Just received my orders to Humboldt Bay (San Jose, San Francisco: crime, new home)

[the_rubber_duck]

Hello everyone I am new to the forum here. I heard this is a good place to get info on locations. Well I am in the Coast Guard I received my orders to Humboldt Bay. Gonna arrive in September after I get through with Pitstop. Just wanna know whats cool and whats not about Humboldt Bay. Don't really need to know anything about schools cause I am single although some college info would be helpful and I don't care about crime cause hell that happens everywhere. Thanks in advance for the replies and y'all take it easy.

[eureka1]

First of all thank you for your service. The Coast Gurad here seems to have people both on the Bay (in Eureka) and I beleive they have an intsallation in McKinleyville near the airport also. The Coast Guard housing which I guess is mostly for families ( is near me in Eureka. There are about 90000 people stretched out among four towns near the bay so its not congested and the weather is coolish to cold except in summer. There is a pretty good jr college which has some classes in satellite locations so depending on where you're actually going to be living it might be easy to go, and there's a State University in Arcata. A lot of the recreation is water-oriented, lots of kayakers, lots of fishing (except no salmon this year). THe nite life is pretty limited but it depends on what you want. There are several casinos if you're into that. IF you have specific questions I'll try to help and I'm sure you'll get other responses too. Right now you're missing the Fortuna Rodeo!

[the_rubber_duck]

Originally Posted by eureka1

First of all thank you for your service. The Coast Gurad here seems to have people both on the Bay (in Eureka) and I beleive they have an intsallation in McKinleyville near the airport also. The Coast Guard housing which I guess is mostly for families ( is near me in Eureka. There are about 90000 people stretched out among four towns near the bay so its not congested and the weather is coolish to cold except in summer. There is a pretty good jr college which has some classes in satellite locations so depending on where you're actually going to be living it might be easy to go, and there's a State University in Arcata. A lot of the recreation is water-oriented, lots of kayakers, lots of fishing (except no salmon this year). THe nite life is pretty limited but it depends on what you want. There are several casinos if you're into that. IF you have specific questions I'll try to help and I'm sure you'll get other responses too. Right now you're missing the Fortuna Rodeo!

Thanks for the info. Speaking of recreation are there any places to go ride 4wheelers, and I am into jetskiing so that will be cool. I have never been to a casino but I will give it a shot. Could you be a lil more specific about the night life. I dont need anything to crazy but I live in a town with no night life now and it kinda sucks. I love the country but I like to have fun too. I have also heard north California is cheaper to lve in then southern California, is this true? oh yeah how is the weather does it rain alot?

[the_rubber_duck]

bump

[wburg]

There are basically two cities--Eureka, population around 40,000, and Arcata, population around 20,000. Eureka is a working-class town, not a whole lot of nightlife but there is some in the "Old Town" area near Highway 101 and the waterfront. Arcata, home of Humboldt State University, is a college town and as such has more nightlife options aimed at the college crowd.

But it's still basically a couple of small seaside towns, so there isn't a huge amount of variety. There are an awful lot of hippies in Arcata so much of the live music tends to be reggae and other music that hippies like.

Just about any sort of outdoor recreation is close at hand, except maybe skiing. The Northcoast is very, very, very isolated. There is one small airport that gets a few flights a day. The nearest medium-sized city is Redding, population 100,000, around 3 hours away. The nearest large city is the greater Bay Area, around 7 hours away. Life on the northcoast can feel kind of isolated.

As far as norcal vs. socal expenses: It isn't really north vs. south as much as rural California vs. urban California. Urban northern California (places like San Francisco, San Jose etc.) are every bit as expensive as urban southern California. Rural California (including Arcata/Eureka) is a lot cheaper, but it's expensive compared to most of the rest of the country.


It rains a lot. There's an old saying that it only rains once a year in Humboldt County--from September to April. Get used to rain, in large quantities, and fog. I spent July 4 weekend up there and the weather was foggy and cool--they had a record high temperature for that date, 70 degrees!

[Annie Metal]

Originally Posted by wburg

Just about any sort of outdoor recreation is close at hand, except maybe skiing.

how close are the nearest mountains/pines?

[TheDragonslayer]

The local mountains are only a half hour from Eureka and the Trinity Alps are around 40 miles inland with elevations to over 9,000 feet with some approaching the 10,000 foot elevation. Mount Shasta at over 14,000 feet is 3 1/2 hours east from Humboldt Bay. We are pretty much surrounded by forested mountains in three directions, the ocean being the fourth. Rains usually do not start till around the end of October with some breaks before Christmas. Snow sometimes falls on the local mountains at 2,500 feet by Thanksgiving. Last year and the year before that we had snow right here on the coast, not much though.

[TheDragonslayer]

Our Airport here in McKinleyville gets significantly more than a few flights a day. It is really quite busy even. The Bay Area is only 5 hours away, I did a trip last month and last week and it only took me just over 5 hours to get there the first trip and last week I got home in 4 hours and 49 minutes with one short break. There are also three cities here not two of good size, Mckinleyville is the same size as Arcata, if not a bit larger. McK is taking on 28% of the growth for the county when it comes to new homes and it is still unincorporated. As wburg noted, it is almost always foggy during the 4th of July, our nicest weather is in May and September and October.

[nmnita]

we lived in Eureka several years ago and hubby worked for a major timber company in Arcada. There is lots to do for the outdoorsman even with all the rain. Arcada is a little more upscale than Eureka but Eureka has so many awesome victorian homes.College wise, there is the college of the redwoods and Humbolt State. Major city locations have already been mentioned.

If you like crab, be prepared for the best in the country, same with fresh salmon. Did we like living there? Mostly No, but we did enjoy all there was to do and for a few years you should have a wonderful experience. Crime, dont' worry, it is no worse than anywhere and maybe even better.

Enjoy yor experience...and of course, it goes without saying, we thank you for your service to our country...

nita

[riceme]

Originally Posted by the_rubber_duck

Hello everyone I am new to the forum here. I heard this is a good place to get info on locations. Well I am in the Coast Guard I received my orders to Humboldt Bay. Gonna arrive in September after I get through with Pitstop. Just wanna know whats cool and whats not about Humboldt Bay. Don't really need to know anything about schools cause I am single although some college info would be helpful and I don't care about crime cause hell that happens everywhere. Thanks in advance for the replies and y'all take it easy.

I'm in the Western Panhandle of Florida... Come down and get me to take me home!!