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I have got to know a few folks who live in and or around Vancouver, they all love it. If I had my choice , I would look for a small village just outside the city, on the coast, or an island in the area. I am told Gibsons is a great place to live , and raze a family. They call that area " the sunshine coast", stretching north to Powell River..........I took that trip once, was not impressed, and, Powell River, thats a dump , in my mind.......It was sunny when I was there. Vancouver Island is also a nice place. hard to beat, almost anywhere on the planet for scenery, the whole area, much like Seattle, without the extreme traffic, and much nicer people.....all this from a Yank , who wishes he could move to the Great White North......I will settle for the UP of Michigan, just bought 8 acres on a mountain top, overlooking Lake Superior, not bad , not bad at all....and Progressive to boot !
I lived in Vancouver for over 40 years (born there). I live in California now, for the past 8 years. If you are choosing a place purely based on weather and I take it you don't like rain, then California should be your choice.
I wouldn't use that criteria alone to make my decision though ...
The running joke in Vancouver was 'You don't tan; you rust".
When I tried to get my wife (fiance at the time), to stay in Vancouver, she actually got depressed from the long periods of cloudy and rainy days. She only made it 6 months. She came from sunny climates: Singapore for 3 years on business, and grew up in N. Carolina at the beaches. I never bought expensive shoes while living there because they would always get ruined in the rain. I grew up there so I loved it, regardless of rain or snow. I agree with one poster saying that 'it is one of the most beautiful cities to live'. Even now, I return at least 3 times a year, since it is only a 2 hour flight in the same time zone. And I miss it terribly.
BUT having said that, it does rain in the Bay Area of California. I recall in the first months when I was down here, I had to fill up the gas tank in my car and standing in a puddle of water, with wind blowing into my face, torrential down-pour happening, yelling at my wife, "I came down to California for this?" . This year, there was a 3 week spell where it rained heavily every day. My backyard was flooded. BUT again, it is not a bone chilling, cold rain. I usually joke with my wife...everytime it rains I say, hey, it's Vancouver weather.
Thanks for all the replies. Vancouver weather sounds decent I guess...I would prefer California but it seems almost impossible to get a green card to live there permanently as i've been told.
I actually just did a City Data comparison of the hours of sunshine for Boston and Blaine (they don't have them for Canadian cities and Blaine was the closest I could get to Vancouver) Boston receives an average of 50% sunny days in the winter and about 65% in the summer whereas Blaine has only 20% sunny days in the winter and 50% in the summer. I guess that's not TONS more but I think with the snow it would end up being a lot "brighter" in Boston (snow reflecting light etc.) I'm thinking of SADS here mostly......
They have restrictions on watering gardens and lawns because the reserviour gets low in late summer and they don't want to run out of water. I don't fully understand how that's possible considering how much rain we get the rest of the year. I guess the reserviour isn't very large?
PS: I'm not moving there now...... so I guess I better stop b*tching about how sucky Vancouver is!
Thanks for all the replies. Vancouver weather sounds decent I guess...I would prefer California but it seems almost impossible to get a green card to live there permanently as i've been told.
Same problem on the south side of the worlds longest unguarded border. You have to show 750,000 liquid net worth to get into canada. Or , marry a Canadian........any of you progressive gals interested , in an old guy ?
Seriously? You're thinking about either Vancouver or California? Talk about apples and oranges...
As far as weather goes...I recently moved to just north of Seattle from LA. There's a reason why they call Washington "the Evergreen State". I've seen more rain in my 6 months here than I saw in my 4 years in LA. And, from what I've seen from just this winter, we seem to get more rain here than my boyfriend does up in Richmond, BC (just south of Vancouver). Which isn't saying too much, since in this area, you can drive 5 miles and get radically different weather.
It's interesting that ColdCanadian mentioned the NY area. Just yesterday, as we were chilly (yet surprisingly dry) walking the dog, I was mentioning to my bf that even in the 20 degree (F) weather up here, it's SO much more palatable than being in NY, because there's not that bone-chilling, wet cold. Mark Twain may have said that the worst winter he spent was a summer in San Francisco, but I'll say that the worst winters I ever spent were in NY. Just miserable.
I lived in New England for 7 years as well. The only "saving grace" there was the snow. In my mind, if you're going to be in bone-chilling, miserable weather, you had better have snow.
It's different in the places in the west where you get snow. Even in the places in the Sierra Nevada in California where there's TONS of snow, it's never that "bone-chilling" feeling.
All in all, and all weather considered, I'm happy that I moved to the PNW. Given the choice between CA and up here, no doubt in my mind that the reasonable choice is in this area. And, the weather? If you can stand 28 out of 31 days in January being gray or rainy (snowy), the rest of the year makes up for it.
I actually just did a City Data comparison of the hours of sunshine for Boston and Blaine (they don't have them for Canadian cities and Blaine was the closest I could get to Vancouver) Boston receives an average of 50% sunny days in the winter and about 65% in the summer whereas Blaine has only 20% sunny days in the winter and 50% in the summer. I guess that's not TONS more but I think with the snow it would end up being a lot "brighter" in Boston (snow reflecting light etc.) I'm thinking of SADS here mostly......
I wouldn't put too much credence in the comparison of the weather in Blaine to that in Vancouver. Thirty miles may as well be three thousand up here when it comes to weather patterns.
Like I said in my prior post, there's something way more "bone-chilling" about the winters back east (Boston definitely included).
I'm a single mom and a licensed massage therapist. I'm looking for a place to live where people are friendly and a community. I moved to have rain and green and be close to the ocean and close to the mountains and open to therapuitic massage, can do my own biling and good schools for my kids. Here in the NOrthwest, people are nice but it is super hard to make close friends. I"ve lived here for 3 years and have 3 good friends. I believe they are good friends because it was assigned by our church, other than that and I don't think it would have happened. It gets dark by 4:00 pm, is beautifully green and wet BUT its cold, even in the summer I can't swim because its too cold, (but that doesn't stop my kids) I want art taught in the school and music and to be fairly safe, very few factories to pollute the air. Place where I could practice my massage with open mindedness and work in partnership with chiropractors or medical doctors. Where people are health conscous.
I have my priority list. When I think about what I'm looking for, I feel like I might be describing something similar to heaven and feel too idealistic. BUT regardless of different problems in the world, what makes a difference is peoples attitudes. It seems like attitudes seem to differ according to location around the US and the world. I know we can't find heaven here but I'd just like to focus my attention on the areas which might have more of what I'm looking for than others, friendliness, openmindedness, community spirit, good schools, cultural diversity (I speak portuguese and lived in south america). Thanks for everybodies comments.
ladymisslmt
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. This year, there was a 3 week spell where it rained heavily every day. My backyard was flooded. BUT again, it is not a bone chilling, cold rain. I usually joke with my wife...everytime it rains I say, hey, it's Vancouver weather.
Sun in Boston and Vancouver
heart place?
