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.
Astoria's been attracting attention and some new transplants among retirees and young people as well, for those who can find a job in the area. It has a good food co-op in addition to regular grocery stores, has arts events, art fairs, and is a bit of a tourist destination. But it came out in the most recent thread, that there can be problems with landslides. Much of it is on a hill, the edges of which can destabilize after heavy rain. But there are homes outside of town in flat areas, too.
I was looking at a house along the Gray River... rural acreage, well away from any town. Perusal of nearly shopping-dining-etc. lists Astoria, across the Astoria-Megler bridge, as the principal nearby nexus of civilization. I wonder: how much traffic is there, daily, across the bridge, of WA people going to OR for their daily affairs, then returning to their bedroom community in WA?
I was looking at a house along the Gray River... rural acreage, well away from any town. Perusal of nearly shopping-dining-etc. lists Astoria, across the Astoria-Megler bridge, as the principal nearby nexus of civilization. I wonder: how much traffic is there, daily, across the bridge, of WA people going to OR for their daily affairs, then returning to their bedroom community in WA?
There's so few people over there that traffic is never a major issue. Your bigger limiting factor will be the weather in winter when it gets below freezing with conditions ranging from snow, sleet to more dangerous ice storms blowing off the Pacific down from Alaska. They have to close the bridge due to black ice and not being safe to drive across during certain times. Being right on the coast, the higher winds combined with icy weather can be worse than inland areas. Here's a shot from this winter when roads were basically shut down. You can't even walk outside when it gets this icy let alone drive. Other than bad weather at times, it should be pretty open to daily driving.
There's so few people over there that traffic is never a major issue. Your bigger limiting factor will be the weather in winter when it gets below freezing with conditions ranging from snow, sleet to more dangerous ice storms blowing off the Pacific down from Alaska. ...
Good to know! My question was actually less about literal traffic density, Los Angeles style, than the logistics of travel... which you answered.
Indeed, one of my fatuous objectives is to find a locale that has a climate "approximately" resembling coastal California, but without the California taxes. We had another thread, about Camas vs. Salmon Creek, noting the micro-climate and the effect of the Columbia River Gorge. Now it is also apparent that on the extremity of the Pacific coast, there are also... extremes. Perhaps a follow-on question would be: where in WA is the climate the mildest - meaning, least amount of winter snow/ice/wind, or summer heat?
Good to know! My question was actually less about literal traffic density, Los Angeles style, than the logistics of travel... which you answered.
Indeed, one of my fatuous objectives is to find a locale that has a climate "approximately" resembling coastal California, but without the California taxes. We had another thread, about Camas vs. Salmon Creek, noting the micro-climate and the effect of the Columbia River Gorge. Now it is also apparent that on the extremity of the Pacific coast, there are also... extremes. Perhaps a follow-on question would be: where in WA is the climate the mildest - meaning, least amount of winter snow/ice/wind, or summer heat?
Sequim WA and other nearby towns like Port Townsend and maybe across the channel on Whidbey Island.
It is on the west side of the Cascades but also in the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains so that is the closest you will get. It is sort of a retirement mecca and there isn't much there frankly unless you just want to have a retirement house with some big box stores nearby and not much else.
But generally speaking anywhere on Puget Sound between Bellingham and Olympia.
Anyplace with good schools and urban amenities will be expensive though. There are no undiscovered places. If it were me and I had no family or professional ties to the area and just wanted an interesting place to live within a larger urban area with amenities (shops restaurants, etc.) I'd look at the far west end of Tacoma like University Place or Gig Harbor perhaps. Tacoma is under-rated and has a lot of interesting neighborhoods that are quite nice on the west side around University of Puget Sound and points west of there.
Last edited by texasdiver; 05-04-2023 at 02:31 PM..
Good to know! My question was actually less about literal traffic density, Los Angeles style, than the logistics of travel... which you answered.
