If you could live anywhere in WA or OR (Port Angeles: homes, place to live)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Tesaje

I don't disagree with this position - Just the figures cited... ...

The Oregonian and the SEA Post have done an annual segment about "# of days with 'some' overcast or trace of rain", often tossing the lead back and forth, last I saw reported was 281 days in Portland and 283 in Seattle. I think Seattle was ahead ~ 13 yrs out of 20. Of course we know they only list days with 'measurable' precip as rainy, and that would exclude many drizzles. Such as Sunday while on the roof hanging Christmas lights it had to drizzle for ~ 30 minutes to slicken things up, last week while up on the metal roof of the shop ~ 16ft high, cleaning gutters, drizzle came and then froze... Fortunately I had the cell phone to call a neighbor to fetch a ladder to save me, as I had ventured over the crest of the roof (which had become a skating rink).

Granted we sometimes have 80-100 days w/o rain, but having come from 300+ days of sunshine and riding a bicycle to work daily it was a major shift to me, and I hate running over possums with my bike in the dark of a rainy morning or evening. The wet stripes up the back are something you get used to, BUT my greatest struggle is the rust on heirloom tools (from the prairie) and leaky, foggy cars. Just have to deal with it, as the spouse isn't going anywhere, fortunately we can take numerous solo vacations / attitude adjustments.

[Tesaje]

The numbers I grabbed were from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center official records for Portland. Also, rain is not the same as overcast and available sunshine is not the exactly the same thing in inverse either. Sorry about being a weather geek.... A trace of rain used to be reported which would catch the drizzle but now that everything is instrumented, nothing under .01 inch is recorded. A day with some overcast could be a day that started off with fog or a low marine layer of clouds that quickly burned off and most of the day was brilliant sunshine. A bit of a bogus figure when it comes to understanding what you are actually seeing.

[ysabella]

xtin, please consider Olympia. It's beautifully situated at the very southern tip of the Sound. It has the state government, a hippy college, a Catholic university, and a thriving music scene downtown. Admittedly the downtown has trouble with homeless and can get a little rough at night around the bars and clubs. But the Olympia school district is highly regarded. You can get a nice house in your price range.
I live in Lacey, and am a little concerned about the expansion of Fort Lewis, which means more military, because that will cause more student turnover in Lacey schools which isn't such a good thing. So I'm not sure how Lacey schools will fare. But Oly schools have been a solid bet for years and years. Much of Thurston County is still rural and there are some nice smaller towns, too.
It's maybe an hour to White Pass for skiing, there is a South Sound running club and lots of running events. There is a biking club. There is the Capitol Forest, the Nisqually bird preserve, Tolmie State Park on the beach, Wolfhaven wolf sanctuary in Tenino. Olympia has a well-known farmer's market, nice restaurants, and some unique shops. It's about an hour to Seattle, an hour and a half to Portland.
The main disadvantage for most people is that there aren't a lot of jobs here - mostly state government jobs. So people have enormous commutes. But this isn't a problem for your family, so do take a look at the area.

[xtin]

Originally Posted by ysabella

xtin, please consider Olympia. It's beautifully situated at the very southern tip of the Sound. It has the state government, a hippy college, a Catholic university, and a thriving music scene downtown. Admittedly the downtown has trouble with homeless and can get a little rough at night around the bars and clubs. But the Olympia school district is highly regarded. You can get a nice house in your price range.
I live in Lacey, and am a little concerned about the expansion of Fort Lewis, which means more military, because that will cause more student turnover in Lacey schools which isn't such a good thing. So I'm not sure how Lacey schools will fare. But Oly schools have been a solid bet for years and years. Much of Thurston County is still rural and there are some nice smaller towns, too.
It's maybe an hour to White Pass for skiing, there is a South Sound running club and lots of running events. There is a biking club. There is the Capitol Forest, the Nisqually bird preserve, Tolmie State Park on the beach, Wolfhaven wolf sanctuary in Tenino. Olympia has a well-known farmer's market, nice restaurants, and some unique shops. It's about an hour to Seattle, an hour and a half to Portland.
The main disadvantage for most people is that there aren't a lot of jobs here - mostly state government jobs. So people have enormous commutes. But this isn't a problem for your family, so do take a look at the area.

How is the weather? Im not a big fain of gloomy, wet days!

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by xtin

How is the weather? Im not a big fain of gloomy, wet days!

then here are some links within this forum. (a well discussed topic...)
http://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...hington-2.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...ashington.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...red-sad-3.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...lt-region.html


and this map helps too, tho it is precipitation, (content / yr) not clouds
http://www.themapcompany.com/maps/precipitation_map.gif
My home is in the Blue (80-100") tho our county claims a 47" average.

