Moving back to WA: Coping w/ overcast (Seattle, Everett: school, place to live)

[silverfox]

Logisnews,

I find it interesting that with all of your prior living experiences and situations, that you found Sunny Sequim Washington.
This is where I currently live, and find it all my wife of 43 years and I could ask for.
We are almost native Washintonians with only two years missing from our whole lives here. We truly love this area but if you have read any of my earlier posts you will find there is one major potential problem. I won't spend any time on it in this post, but if you want to discuss it you can send me a private message via this board. Aside from that issue, there are many other things to talk about pertaining to the general area.
I would also be interested in hearing what your research of other areas has revealed.
The U.S. is a big place, but it has amazed me how difficult it is to find the Sweet Spots.
It is looking as though the RealEstate market has begin to soften here as well.

Looking to here from you,

Silverfox

[logisnews]

Thanks very much for your reply... I'll figure out how to do a private reply... I'm new to the board.

My wife (of 32 years!) and I will be traveling to Sequim on Sept 25th. This will be our 2nd trip. My wife is the former President of the Maui Quilting Guild and she found out there's a very active guild in Sequim that meets on Wednesdays so she's going to stop in there and talk with the ladies.

Thanks!

Jim

Originally Posted by silverfox

Logisnews,

I find it interesting that with all of your prior living experiences and situations, that you found Sunny Sequim Washington.
This is where I currently live, and find it all my wife of 43 years and I could ask for.
We are almost native Washintonians with only two years missing from our whole lives here. We truly love this area but if you have read any of my earlier posts you will find there is one major potential problem. I won't spend any time on it in this post, but if you want to discuss it you can send me a private message via this board. Aside from that issue, there are many other things to talk about pertaining to the general area.
I would also be interested in hearing what your research of other areas has revealed.
The U.S. is a big place, but it has amazed me how difficult it is to find the Sweet Spots.
It is looking as though the RealEstate market has begin to soften here as well.

Looking to here from you,

Silverfox

[jipsee]

Aren't there a couple of towns on the Olympic Peninsula that have more sun/less rain? Seems that I recall Sequim is one of them. Check out this link:
http://www.visitsun.com/

[jipsee]

HA, looks like I was a bit late with my post...

[elliegirl]

Four years ago, we moved to the Seattle area to be close to family. We lasted seven miserable months. I was cold to the bone all winter. We saw the "great view of the mountain" maybe five times. Now I really know what being depressed feels like and when I finally went to see a doctor, she handed me a prescription for Prozac within five minutes! She told me most people up there take it along with sitting under bright lamps all day. Even as we left in early June, we drove over the pass in SNOW!! I was never so glad to put a place in the rearview mirror. Texas may be hot, but I love the bright sun and blue skies.

[looking forward]

My wife and I are looking to move to Spokane. We currently live in Las Vegas (miserable heat capital of the world otherwise known as hell). I was born in Montana and she is from northern Nevada. We have been trapped in LV for 10 years because of my job. I have the opportunity to now work from home for a different company but make a considerable amount less. I have heard great things about Spokane and would like to hear the good, bad, and the truth about the area.

[DR1665]

This is an interesting thread. My girlfriend and I are considering putting Phoenix behind us and moving elsewhere. We've been to Salt Lake City, but weren't overly impressed at anything beyond Draper in the SE end of the valley. In the next few weeks, we are planning a trip to the Denver area to check things out there. I'm excited about visiting the mountains, but the more I think about it, how much of the Denver area is that wonderful mountain lifestyle, and how much does it cost to be near it? A lot.

From what I see (and remember of past trips out that way), the PacNW is beautiful just about everywhere you go. I have not had a backyard that equals the yard we had in Seattle (up on some hill, with a huge, terraced backyard, and a view of Ranier) anywhere else in the country (or the world, for that matter). Personally, I have come to love the sunshine, although I have always had a fondness for rainy weather. I love the feel of it, the smell of it, and the look of it, but I wonder if I might have spoiled myself by spending five years in the glaring heat of the desert (which I have also come to love).

Moreso than that, I am curious as to whether or not any other "Zonies," people born and raised in Arizona (like Phoenix), have dealt with the climate up there. My girlfriend and I are making this decision together and we both love the idea of cool, rainy weather, but I wonder if she would have a hard time going from 350 sunny days a year to less than 50 of them.

This thread offers great insight and we will definitely be up that way to look around in the near future, but we'll try to plan it for a rainy weekend or something, just to get a taste of it. I wonder if you can get an even better deal through Priceline if you check a box "Raining the whole time." Haha.

Thanks for the read.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by DR1665

I'm excited about visiting the mountains, but the more I think about it, how much of the Denver area is that wonderful mountain lifestyle, and how much does it cost to be near it?

Denver is very expensive and very busy. If you want to live in that neck of the woods, I suggest you check out Loveland or Boulder. Much nicer communities.

Originally Posted by DR1665

From what I see (and remember of past trips out that way), the PacNW is beautiful just about everywhere you go. I have not had a backyard that equals the yard we had in Seattle (up on some hill, with a huge, terraced backyard, and a view of Ranier) anywhere else in the country (or the world, for that matter). Personally, I have come to love the sunshine, although I have always had a fondness for rainy weather.

Actually, in the summer it rains VERY little up here. This season, our last good rain was in early June, and it didn't really start up again until a week or so ago. This weekend the forecast is all sunshine.

If you do decide to move back this way, be careful where you live. Crime has gotten really bad up here over the past 10 years. There are still nice places if you're careful, but you do need to be careful. And it is really expensive up here.

[DR1665]

Thank you, Mark. I do appreciate your insight. This forum is a wonderful resource.

[pjam76]

It all depends really... If you spent most of your life growing up in places like Phoenix or San Diego and so on, it would be a drastic change.

But if you spent time in Florida or New Orleans the last few years, i don't think you'd miss the hurricanes.

My sister-in-law lives in Maine, and the fact is unless you love the cold and snow, you wouldn't miss the fact that it snows in early November and finally thaws out sometime in June.

The NorthEast has some cold winters and as I've lived in both NYC/Philly/NJ and Seattle, I will tell you I'd deal with overcast skies and rain every day then ice and snow. Snow gets ugly and dirty fast and the roads become a nightmare... I will never miss that.

But it really depends. If you love the sun, maybe Maui or San Diego or Phoenix is for you.


If you love the snow, go move to Maine or upstate NY or Michigan or Minnesota and so on.

It really depends.