Relocating to Port Angeles area. (Seattle, Bellingham: fit in, transplants, apartment)
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My husband and I are thinking of relocating our family to Port Angeles (with our two year old daughter) after he gets out of the military next year. We mutually love the cold and the rain. I am NOT happy in sunshine. I know he is personally looking forward to being in an area where he has outdoorsy stuff at his finger tips, and I personally love the town lifestyle.
I grew up in McLoud, OK (population around 4k as of 2010) The entire town itself is very spread out, but the "downtown" area is just a few blocks. All that's there are like two gas stations, a Pizza Hut, Sonic, I think a Dollar Store, Post Office, beauty salon, and a feed store. There isn't even a grocery store. You'd have to drive to Harrah for that, which is the next town over. The closest WalMart is a good 30 minutes away, which I love. Every other Saturday we'd make a big shopping "trip" to Shawnee or Chandler, which were decent drives away to stock up on groceries and other necessary items. I also don't like being crowded with people and I thoroughly love my privacy.
My husband grew up in Albuquerque, but he wants someplace smaller as well. Raising our daughter and "getting back to basics" is really what we're trying to focus on. We've realized that the city lifestyle isn't what we want.
We're currently stationed in Hawaii with the Navy. As I mentioned, he is not re-enlisting again, but his MOS is Air Traffic Controller. He would need to be able to get "on" at an airport, or find other means of work with a good income.
I am a homemaker and plan on keeping it that way.
Though I can Google for a lot of my answers, we have some questions.
1. What are the "good" middle ground neighborhoods in Port Angeles? We have zero plans of renting. We plan on buying our first house.
2. Is anyone aware if it's particularly difficult to get on at the airport and if so what kind of income is available working there?
3. How are the schools?
4. What are the closest cities with shopping and recreation?
5. He doesn't mind a longer travel time to work. Are there any suburbs or surrounding towns to Port Angeles that might meet our needs better than PA, but still close to possible employers?
6. We did consider Forks, as it's closer to the beach/ocean (much like our location now) and only about an hour drive from PA, but we really don't know much about it. The things we've read always seems like people try to steer clear of Forks as much as possible, which I guess I don't understand. Why is that? What is YOUR general opinion about Forks? Two of the three negatives people tend to mention are : The "long" commutes to the main shopping stores, lack of jobs, and the rain.
We're planning on taking a vacation to our "possible" new area of residence this spring just to get a feel for things, but with that being said we need some assistance to help knock out options and get some guidance with locations. After our trip, we will most likely be doing geo bachelor, which has been pre-approved by his CoC. So that means our daughter and I will be relocating by ourselves, while my husband stays behind and finishes up in Hawaii. He also plans on taking some college courses since he will have plenty of time on our hands.
(I know some of you might disagree with our lifestyle, and that's fine, but I request no negative comments about it. Thanks)
Thank you for any courteous/thorough feedback and suggestions =D.
Last edited by TessaScot; 12-26-2011 at 07:55 PM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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My parents are in PA and love it there, as I love visiting them. It's a beautiful area, and has all the shopping you will need (including a Wal-mart plus another 20 minutes away in Sequim) and 2 Safeway stores. Fairchild Airport has one very small commercial carrier, and maybe 2-3 cargo carriers. Jobs would be few and very hard to get at the Port of Port Angeles which runs the airport. The nearest real airport is Seatac, 2.5 hours away.
Most salaries there are less than the Seattle area, and the economy was not doing well even before the economy tanked, with many vacant commercial properties. They rely on summer tourism, and retired people
that don't have a lot of money. The good news is that home prices are
much less than the Seattle metro area, though still high compared to
much of the country. Figure $200-250,000 for a nice sized older home.
Other costs there are higher due to being so far out. Seattle is the nearest
entertainment and that's close to 3 hours depending on how long you wait for the ferry. The schools are not bad, not as good as the suburbs east of Seattle, but better than Seattle.
