Is there an area in Washington that'll work for me? (Seattle: fit in, spring break)

[Cuda1337]

Originally Posted by 509

Eastern Washington is a socialist workers paradise run by Republicans. Western Washington is a corporate fascist state run by Democrats.

That is why you have municipal fiber in eastern Washington. Here is one company with business the various PUD's in eastern Washington.
Ifiber Communications

I believe Benton County and a few others in eastern Washington have municipal fiber that are not served by IFEBER. In the Wenatchee area the largest internet and cable provider is Local Tel. You need to check with the Public Utility District in the county for areas served by fiber. For example, in Chelan County only 80% of the homes have access to fiber. What is the point of living in a county with fiber if your stuck with copper cable from Charter!!

Here is the listing for Chelan County PUD fiber: https://www.chelanpud.org/my-pud-ser...s/fiber-optics

Be aware that the Wenatchee Valley has a rental vacancy rate under one percent and home lots are very small and expensive. We have a Section 8 housing subdivision ,for the poor people moving in from western Washington, going in across the street and lots are priced at $170,000 with homes going for $500,000 plus.

There are more people in Chelan County on weekends than weekdays. The point about millions of new friends from Seattle visiting you every weekend is no joke. It is the worst thing about living this close to Seattle. If we need a big city fix we go to Portland so for us it is the worst of all possible worlds with regard to location.

Winters vary. Every four or five years we get snow. Most winters are fairly mild with rain. It is just as cloudy in eastern Washington as Seattle from Thanksgiving to President's Day. We always took winter vacations at this time of year and now have a RV lot in Arizona.

You want to be on a south facing location for your house. Winter is dark enough that you don't want a north facing slope. Also the winds come out of the west so a east facing backyard works best.

I would look at Spokane or Tri-Cities. We lived in Coeur d'Alene and really liked Spokane. There are a hundred lakes within a hour drive of Spokane. Lots of close in public land. Weather is colder than Tri-Cities or Wenatchee.

What do you do for a living?? Wenatchee is a micro-metro area with a population of 110,000 so there is one of everything and in a few cases TWO!

Wife is a teacher. Im a behavior analyst, meaning I work with kids that have developmental delays providing ABA services. Washington appears to be a very good state for my field.

Wenatchee appears to be brown, deserty? Is that an accurate depiction? It looks like you can drive 30 minutes into the mountains to get green, but outside of the cascades it's quite arrid and brown? That might be a concern for us. It is one of the reasons we are leaning away from states like Colorado.

[Diana Holbrook]

Wenatchee is high desert, except for the apple orchards. Most of the land that is flat enough to work with is planted in apples. This appeals to some people, but it is brown and hot in summer, cold in winter.

I've lived on both sides.... Grew up in Western WA, went to school in Eastern WA, came back to the west side.

Yes, the west side is rainy, but it gives us our tall trees and our green.

Depends what you like.

[pikabike]

I keep saying it over and over to the OP: In the western US, if you want greenery and trees, you get rain and/or snow. Pick yer poison.

Eastern US, not such a big split; you can find areas that provide the greenery, moderate rain or snow without the summer brownness, small farming acreage not far from fair-sized cities, and year-round outdoor recreation. That is a tall to impossible order in the west. Distances between cities or towns is much greater, and THAT IS A GOOD THING!

BTW, not all of western WA gets heavy rain, but it is less sunny than east of the Cascades, overall. There are rain shadow towns...but not with the employment opportunities that larger cities offer. You can't have it all, anywhere you search. Pick yer poison.

[Cuda1337]

Originally Posted by pikabike

I keep saying it over and over to the OP: In the western US, if you want greenery and trees, you get rain and/or snow. Pick yer poison.

Eastern US, not such a big split; you can find areas that provide the greenery, moderate rain or snow without the summer brownness, small farming acreage not far from fair-sized cities, and year-round outdoor recreation. That is a tall to impossible order in the west. Distances between cities or towns is much greater, and THAT IS A GOOD THING!

BTW, not all of western WA gets heavy rain, but it is less sunny than east of the Cascades, overall. There are rain shadow towns...but not with the employment opportunities that larger cities offer. You can't have it all, anywhere you search. Pick yer poison.

Yes, I realize I will have to make sacrifices somewhere. Just collecting all the information we can so that we can make the best decision as to what is worth sacrificing and what we really really like.

[509]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

Yes, the west side is rainy, but it gives us our tall trees and our green.

Depends what you like.

Oh my god.....tall trees shade the sun and keep solar panels from generating electricity...and green...what kind of color is that??

And then the rain!!! You do know God made rain for people not smart enough to put in irrigation system??

[Cuda1337]

509, I appreciate all your responses. Based on everything I've read though, I think I'm leaning more towards the west side. Olympia specifically looks very appealing. It looks large enough for my line of work, small enough to keep traffic down. It seems somewhat affluent, although not at the Seattle level. Lot prices seem reasonable. And it looks very beautiful. It seems that you could get views of Rainer and of the Olympic Mountains around Olympia/Tumwater/Lacey. I am curious how far outside of those areas I could go before it becomes extremely rural and more rundown/poor.

[509]

I did go to Olympia on business trips. It is a nice community.

The problem is that it is in western Washington....green, wet, and cold.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

One area that no one suggested...Kitsap Peninsula....Bremerton, Silverdale, Poulsbo. Close to Bainbridge Island, Seattle. Water, green, outdoor activities & jobs (maybe). Not too far in the boondocks.

[perigee]

509, eastern WA gets very cold in the winter, the Sound moderates the temperature year round and some people don't mind the wet and enjoy seeing green year round. To each their own, no need to get worked up about it.

I like visiting your part of the state, but I could never live there. While I love seeing the diversity of the state, I prefer my views of the heavily forested Cascade foothills and too many sunny days in a row really gets to me. Yeah, there are some crazies that never leave home without their sunglasses just in case the sun breaks through. Not saying I don't enjoy some sunny days, but I generally like the balance of clouds and sun over here in on western side. Don't get me wrong, I understand I am in the minority when it comes to this and warn potential newbies of our dark and gloomy winters, but I view the pros as outweighing the cons.

It might surprise you to know that irrigation is important on our side of the mountains, that year where we didn't really get any snow hurt a lot of farmers over here. You might want to come back for a summer visit this year, we're not all rain and gloom

[PS90]

Originally Posted by 509

Winters vary. Every four or five years we get snow. Most winters are fairly mild with rain.

Huh? While I agree with most of your comments, I have to assume that you're exaggerating here. I guess, relative to the rest of Eastern WA, Wenatchee gets fairly light amounts of snow. But relative to a guy coming from San Diego, Wenatchee gets plenty of snow.

I have lived in Wenatchee a total of 11 winters on two separate occasions, and I don't ever remember a winter without snow. According to C-D, Wenatchee averages 9 inches on the ground in January. And last year, one of the mildest winters in recent memory, Pangborn Airport got 5.8 inches in January.

https://www.wunderground.com/history...ic=&reqdb.wmo=

Not much, but definitely not nothing. Especially when you're addressing a guy from So Cal.