I'd gravitate to yellow areas, and even tho the tri-cities show green, anything on the east side gets rain instead of drizzle, so they can get in a few hours what might take a week or month via drizzle

here is another helpful tool for westside locations
http://www.sherwoodassistedliving.co...rainshadow.gif

There should be plenty of 'degree-day' maps for solar potential, and probably an 'overcast' map, but with a very slow and expensive modem ISP connection I can't spend the time to find them... tho this site has some interesting 'growing season' maps, the "cold sum" map is pretty telling of the western WA climate (the opposite of degree days, which are desirable to warm the soil)
http://www.geobabble.org/~hnw/esri98/

the folks here are helpful
http://www.iinet.com/~solarwashington/

good luck, there are plenty of spots in WA, but very few one, (Sequim) on the westside of cascades that fit your desires.

[Fat Freddy]

I would rather live anywhere in the coastal parts of Oregon or Washington then anywhere else in the country.

[Franklinway]

Franklinway
Junior Member

Join Date: Jul 2007
2 posts, read 204 times
Reputation: 10

Sequim Washington It has everything you mentioned.
My husband and I Just moved to Sequim this past summer. Absolutely love it!
We are close to the Spit we have a view of the water and see passing cruise ships and barges on the straight daily as it is part of the main shipping lanes for the Puget Sound and Canada. We live in the Mains Farm area. We have so many deer in our yard that we have to buy bobbex to put on our plants so it will discourage them from eating the flowers. One day this summer I counted 7 deer in my neighbors field. My husband said "Look up" I looked up straight ahead at the water as two huge cruise ships passed by.
We fell in Love with Sequim when we arrived here in June. We had looked for years for a retirement home in Anacortes, Laconner, Mount Vernon and Port Townsend. However, we had never went past the Port Townsend turnoff on 101. When we came into Sequim we were coming to look at a house for sale on Craigslist. It just sounded too good to be true. On arriving in Sequim we immediately fell in love with the area. It is beautiful. I told my husband "Wow I think God kissed Sequim" The Olympic Mountains to the south and the Straight of Juanda Fuca to the north with this gorgeous fertile valley sweeping between with beautiful large size lots and homes with acreage. So, sooo pretty. My husband and I just looked at each other. We couldn't believe the beauty. Arriving just before dusk we spent the night in a local motel. We were impressed by the friendliness of the locals that evening and the next day. We traveled out Sequim avenue towards the spit and the house we were looking at. We loved that there was minimal traffic. We just drove around looking at the area awestruck. We had so little traffic to deal with that we just flipped a U'ie in the middle of the road a few times to go down a road or lane we missed that looked enticing. When ever we saw anyone outside they all smiled and waved. I told my husband "This place is like Pleasantville WITH COLOR." (You have to have seen the movie.)
We arrived at Mainsfarm fell in love with the house too. Made the deal on a FSBO with a WORD and a HANDSHAKE. One month to the day later we moved into our home. What a great experience. I could go on and on about the people we bought the house from and how much they made us feel at home with all the little touches that you would never expect to get when you buy a home, but we did, because they were awesome. There is so much to do here. So much of what God has given us to appreciate. Its all free. The little town of Sequim is cute with its quaint shops and boutiques. There are 66900 people who live in the Sequim Dungeness ValleyArea The Chamber lists Approximately 25 square miles, of which 4.8 is in the City of Sequim, 7.8 in the City's Urban Growth Area and 12.4 in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
Here are a few statistics from the Chamber:
Population Profile
Approximately 5,030 of the county's 66,900 residents live in the city (2006).
Median age for this area is approximately 46 (2006).
Average single-family home - New $250,043
Average single-family home - Resale $241,639
Average single-family home - Rental $600/mo
We can't wait to explore and fully embrace in the coming year what the area has to offer It is so unique. We live in the 'Sequims Blue Hole' We experience this weather phenomenon on a regular basis. Its December 20th and we moved here July 13th. We are still awestruck. We have been blessed.

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[peterjayent]

Originally Posted by xtin

Plus our traffic is #2 after LA and Id like to experience life out West.

Life out West is pretty sweet but honestly, your traffic is #3 after ATLANTA. I would take DC any day of the week over I75.

[xtin]

Originally Posted by peterjayent

Life out West is pretty sweet but honestly, your traffic is #3 after ATLANTA. I would take DC any day of the week over I75.

Ive lived in Atlanta (Buckhead actually) and that traffic is CAKE compared to DC
Beltway is FAR worse than I-75/485

[GameHog9]

Hmmm......................

I prefer Seattle over Portland anyday, but I would own a home in Bellevue (Seattle is apartments, apartments, apartments = i loathe apartments). Seattle has a great skyline, and one can take great shots from the O Deck. Bellevue is a short drive from said downtown core. Plus I love the rain. What more could I ask for?