anybody out there that livies in port angeles (Seattle, Spokane: to rent, house)

[garrett05]

i love the rainy gloomy weather. most people dont but i
think it is great i live in california now and cant wait to get
out of here. does it rain most days there i hope so.
i herd it was a magical place in the winter is that true?
it seems so peace full. we love the ocean and mountains
seems like a win win situation. i just wanted to here from some
locals to see whats the story is.

[tylersminerals]

I wanna know too! I agree with you on the gloomy weather, living in Cali means you rarely get that kind of weather. I grew up in Indiana until I was 9 and that is one thing i really truly miss the most, WEATHER lol. My daughter and I get so excited on rainy days. All of our friends think we are nuts. Port Angeles is on my top as far as options. It seems to have the best of nature right there. I am lloking into a couple areas in Washington and would love to hear what people love and hate about the area.

[Dendrite]

OK you two, I was hoping Allforcats might post this as I think Cats has these graphs memorized () but use the site to it's best advantage. Here's the City-Data profile for PA:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Port-A...ashington.html

It will pretty much tell you anything you'd like to know about a given towns demographics. Pay particular attention to the graphs at the bottom of the page, especially the precipitation and sunshine with the cloudy days graph being of greatest note, since you both asked about "gloom".

I know that you're both likely sweltering in the hot, dry summer weather of the Golden State right about now and cool drizzle must sound heavenly... but don't underestimate the "weight" of non-stop dreary, damp gray weather day in day out, month after month that seemingly lasts forever during much of the winter (as well as sometimes spring and fall!). It sounds nice for many people but the reality of our typical winter weather can end up being really depressing for a lot of these same people. Don't judge this year as typical, we've had much more glorious sunny dry weather (and a few new record high temps) than usual.

Magical in the winter? Ummm, "magical" is not the word that usually comes to mind when i think of our winter weather! We tend to get our snow and storms in December-February. As there is really only one way in and out of town (Hwy 101), all it takes is one semi or RV to slide sideways on the highway ice to turn traffic in to a snarl and log jam things for hours. If a tree falls across a power line during a storm, we get to enjoy being without power for upwards of several hours, sometimes a day or two. And then there is the aforementioned dampness, gray and cold day after day. Makes it really fun if you are trying to make the trek over to SeaTac to catch an important flight somewhere. Also given our far north location on the map, the daylight hours are short during the winter months (sun comes up late and sets early) and sometimes I feel like I'm living in a dark cave come January.

As I have mentioned before, the biggest hurdle to anyone moving here and needing to find work is the lack of employment opportunities given the somewhat remote location, limited industries and struggling economy. By "lack of" I mean next to none.

Sure, there are many, many wonderful and magnificent things about living on the Oly peninsula including breath taking scenery, awesome mountains, incredible forests and the beautiful ocean but it all needs to be kept in honest perspective relative to the (potential) downsides.

I love living here but I also own a second home in the desert that I can escape to if winter on the Olympic peninsula begins to get to me. I also don't need to work here so employment is not an issue.

My $0.02? Caveat emptor. Look carefully before you leap folks! Be extra certain that whatever job just you might happen to secure here is very secure before you load up the U-Haul and point it north.

Best of Luck in your respective searches!

[tylersminerals]

Dendrite,

Lol, thats so funny. We sound like a couple lil kids asking about Santa Claus lol. I love how you broke that down. Very honest and straight forward, Thank you! Sweltering , yes. I live in the desert (many don't know that Norther Los Angeles County is the desert), it's hot, its dry and yes it really is beautiful with the mountains a rock formations, but I prefer green to brown. We have exccellent camping in the desert and we can play in the snow in the winter, just a short drive to the San Bernadino Mountains and sometimes we take the 5 hour drive to Tahoe. But, I have a medical condition that keeps me indoors when the temp gets over 85 degrees (just one of the symptoms). I have no heat tolorence whatsoever, i get extremely ill and the heat causes me a great deal of pain. Doc's recommend I move to a climate like Washington. I had to start my own business from home because I can't go out in the heat. I am tired of living in my house all the time. I miss being outside. I miss being able to go to work (weird what you miss when you cant have it, isnt it). I used to love the summers. Now, I can only go camping in the winter. It is not fair to my family in many ways, but there is nothing I can do, no pill, no cure and the weather here is just too much anymore. The temperature here seems to always be above 85 except for a couple months in the winter. And we absolutly want the gloomy weather because we never ever get it. It's one of those you want what you can't have type scenarios. I can see how people would crave the sunshine after having a couple months of gloominess, but thats what Vacations for lmao! I would gladly clean toilets and and scrub bird poo off a boat to at least be able to have a life outdoors. I have always been an outdoors person and being stuck inside most of the year because I have to (not by choice) is what depresses me. I will do an Irish Jig in the rain the second I get a chance lol. So everything that ou have mentioned sounds like heaven to me lol.

An occasional traffic jam is better then a daily one, the 405 freeway in Los Angeles is the pits. My hubby comutes everyday about 35 miles. It takes him an hour and a half at least if he leaves after 6am. If he leaves our house by 5am, 30 minutes. As far as the electricty going out, we had rolling blackouts here a few years ago as well as underground transformers blowing up because they were so old, so we have a generator in case the power goes out. I think the emplyment thing would be the biggest problem for my hubby. Is there a good website that has job info availability (for my Hubby, my job is portable lol)? He is a very handy man, we call him McGuyver. He is a very hands on person, a jack of all trades if you will. It will be a while befre I can move up there, but I will. Thanks for the info, the link is great.

Take care and have a great evening!
Amy

[eponabri]

I live in Sequim, but I used to live in Lynnwood, which is considered the weather convergence zone... meaning it gets dumped with rain, snow, hail, etc....

Sequim is suppose to be the banana belt of the Western Washington, but people need to be careful with that label as well.

We live near the coast, so weather changes quickly and frequently.

Port Angeles has some of the best sunrises, and they are usually featured on the Seattle morning news. When it does snow, it can be magical, especially since it doesn't snow for weeks at a time. Last year PA and Sequim had more snow than we've seen in 10 years. We loved it, mostly because we knew it wasn't going to be like living in Spokane, who had their worst winter of snow in decades.

It does rain, and it is cloudy, and it's wonderful when the fog rolls in. And when the sun comes out, you appreciate it even more because it's not every day.

I try to post the positive aspects of this area because it seems like most everyone else just points the bad things. Like anywhere else there will be good and bad.

After living in Seattle most of my life, Lynnwood for the first 20 years of marriage and now here for the past 10 years, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else... except for Spokane and that's only because my son and the rest of our family live there.

I would suggest before you move up here... visit twice, for a week at a time if possible.. Summertime to experience the traffic and wintertime to experience the weather.

Make sure you have a job to come to, and look at places to rent, buy, when you visit. Don't assumer that both will be there. Like most everywhere else in, the economy is not the best here.