Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Help! Need to know best town or city in U.S. that: 1. Never gets above 78 degrees in dead of summer; 2. Is near to good airport, hospital, grocery & modern conveniences; and 3. Has affordable condos or townhouses. 4. No brutal winters. So far my BEST BET is Bellingham, Washington. Looking to buy in 1-2 years. Please help. Thanks.
There are many towns on the Oregon and Washington coast that seldom get above 78 degrees. I live in the Coos Bay/North Bend area and it would be as you describe. The only thing is I'm not sure what you consider afforable and there's not a lot of condos here.
Aberdeen Washington is probably one of the most inexpensive areas near the coast. It's plenty big enough to have lots of stores ,hospital ect. I don't know if they have an airport. Maybe someone from that area knows more about it.
The one thing about the coast you may not like is it rains quite a bit.
Last edited by Waterlily; 12-09-2006 at 05:17 PM..
Reason: typo
Pacific Northwest is probably your best bet, if you can handle some gloomy weather... but for cool summers, that's the trade-off! However, we don't deal with much snow here either, so the winters are mild as you requested. I'm not sure what you mean by "good airport", but Eureka/Arcata in northern California (near Oregon border) fits most of that criteria. It's a bit isolated, but they have all the basic amenities & a small airport. I've taken direct flights to Eureka from both Sacramento and San Francisco, so it's not toooo hard to get there! Driving-wise, it's about 5 hours north of San Fran, and 2-3 hours from Redding. It's a beautiful area with lots of nice people, and I'd personally love to live there - if I could only find a job in that town! Otherwise, I'd suggest coastal Oregon or Washington, though closer to Seattle gets pretty expensive. I've always thought Astoria looked like a great place, but haven't actually been there... so I'm not knowledgeable enough to suggest it. You sound a lot like myself re. what we want in a town, so I'll let you know if I think of any more! I have considered mostly places in Northern California and Oregon, but many wouldn't fit into the "affordable" category, lol.
It is a minimum of 2 hours to SeaTac airport (assuming no traffic) or 1.5 hours to Vancouver airport (assuming no unusual delays at the border). If two hours is acceptable, might also consider Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Oak Harbor, Aberdeen, or other locations around Puget Sound.
Bellingham does get typically 2 or 3 cold blasts each winter down the Fraser River valley from interior B.C., usually bringing snow. These only last a few days, but affect Bellingham more than other towns further south.
Your "never gets above 78 F" restricts you to coastal locations. Realize that many areas a bit inland will get warmer in the afternoon, but reliably cool to below 60 F every night, so are quite comfortable. If that's OK, it opens most of the Pacific Northwest to consideration, including Portland/Vancouver.
Wow, I was really hoping to be able to tell you that central Illinois would be perfect, but when you mentioned the weather, I just gave up trying. Good luck though.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm not sure what you mean by "good airport", but Eureka/Arcata in northern California (near Oregon border) fits most of that criteria. It's a bit isolated, but they have all the basic amenities & a small airport. I've taken direct flights to Eureka from both Sacramento and San Francisco, so it's not toooo hard to get there! Driving-wise, it's about 5 hours north of San Fran, and 2-3 hours from Redding. It's a beautiful area with lots of nice people, and I'd personally love to live there - if I could only find a job in that town! 
Otherwise, I'd suggest coastal Oregon or Washington, though closer to Seattle gets pretty expensive. I've always thought Astoria looked like a great place, but haven't actually been there... so I'm not knowledgeable enough to suggest it. You sound a lot like myself re. what we want in a town, so I'll let you know if I think of any more! I have considered mostly places in Northern California and Oregon, but many wouldn't fit into the "affordable" category, lol.
