Some Info on Camas / Vancouver (Battle Ground: for sale, to rent, houses)

[Holly]

After using this site a lot before moving I thought it would be helpful to post what I have learned thus far about the area.

My husband I just moved to the area from Georgia in September. So, we have been here about two months and I have just fell in love with the area.

Here is what i have learned:

1. People are super friendly. Although some people in camas can tend to have a little more of a snobby attitude. I live on the edge of camas towards Vancouver.

2. Everything is really close compared to what I am use to. I can get to walmart, most of the stores I need within 10 mins.

3. People walk/run ALL the time. Regardless of rain, cold you name it.

4. The scenery couldn't be more gorgeous.

5. There are more parks then you can count.

6. Most of the people are not from the area so it makes it easier to make friends.

7. Camas has lots of family activities. Such as Boo Bash on Wed. the kids can go to businesses for candy from 3 to 5. which i think is cool.

8. Portland is very close drive if you want to do stuff over there.

9. People are more informed on politics. We received in the mail a pamphlet on people running for offices from teh President on down to the local people. It has unbias information. Just the facts. It also goes over the local laws that are being proposed and an analysis. In Georgia we never received anything like that.

10. People are more about the culture it seems. There are a lot of people who like to do things like write, artists, etc.

11. Housing is expensive

12. Thus far it has not rained as much I thought it would. We have had about a 5 day stretch of sun. The best advice i think i have gotten is in the winter just expect every day to rain and if it doesn't then its a blessing. Or least every day to be gray skies. Also, how can you expect it to be so green and beautiful w/o som sacrifice. But the rain around here doesn't stop people from doing stuff either.

12. Out of Vancouver, Battle Ground, Portland etc. I really like the neighborhood that I am in. It is located close to Camas downtown, Vancouver, or Portland. Although traffic in the morning to portland i hear is a bit of a pain in the butt.

13. I can see raising a child here. I have a baby.

14. There really is a starbucks on just about every corner.

[hml1976]

Hi Holly,
We moved here from Tennessee last February so I get where you're coming from Anyway, great post, I agree with most of what you said.

One thing that I will warn you about is the rain. While we LOVE it here and hope to never leave I thought I was prepared for the rain until I lived it. We moved here the first week of February and the very first time I saw Mt Hood was in March. It wasn't the rain that was so terrible but the dark skies, it does take some getting used to. Luckily it hasn't started yet, October has been beautiful!

[mom2+1]

We just found out that we will be relocating to the Portland area this January. We live in Salt Lake City, UT right now but originally from Phoenix, AZ. I am a little worried about all the rain since I am use to so many days of blue skies but I hope the transition will be easy. We have been looking online at houses and have really no idea where we are looking. When you moved how long did it take you to find a house and did you have a really helpful realtor? My husbands company pays for us to come out for a one week house hunting trip, I just hope that is enough time to find a house.

Are you part of any moms groups? I have 3 kids(5, 2 and 11 months)

Thanks

[hml1976]

I'm in the Camas Mom's Club which has been great! There's a web site camasmoms.com. I have an almost 2yr old and a 4yr old.

We waited to find a house because we had to sell ours first so we had about 6mths of looking around. We love it here but the rain does take some getting used to! We decided to live in the Sunnigdale Gardens/Lake Pointe area of Camas and love it here.

I will warn you that like us, you're moving at the worst time of the year. Stick it out and you'll be rewarded with the most beautiful summer and fall!

Good luck!

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by hml1976

Hi Holly,
...
One thing that I will warn you about is the rain. ..., October has been beautiful!

What do you think of these last few sunsets !!! wow, we did the beach last night and Columbia Gorge tonight, spectacular. Oct has the best (orangest) and they have lasted nearly an hour. !!

We moved here from Colorado in Oct (about 28 yrs ago...) we loved the sunsets (while they lasted)

BE PREPARED... I consider election day as the deluge. Usually that first week in November gets you soaked, and then you just stay all wet till March, then you get teased till June, with a couple scorchers in May. One Memorial Day the I-5 bridge was so hot, it wouldn't come down after they raised it for a barge. They had to soak it with fireboats for a couple hours to get it to shrink enough to close !

Be prepared tho for the weeks leading to Mother's day and enjoy the Rhodie Gardens (several times) walk the nearby neighborhoods (Reed College) and enjoy the nice homes and landscape. They also have a great x-mas open house in that neighborhood as a school fund raiser, Duniway Elementary (Woodstock realtors can get you tickets) You get to tour about 20 REALLY nice older homes that are decked out for the holiday. In the summer you can go to free rehearsals for Chamber Music NW @ 11AM on Weds and then go to Rhodie gardens for a picnic.

Be careful in the evening rains all winter, it is tough to see (super dark) and you will probably squish a few possums, that is really gross on a bicycle, so try to use your SUV

[Holly]

I love the other posts. I am not sure who the mom is that is in the MOMs camas group, but I just joined the group myself. I have only gone to a couple of thing so far though. Been pretty busy with my almost 5 month old.

I agree this october has been beautiful. I did find a realitor when we first came here back in Feb. for a week (it rained the whole week - so i got a good pic of what winter will be like) and she was nice. She was in camas. Can't remember her name sorry. As far as housing there are a lot of houses for sale. The market is a buyers market right now. I have a neighbor that just moved from Fishers Landing (which is close to where I live - I live on the very outskirts of Camas towards vancouver) b/c its a better school district. Anyway, we decided to rent here b/c of the fact that we really wanted to get an idea of what the area was like and get a feel for things before we committed to owning a home.

We bought our home in Ga. and while it was great I think I would have chose a different home if we had lived there for a year. It was nice neighborhood and all, but i just like a few others better. So, we decided to take our time and really get to know the area and see where we would have a tendency to gravitate towards more frequently. Thus, far I love the area that I am in. Its close to Camas and close to going to portland and where my husband works. Downtown Vancouver is a little far, but so far i haven't really needed anything down that way.

Battleground to me seemed a little out of the way of things and didn't seem to have much in the way of shopping. I wasn't interested in having to drive for everything. But i didn't spend a lot of time there so i could be wrong.

I heard Hazeldale was a good area, but I just really liked the small town feel of the camas area. I think the downtown is super cute. They have a great Mexican restaurant right down town. I also feel very safe in my neighborhood.