Indeed, one of my fatuous objectives is to find a locale that has a climate "approximately" resembling coastal California, but without the California taxes. We had another thread, about Camas vs. Salmon Creek, noting the micro-climate and the effect of the Columbia River Gorge. Now it is also apparent that on the extremity of the Pacific coast, there are also... extremes. Perhaps a follow-on question would be: where in WA is the climate the mildest - meaning, least amount of winter snow/ice/wind, or summer heat?
Even the relative mildest places in WA will get below freezing during winter. That includes times of ice, sleet, freezing rain and snow with variations in between during cold fronts. Just take a look in the parent forum during our last winter and you'll see reports where folks were ice skating their neighborhood streets. Its everywhere and definitely colder than anywhere along the CA coast being further north. There's no getting around it, just differing amounts of it with Vancouver being pretty decent as the furthest larger southern WA city. Though we still get all those things occasionally, it's not like every day or week. Rather, they are more like cold snaps which come and go while winter temps remain above freezing (40s) most winter days while nights may drop below. You'll see your breath while doing activities outside for several months.
This is one of the main reasons I post weekly throughout the year to give folks a real sense of what the weather is like since there is so much hyperbole about the PNW climate. You hear things like it rains 10 months out the year and then never see the sun. So, I provide real evidence to the contrary. However, I also don't want to mislead people that it's some mild Shangri la either. There will be prolonged periods where it rains a lot, feels cold out and when you do see the sun it will feel like a miracle has happened. Hence, people will get SAD during this darker time of the year. But it will come out between storm bands. Take a look through these posts to see real world reports from this past winter.
Honestly, if you really want a climate "approximately" resembling coastal California, I would seriously take a look at some southern states as well which will be the closest. South Carolina, for example, is beautiful. I just enjoyed a business trip over there a few weeks ago while its was still cold and rainy in the PNW. Meanwhile they were in the 70s and it was t-shirt and shorts weather. Sure, folks will complain about other factors there including more humidity during summer months. But all things considered, Charleston is a beautiful, relatively mild climate and location right on the coast. And you can head up or down that part of the country while still finding more overall affordability than CA. There's a reason why so many retire from northern states to more southern states. And its not just for the warmer weather. Others, of course, snowbird keeping one residence in the north which may be home base, let's say WA. Then they live down south during the colder winter months. That's a very compelling combination and middle ground if living in the south is not desirable year round. At the very least, its healthy to take trips down south during winter for warmups and more sunlight. That's one of the coping mechanisms for living in the PNW and dealing with those darker months of winter.
Canadians do the same thing for good reason. Maybe they still love living in Canada close to family and friends. But they're sick of cold winters after decades of it. So, they snowbird to southern states or travel to warmer places during that time of the year. It's the perfect time to vacation and get out of dodge. Lot's of folks taking trips to HI, FL, Cancun, the Caribbean, southern Europe, etc... then.
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 05-04-2023 at 06:43 PM..
Portland is a long ways north and Washington is obviously even further. Portland is the same latitude as Montreal and north of Halifax Nova Scotia and Toronto.
If you are looking for a balmy Mediterranean climate you will need to look elsewhere. It is more like Scotland or Ireland.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,694 posts, read 58,012,579 times
Reputation: 46171
Quote:
Indeed, one of my fatuous objectives is to find a locale that has a climate "approximately" resembling coastal California, but without the California taxes.
Southern Oregon coast is as close as you can get . ^^^. It comes with it's own issues (long drive for airports and certain medical needs.
WA is.... WA, largely due to latitude (as mentioned above)
Consider southern hemisphere.... Ecuador may work. NZ is very similar to PNW climate, but they don't make it easy for expat retirees.
Southern Oregon coast is as close as you can get . ^^^. It comes with it's own issues (long drive for airports and certain medical needs.
WA is.... WA, largely due to latitude (as mentioned above)
Consider southern hemisphere.... Ecuador may work. NZ is very similar to PNW climate, but they don't make it easy for expat retirees.
