Rat race escapee

Oct. 14, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - The surrounding mountains, which captured Scott Neel and his wife's attention during a 2004 visit to Anchorage, drew the couple back to the Last Frontier this summer.

Despite an adventurous relocation from Washington, D.C., to the Matanuska Valley, even though they didn't have employment lined up first, Neel and his wife, Leah, have landed dream jobs in their fields and shortened their commutes considerably.

&#8221Basically, we wanted to get out of the rat race. We both are outdoors people. My wife especially loves mountains, the winters and snow,“ Neel said during an interview Wednesday.

After arriving in Alaska in June, they set up bank accounts, scouted the real estate market, and started networking to find work. In August, the Neels' home in Washington, D.C., sold two days after it was listed. Shortly after that good news, Scott was granted an interview for the position of curator with the Dorothy Page Museum in Wasilla.

Scott spent nine years with the American History Museum, which is part of the renowned Smithsonian. For five years, he helped the Air and Space Museum move to Dulles International Airport. He worked in that location for three years.

That experience, along with his master's and doctorate degrees in archeology, made him the ideal candidate for running the Wasilla museum. And he was hired.

&#8221We felt better that one of us had a job to get us through the winter,“ he said, adding that he feels much happier knowing his wife has a job she loves, too.

The Alaska Conservation Foundation hired Leah last month, and the couple's new and very busy life in the Valley began to take shape.

At the Dorothy Page Museum, Scott will spend about two months of remodeling - mostly painting. Then, he will embark on the winter task of organizing a storage room in the basement, rearranging the main floor to better reflect a chronological time line of the Valley's history and working on a grant to draw more people to the museum.

He looks forward to tackling the storage room.

&#8221I have a real eye for puzzles and how to create space when there isn't a lot of space,“ he said.

The room is crammed with items that should be on display, like fur hats, antique soda cans, photographs and many books that have been shelved. Many don't have a deed of gift signed yet, he said. Some - like copies of the Frontiersman dating back to the 1950 - could be cataloged to take up less space, he said.

Both Scott and Leah should have more time for playing in the outdoors because they've shaved so much time off the commutes they had in the nation's capital. However, getting comfortable with their new jobs and moving into a new home may delay their opportunity to explore the Valley as much as they'd like this winter, he said.

About two weeks ago, the couple bought a home about three miles down Knik-Goose Bay Road.

From there, Neel has a 10-minute commute to work that would cause most people on the East Coast to raise an envious eyebrow or two. Leah's commute of 55 minutes to downtown Anchorage is a piece of cake for Washington, D.C. residents. The scenery makes the miles much more tolerable, Scott said.

&#8221She enjoys the drive because she sees mountains on her drive. In D.C., she was seeing high-rise buildings and asphalt. The other day, she said she saw a moose trotting by,“ Scott said.

Before moving to Alaska, Leah drove one hour and 15 minutes each way from home to work and back. Scott's drive to the Air and Space Museum took him 45 minutes, but he recalled being stuck in traffic for up to three hours.

Prior to opening in the spring, Scott wants to rearrange the main gallery.

&#8221I want to bring more of the Native culture exhibits to the beginning of the entrance. I want to show a true history line of the Valley,“ he said.

Scott hopes to interest classrooms of students, during the last month before summer vacation, in viewing the traveling exhibit &#8221Creating Alaska: The Origins of the 49th State.“ The show will be booked at the museum from May through August, but Scott is toying with the idea of getting permission to keep it in Wasilla through Labor Day.

As a way of gaining the support of Valley residents, Scott also plans to create more activities during the month the museum is typically closed.

The museum usually opens for Wasilla's Christmas tree-lighting activities in December, but Scott would like to use the museum for more community events during the off-season.

&#8221I have a lot of ideas. It's just finding which one would work with just me here during the winter time,“ he said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at

352-2252, or dawn.debusk@ frontiersman.com.