Northern Cal, Oregon, or Washington--oh my (Seattle, Spokane: sex offenders, job market, construction)

[Mispolly]

For several reasons, my husband and I have decided to move our family back to the west coast. We grew up in SoCal but spent the last 3yrs in Florida. We are trying to find the best fit for us. We would like to stick to either Northern Cal, Oregon or Washington. We do lots of outdoor activities and enjoy a more rural, less big city environment but would like to be with in a reasonable driving distance to a real city. We like that we have no gang issues here and would like the same in our new community. Rain is okay as long as it isn't everyday. Some snow is ok in the winter but we don't want to be buried in it for 3 months every year. We've been mostly considering Olympia, Vancouver or Spokane. It sounds like Spokane is more affordable and has a more rural feel to it but there is so much negative blogging about the prevalance of sex offenders and meth. We realize every place has it issues but if you could share your opinions, pros and cons, we'd appreciate it.

Oh, my husband is in construction/woodworking. I'm a teacher and prefer to work with a district that focuses on the students and teachers, not standardized testing...

[mitsuturbo]

I love the Seattle area, but i also spent some of my youth in Eugene OR and outlying areas (marcola, leaburg, creswell, grants pass). I have to say, i loved it. It's just a short drive out to Florence if you want to go to the beach, housing is inexpensive (or was) and the weather is pretty damn fair! The willamette valley is a nice place to live, but i dont know what the job market is like there. You'll get plenty of info about Washington here.. i just thought i'd add what i knew about Oregon as well.

[509]

Spokane.....remember people filter based on their experiences. When we lived outside of Spokane in the late 70's. A murder would stay headline news for a week. Now Spokane is just like any other city. But if you remember it when....it is a big deal. Spokane is much, much better than Seattle or Portland.

Spokane is five hours from the Canadian Rockies, two hours from Montana, 30 minutes from Idaho, 4 hours from the Central Idaho Wilderness areas, 4 hours from Eagle Cap, 3 hours from Hells Canyon....and it just goes on from there.

If you like the outdoors you will think you have found heaven.

[allforcats]

Hi. I guess you haven't had much chance yet to research the climate of western Washington. The maritime Pacific Northwest is very green -- because we get lots of mist, drizzle and showers for 8 to 9 months of the year. Not every day at all, but most days of that period from September through June are cloudy, with thick, low clouds that some people find dark and feel depressed about.

This is an easy, recent chart of annual rainfall for Olympia
OLYMPIA WSO AP, WASHINGTON - Climate Summary

and for Vancouver
VANCOUVER PORT DOCK, WASHINGTON - Climate Summary

There's little to almost no snow in western Washington in the lowlands, where Olympia and Vancouver are. Outside of both of those cities there are rural areas which are forested, quiet and peaceful. Olympia has one of the top five or six school districts in the state, and Camas, also considered a good school system, is east-southeast of Vancouver.

[CityGirl72]

YOu need to really really think about it. You are from So Cal, AND living in Florida? YOu are about to make a 180 on how you are going to live - it's VERY VERY wet here (not rain just think lots of moisture in the air ALL DAY EVERYDAY for like 10 months)

And it's very very dark here.

I'm from Santa Monica/Los Angeles and Sacramento, I've had an extremely hard time dealing with seasonal depression and how bone chilling cold it is here as compared to how I grew up.

After 4 dark, cold, wet years - I'm FINALLY moving back to Calif.

Just think about it.

[StealthRabbit]

Trout Lake, WA

Very Good school, nice area in the middle of recreation, bit remote, plenty of snow, 1.5 hrs to Portland.

White Salmon would work if you need more social contact. If you can handle more rain, then Camas or Washougal would do. I would avoid OR for very poor school and state funding and state politics that will get it into trouble soon. Avoid CA as it is already in trouble. WA is best of the 3, but the current Gov is going bury us too (She does everything OR and CA does, just to march in step with the left coast). At least WA has a more diverse economy and actually produces wealth from exports.

Hopefully the testing get shelved, there are a lot of folks against it because teachers have to tutor for testing for ~ 1/2 the yr. Teaching has been secondary for several yrs, many good teachers have left the system to do something of more lasting value (like flipping burgers)... but... WA is considered best of the 3 left coast states to teach or school. You might consider AK or WY if you are serious about teaching in a good school district. Tho everyplace has its problems.

[Mispolly]

Thanks for your responses. So far, this is what we are comcluding by reading posts on this forum. We were considering Redding because it is still somewhat affordable and a little closer to some of our SoCal family but the general consensus seems to be that it is turning into a mini LA and we don't want to live in the big city type atmosphere. We were considering Humboldt area/Mckinleyville but I'm not sure that will be as rural as we would we like. We took a quiz on Find Your Spot and it matched us with several places in Washington. Olympia sounds like a perfect match for us but everyone says it is so grey and we are used to lots of sunshine. Where we live now, we get about 60-70 inches of rain every year and it is always humid. It says Olympia only gets about 50. I'm just not sure about the 10 months of overcast everyone complains about. We like Spokane because the housing seems cheaper but my husband's buddy told him when he drove around Spokane, it didn't have real mountains just hills and plains. I like having real warm summers but don't know about 50 inches of snow.... So Cal is not an option. It is so dry and barren. We really want to stay where it is green and lush. So, I kinda feel like we're back to the drawing board...

[StealthRabbit]

You might stick with Humboldt area if you can handle the taxation and CA issues. We really liked Ferndale, CA (to the SW of Eureka). It was very friendly for CA. You need to do some research on the weather, as the coast can be miserably cool in the summer in some spots., but it varies much with terrain and wind. The very southern OR coast is pretty good weather, so you might find the same in parts of NO CA.

For WA, there is a nice climate around Sequim. You can search the forum and find info.
If you can handle an 'island' commute, look at San Juan (Friday Harbor) the Island school district is considered pretty good.

[509]

"We like Spokane because the housing seems cheaper but my husband's buddy told him when he drove around Spokane, it didn't have real mountains just hills and plains."

You drive 30 minutes due east from Spokane and your in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains!!! You drive under two hours and your in Montana. Two hours and your in British Columbia. Those places are KNOWN for their mountains.

I'm not sure where your husband's buddy drove around by it sounds like in circles.

Go to Google Earth and fly around Spokane and the surrounding area. You will get a better sense of place.

[KidBlue]

Since you mentioned Northern CA, there are lots of areas on Interstate 80 and Highway 50 that meet your criteria. Especially if you like the foothills. There are several towns that you might like within an easy drive to Sacramento, sometimes considered to be a real city