Possible move from GA to WA (Seattle, Wenatchee: appointed, buy, middle school)

[Jenny-nifer]

My husband has applied for a job with the Seattle fire department. We are currently living south of Atlanta, GA and have three children. We live in a very small town outside of the city with few residents, where everyone knows everyone. The majority of the population in our subdivision is elderly. With this being said, we are very comfortable with that lifestyle and do love the outdoors quite a bit.

The areas we have looked at thus far are: Port Ludlow, Port Townsend. We haven't done much looking but this seems to be a decent area for us. I'd love any feedback about these area I can get. What I am truly;y looking for is the same small town feel with not a lot of hustle and bustle from city life. Our girls are used to playing outdoors daily and I want them to have that same feel.

Also, I am very curious about schools they would attend if we were to move to this area. I have one daughter that would be going to middle school and two others that would be starting a preK program soon after we move. Their education is so very important in this move and I want to make sure they are in a solid school system that can offer them a challenge.

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by Jenny-nifer

The areas we have looked at thus far are: Port Ludlow, Port Townsend. We haven't done much looking but this seems to be a decent area for us.

If your husband is able get a job with Seattle Fire Dept., you will probably want to look for places to live in and around Seattle. For example, you mentioned Port Townsend but that would be about a 2 hour drive from PT to Seattle or a 4 hour drive for a round trip. Quite the commute...

With respect to the Seattle area, perhaps the north end or maybe the east side might be to your liking? Bainbridge Is. schools are highly ranked but that would mean a ferry ride for your husband to work each day.

[PS90]

I would agree with Dendrite - Port Townsend is way too far to commute, unless possibly your husband is looking into a shift-work kind of thing where he stays at the firehouse for days at a time?

Otherwise, the other comment that I would make is that I would be afraid that your kids may be disappointed in the number of days that they are able to play outside - there are very often weeks or even months at a time of drizzle in the winter, which makes doing much of anything outside uncomfortable.

[Inkpoe]

In the Seattle area, you would look at Duvall, Carnation, Snohomish, North Bend/Snoqualmie. There may be a couple more. Assuming that your husband gets the job with SFD, these towns will still be a bit a commute, esp. during Rush Hour.

If you insist on looking over to the Peninsula and doing the ferry (major $$$$$), then Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo would be much better options than PT and PL.

Schools are good to excellent with that small town ambience you're looking for. Kids are not always inside, kids here are just as active as anywhere else.

[Hemlock140]

I agree, the farthest out that's reasonable even with a firefighter's schedule is Bainbridge Island/Poulsbo. There are no towns around this area small enough for everyone to know each other, including Port Townsend, that would require going way up into the mountain foothills where the schools are not great, and the commute would be 2-3 hours each way. If it were me, Poulsbo would be the
place to go. About 20 minutes to the ferry, 35 minutes across to Seattle.

[509]

First check your husband's work schedule. The commute is not bad if you only do it once a week.

Wenatchee has more western Washington fireman living in town, than our local fire departments. As the wife of one western Washington fireman said....."He has to work over there, but we don't have to live over there".

[Jenny-nifer]

Thank you so much for all the feedback. We really appreciate that. We did look at the commute to and from work and have figured it would be about 2 hours. Glad to see we were on the mark there. He truly doesn't mind that commute because he will be working 24 on 48 off. We are very use to this schedule and he works a decent distance from where we live now.

I will definitely look into these other areas and see if they are a good fit for our family. I actually checked out Bainbridge today and liked the schools ratings I found.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

Kids are not always inside, kids here are just as active as anywhere else.

Well this may be true, but "not always inside" and "just as active" don't necessarily mean that the kids will get to play outside much. Sure, they may be just as active in indoor sports, etc; but I don't recall seeing a lot of children playing around on their front lawns, or at the park, etc (which is what I took the OP to mean about her kids), when it's drizzling outside - and it's drizzling outside there quite a bit more often than most areas of this country.

[hml1976]

Originally Posted by PS90

I would agree with Dendrite - Port Townsend is way too far to commute, unless possibly your husband is looking into a shift-work kind of thing where he stays at the firehouse for days at a time?

Otherwise, the other comment that I would make is that I would be afraid that your kids may be disappointed in the number of days that they are able to play outside - there are very often weeks or even months at a time of drizzle in the winter, which makes doing much of anything outside uncomfortable.

Having lived in both the SE and Washington I can safely assure the OP that there are more days to play outside here than in Atlanta. Buy some rain boots for the kids but the temps are mild and there's tons to do. Atlanta is stifling hot and then freezing cold with some thunderstorms thrown in and a few weeks of nice weather. 55 and drizzling is nothing.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by hml1976

Having lived in both the SE and Washington I can safely assure the OP that there are more days to play outside here than in Atlanta. Buy some rain boots for the kids but the temps are mild and there's tons to do. Atlanta is stifling hot and then freezing cold with some thunderstorms thrown in and a few weeks of nice weather. 55 and drizzling is nothing.

I guess maybe it depends on your point-of-view.

Myself, coming from Eastern WA before I moved over to the wet-side in 2004, I was super-excited because I thought that I would be able to do a lot more outdoor activities in Western WA in the winter, due to the milder temps.

For me, though, I learned that I would MUCH rather be outside in 20-degree weather, with the sun out and snow on the ground, than 55 and drizzling. 55 and drizzling (which it seems to be at least 7-8 moths per year in Western WA) is the most depressing/least-hospitable-for-outdoor-activites that I had ever experienced. I couldn't have been happier when I moved back to Eastern WA. Just my opinion, though.