Forks is a very depressed town in the middle of nowhere, with no jobs or shopping, and outdoor recreation is available if you like hiking in the rain,
hunting or fishing. If I had a kid to go to school and lived there I would move.
My parents are in PA and love it there, as I love visiting them. It's a beautiful area, and has all the shopping you will need (including a Wal-mart plus another 20 minutes away in Sequim) and 2 Safeway stores. Fairchild Airport has one very small commercial carrier, and maybe 2-3 cargo carriers. Jobs would be few and very hard to get at the Port of Port Angeles which runs the airport. The nearest real airport is Seatac, 2.5 hours away.
Most salaries there are less than the Seattle area, and the economy was not doing well even before the economy tanked, with many vacant commercial properties. They rely on summer tourism, and retired people
that don't have a lot of money. The good news is that home prices are
much less than the Seattle metro area, though still high compared to
much of the country. Figure $200-250,000 for a nice sized older home.
Other costs there are higher due to being so far out. Seattle is the nearest
entertainment and that's close to 3 hours depending on how long you wait for the ferry. The schools are not bad, not as good as the suburbs east of Seattle, but better than Seattle.
Forks is a very depressed town in the middle of nowhere, with no jobs or shopping, and outdoor recreation is available if you like hiking in the rain,
hunting or fishing. If I had a kid to go to school and lived there I would move.
My husband is very much into hunting and fishing.
The rain doesn't bother us. I've liked it all of my life (thanks to growing up in Oklahoma) and it rains almost daily in Hawaii which is where we've lived for almost three years now. It's just a non-issue. We're used to working around it.
I have a friend that lives in Forks and she loves it. However, she has lived there all of her life. I'm aware that PA is really the closest town to Forks, and even then it's a 56 mile drive. Forks and McLoud, which is the town I grew up in, are very similar. It appeals to me though because of the amount of rainfall. PA unfortunately gets around 1/3rd of the rain Forks gets. <333 rain.
Our rent alone is 2,300 a month here in Hawaii and we live in a duplex. It's crazy. We looked into buying a house here in Hawaii but the ones we were interested in were around 400k starting. We've looked into some houses and the prices seem decent/average to us. We've seen plenty of 120-180k homes that perk our brows.
Shopping - I've learned to do most of my shopping online while living in Hawaii. I admit that I'd really like to be able to go back to stores that I miss dearly, but I don't really crave the convenience. I guess that's why PA and Forks both sound appealing. There's not even a Target in PA! (WalMart yes, but I am not a WalMart fan lol)
Do you happen to have any feedback in regards to this question -
1. What are the "good" middle ground neighborhoods in Port Angeles?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57821
Quote:
Originally Posted by TessaScot
1. What are the "good" middle ground neighborhoods in Port Angeles?
I personally would avoid the city itself, where there are quaint but small old homes on small lots. I think you would love areas toward Sequim above 101, like Deer Park, Bagley Creek, O'Brien and Blue Mountain. There will be million dollar homes up high but closer to 101 they are affordable, with a much more rural setting, wildlife and large lots.
I admit, I was one of the people who made my first visit to Forks because of Twilight and no, I'm no where near a teen. While I enjoy Forks, I wouldn't want to live there. I've made 4 trips out so far and have explored some and seem to have fallen in love with with Port Angeles. I am a city girl, but found enough conveniences there to make me happy and my husband is a country guy so it suits him also. Also, I can't take the bitter cold of the east coast and huge amounts of snow we get (rain doesn't bother me) and my husband doesn't like heat. So the area seems like a perfect compromise. I'm in my 50's and am retired on SS disabilty so working isn't a problem for me. My husband would need to find work. Have been checking house prices out for years and they are so low compared to where we currently live in Philadelphia PA. My son is going to be a senior in HS this year and we are considering making this move when he goes off to college since he isn't interested in leaving this area. I also have a cousin who has traveled with me and also wants to move, so hubby and I are considering buying a home, that has some walkabilty to stores, etc. and she would rent from us if we can find a home that either has an apartment or an area that can be converted into one.
