mountains, hiking trails, water everywhere, and at least one large glacier you can walk right up to.

This morning I read an uplifting story in the Alaska Daily News titled "Drowning, suicide, insanity lay in wait for new Alaskans". It started talking about a Jack London story called "To Build a Fire", then described several unfortunate events that have happened to "cheechako's" (newbies like me), as documented in the public records here. As the constant sun and light show wreaks havoc on my internal time clock I can definitely understand the insanity part. :)

I wonder how different the gas prices are? They started today at $3.07 in Anchorage this morning, but the low here in Seward is closer to $3.30.