The Seattle area (Vancouver, Bellingham, Redmond: rentals, home, look for a job)

[alternativeview]

I'd like to find the sunniest place possible in the Seattle area.

I'd like a community that is active, located between 30 minutes to an hour from Seattle. I'd move further away from Seattle if the place was nice.

Friends from that area have mentioned Skykomish, Sequim, Redmond, Yelm, San Juans and Bellingham. What are these places like? I talked to a realtor in Sequim. She said it was pretty much a retirement community with young people here and there. She also said the town is growing. Any comments?

How are these towns different from living on one of the islands near Seattle? Generally speaking, how willing are people to visit friends living on an island?

AlwaysSmiling, if you're still out there, I work from home so I don't need to look for a job. I'll be doing some traveling and will need to get to Seattle once every three months or so.

Also thank you Gallo, 'rocco, and Janb for your posts on the thread "Islands that are interesting and safe"

I'll be visiting Seattle this month to check it out.

Thanks for your help.

[scirocco22]

Just a quick comment before I go back and read your other thread ...all those places you mentioned are not going to have much sun. They're all in western Washington so will be influences for the most part by the area's marine climate.

The exception is Sequim in that it is in the "banana belt" also known as the rain shadow and although you won't get as much rain in Sequim, you won't get a huge amount of sunshine. It's also much further than an hour from Seattle.

Vashon is only accessed by ferry so you may have a bit differnet feeling there than some of the other islands which you can drive on and off. I used to know several people that lived on Vashon and I hesitated in visting because of the hassle of the ferry. Once in awhile is ok, though. All but one have since moved off the island because of the hassle of commuting. It might be all right if you are staying on the island everyday ...if perhaps you are retired, etc.

--'rocco

[neptune]

^^ ditto, but the rain shadow includes Pt Townsend and some of Whidbey Island, if you do a google image search for 'washington rainfall' you'll see what we're talking about. With your situation though, I'd check out Point Roberts. It's everything you describe except it's more like 1.5 - 2 hours from Seattle. Even though its actually on a peninsula, it's basically a rural island suburb of Vancouver with the international boundary as its security gate. The main downsides are that it's very hard to find work there, border backups, and even less likely to have friends from Seattle drop by.

[scirocco22]

True, neptune. And I forgot to mention that the San Juans is also considered to be in the rain shadow.

However, alternativeview did state that they wanted to be 30 minutes to an hour from Seattle so I guess that's going to rule out the San Juans as well as Point Roberts. And Point Roberts gets its share of rain, doesn't it?

edit: oh wait, they are willing to be further if it is nice. Yes, Point Roberts may be nice but it is a hassle to have to put up with the border crossing ...don't know, may be worth considering though.

--'rocco

[kittyhox]

You won't escape the rain, but have you considered Bainbridge Island? I just love that place. It's a fairly easy ferry ride to downtown Seattle and you can drive off the back side to Poulsbo.

It's out of our price range or we'd move in a second!

[alternativeview]

Thanks for all the input! I've been considering Bainbridge and Whidbey. I would like to be in a place where friends would come to visit.

How do you find rentals on Bainbridge? Are there different areas of Bainbridge or towns near there that are interesting?

[scirocco22]

I was just looking at the Kitsap county section of Craigslist and it seemed to have a few rentals listed on Bainbridge.

kitsap / west puget apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

You can also check with realty agencies that have agents assigned to rentals only such as Windermere and others.

The main city on Bainbridge is Winslow. The rest of the island was annexed in the early 1990s to be officially named the city of Bainbridge Island but the center of town is still referred to as Winslow. So in essence, the whole island is now the city. As Kittyhox stated, you can drive off the island on the north side and easily go to Poulsbo.

Oh, and you're not going to escape the rain on Bainbridge. It seems everytime I'm there it's raining. I don't go there that often but I used to visit friends and every recollection I have, it was raining. But that's just part of the western Washington experience ...not just exclusive to Bainbridge so I don't even know why I mention it. All my recollections of my childhood scouting expeditions seemed to be in pouring down rain too.

--'rocco