Two questions: I have 2 trips planned out there in Sept and April and want to do some more exploring into other possible area's that might fit us. Any suggestions? Someone mentioned Whidbey Island, so that is one place I want to see but would appreciate any idea's?
Also, I've read some post where natives seem very unhappy at new people moving into the area. Is that the prevailing attitude or are most people friendly? We mostly keep to ourselves, but it would be nice to be on speaking terms at least with neighbors.
Thanks for any idea's
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57821
Forget Whidbey if you want walkability to stores. Port Angeles would work, there are also homes close to shopping in Sequim and Port Townsend. That area is full of retiree transplants from other areas and are far more welcoming than in the Seattle area, though the whole Puget Sound area is more than 50% from other states/countries now, the negative attitude of WA natives went away in the 90s. Another area that you can check, on the way is Poulsbo. It's close enough to Silverdale and Bremerton, or even Seattle by ferry for jobs. One reason those more remote cities have so much cheaper home prices is the lack of good paying employment.
Forget Whidbey if you want walkability to stores. Port Angeles would work, there are also homes close to shopping in Sequim and Port Townsend. That area is full of retiree transplants from other areas and are far more welcoming than in the Seattle area, though the whole Puget Sound area is more than 50% from other states/countries now, the negative attitude of WA natives went away in the 90s. Another area that you can check, on the way is Poulsbo. It's close enough to Silverdale and Bremerton, or even Seattle by ferry for jobs. One reason those more remote cities have so much cheaper home prices is the lack of good paying employment.
Not familiar with Poulsbo, is it near the water? Forgot to mention one of my top requirements is to be near water. Spent a good portion of my life living inland and my happiest years were when I spent 6 years living in NJ near the beach (again, avoiding that area now due to outrageous home prices and taxes and the bitter cold in winter) Should also mention that while we are in our 50's, have a younger attitude so probably wouldn't fit in where the population is mostly older people. Thanks for any idea's and looking forward to getting out there again to explore some more. Probably one of the prettiest area's of the country I've been to!
Not familiar with Poulsbo, is it near the water? Forgot to mention one of my top requirements is to be near water.
Yes a very pretty little town right on the water (Liberty Bay).
I agree with Hemlock. If I were exploring coastal western WA given your list of requirements, I'd focus on three regions: Bellingham/Anacortes, Silverdale/Poulsbo and Port Angeles/Sequim/Port Townsend. If you had a week here to explore, you could spend a few days in each of these areas to see what you think.
I've ranked them roughly according to a decreasing population base. Why? As your husband will need to find work, I think he will have better luck actually finding employment in one the larger cities I've listed (Bellingham, Silverdale) given the fact that the smaller towns around here (Sequim, PT and to a degree PA) are going to have a very limited job market for a person moving in without having a job previously lined up.
I know you've read this a 100 times already on City Data but the mantra remains true: secure a job first and then move to that particular town where the job is. Not to worry, I think that you would likely be happy in any of these areas.
I'm only going to be there for a long weekend in Sept, butI'm coming out in the spring for a week to do some exploring and will check out your suggestions.
First, Tessa did you guys move to PA? Just curious, how do you like it?
Secondly, BoxerCrew4 yes Poulsbo is wonderful. It's right on the water near amazing moutains and lakes too. I loved it. It's about an hour or so from Forks. I liked visiting so much we hope to live there someday. Well in the area, anyway. I loved LaPush as well. Tessa I hope you came across Poulsbo as a possibility. It seems just what you were looking for. Well close it might be larger than the small town you were refering to. Anyway, I'd love to hear about your moves and live vicariousy through you both. lol I wish we could take another trip out that way soon. We went last year. I am hoping my husband might consider going out sooner than teo years from now but I think our lives are going to chage if he gets into the school he applied to. Less travel. sniff. Though we are talking taking an RV trip across country when he graduates and head out that way. Oh, I can't wait. lol ttys
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Moving to Port Angeles?