Low taxes your goal?
Consider USA protectorates.
The closest thing to California in South America would be Central/Northern Chile on the Pacific or Uruguay on the Atlantic.
There are lots of popular beach areas there but honestly you don't see many Americans there. And while prices will be considerably cheaper than California, they aren't going to be dirt cheap at all, more like the parts of the US that aren't coastal. My wife's family has homes in Santo Domingo, Zapallar, and Renaca Chile which are all very Californian in climate but not undiscovered. Lots of wealthy Chileans and Argentinians there as well as the occasional European. In Uruguay, Punta del Este is the big resort but there are other places less developed.
Chile very much resembles the central California coast.
To clarify, the advantages of coastal Southern California are largely inimitable. To replicate them fully elsewhere, at least in the US, is unworkable. Instead my meaning is to optimize within the available constraints. So for example if I had to live in Texas, I would probably avoid the Dallas area and further north or east (weather too variable and too Midwestern), or the Houston area (too humid). The best compromise might be San Antonio or further west... perhaps the Davis Mountains. In WA, one might reach similar conclusions. I especially like Texasdiver's idea of being in the rain-shadow of the Olympic mountains, and yet, to the west of the principal mountain range, to avoid the harsher climate of being further inland.
To further clarify, by "mild climate" I mean not only SoCal, or perhaps not even SoCal, but maybe more something like southeastern England. To that, one supposes, the PNW offers a better approximation.
As for Chile or Portugal or Croatia, I have considerable respect for the people with enough verve or adventurousness to retire abroad. Personally this is too ambitious of an enterprise. There's also the language-thing. In a better world, I might have retired in a country where I do speak the language. But such countries are either expensive-enough, that one might as well stay in SoCal... or have such political disadvantages, that no amount of other things, would be enough to compensate.
For American-based retirees or near-retirees, it's hard to beat a conventional, unexamined patriotism. I mean that without cynicism.
To clarify, the advantages of coastal Southern California are largely inimitable. To replicate them fully elsewhere, at least in the US, is unworkable. Instead my meaning is to optimize within the available constraints. So for example if I had to live in Texas, I would probably avoid the Dallas area and further north or east (weather too variable and too Midwestern), or the Houston area (too humid). The best compromise might be San Antonio or further west... perhaps the Davis Mountains. In WA, one might reach similar conclusions. I especially like Texasdiver's idea of being in the rain-shadow of the Olympic mountains, and yet, to the west of the principal mountain range, to avoid the harsher climate of being further inland.
To further clarify, by "mild climate" I mean not only SoCal, or perhaps not even SoCal, but maybe more something like southeastern England. To that, one supposes, the PNW offers a better approximation.
.
The biggest problem with that is that you have the most asked question of the PNW for those looking to move here. Where is the weather mildest with the least rain/snow? When people then hear about the rain shadow in WA around Sequim, it sounds like nirvana. OMG, that's it! It's like Columbus discovering America. I mean, less rain, more sun (maybe a little?). But being that far north and next to the Canadian boarder and the sea, it still gets really cold during winter. And it's been over marketed as such to death which has driven prices up accordingly.
Go back and take a look at that WA weather thread and see the snow and ice MechAndy dealt with this past winter. The trouble he had getting to the airport with all the cars that slid off into ditches along the snowy roads. It's no banana belt of warmth up there. Maybe a bit drier but it still gets really cold and icy like the rest of the PNW. Those Alaskan storms roll right down off the water from Canada.
The true Banana Belt of the PNW is Brookings, OR which has more of everything weather wise - sunny days, longer days during winter, warmer temps overall during winter, etc.. And its right on the boarder of California vs. the Canadian boarder. There is a significant and noticeable different as you move further north in latitude. Old man winter hides from no man (or women) in the great white north.
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 05-05-2023 at 06:53 PM..
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.
