Need To Know All About Anacortes (Mount Vernon, Oak Harbor: rent, crime, house)

[freepelican]

I am considering Anacortes as a potential place to buy a house (possibly rent first). Would really appreciate knowing the pros and cons. I'm drawn to it for all the easy nature viewing opportunities, the cool weather even in the summer, easy trips to other islands (I like to ride the ferries for entertainment purposes rather than absolute utility LOL), all the deer everywhere, birds, etc... the grocery stores seem a tad limited so I'd like to know more about that.... also concerned about the ferry traffic when I would want head east to shop and do stuff and to get to medical etc. I need to know about how reliable the high speed internet is and cell phone service is... very important. I cannot compromise on reliable internet. Any tips for where to live? I have not been to the community forest so would like to hear about that and anything else interesting about Anacortes. Are there non-flooding areas between Anacortes and Mount Vernon? Differences between neighborhoods in Anacortes? Is it a safe place? Crime rate? If I could put a little cottage with a lot of windows at the top of Cap Sante and remove the refinery, I'd be a happy camper :-) LOL I like that the town seems to really value nature and turning rails into trails kind of thing.

[mayfair]

Anacortes has a small food coophttp://www.anacortesfoodcoop.com/

I haven't been to it (I shop the Mt. Vernon one).

Here's a map of the expanding city fiber internet. This is a great situation- the city runs it, so it's locally controlled.
https://www.anacorteswa.gov/984/Acce...Fiber-Internet

Check out the Tommy Thompson trail:

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/...thompson-trail

The refinery is ugly but you can't have everything in this modern world, and around the north sound, you can pick the niche with the most plusses and fewest minuses and have a good life in a beautiful area.

[freepelican]

Thank you Mayfair, very useful info!

[rkcarguy]

The refinery's are a ugly necessity in my mind. It always irks me to see people drive their SUV's to a protest to block the oil train, or out in the bay in plastic kayaks blocking the tankers. A large amount of what is produced isn't fuel. Plastics, polyester, ingredients for medications, motor and gear oil, brake fluid, paint ingredients, the list goes on and on. Long after our cars no longer burn carbon based fuels, the refineries will still be there making ingredients for so many of life's other necessities. Many of the local refineries are currently adding new processes for bio fuels as well.

[CrazyDonkey]

It also has a very well-regarded annual arts festival:

https://anacortesartsfestival.com/

So, values nature and the arts.

[mayfair]

There are trails and an interpretive center with cool aquarium tanks containing sealife from the estuary at Padilla Bay, between Mt. Vernon and Anacortes. There's a nice wooded trail behind the visitor center as well as this one along the estuary:

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/padilla-bay

Bow/Edison has some good restaurants and the Breadfarm bread bakery, and that's north a bit. There's also excellent birdwatching on the Skagit Flats- and in winter lots of eagles on the Skagit River eating salmon:
https://skagiteagle.org/

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by mayfair

Here's a map of the expanding city fiber internet. This is a great situation- the city runs it, so it's locally controlled.
https://www.anacorteswa.gov/984/Acce...Fiber-Internet

Wow, that's a great service. $39/mo for 100Mbps, with no data cap. Thanks for posting.

[freepelican]

Anacortes is looking better and better :-) Skagit County as a whole seems very nice. Mount Vernon is still on the table as well :-) Thank you guys! I'd love to discover more if you think of anything else.

[mayfair]

One more tip on the growlers- you will not avoid them completely anywhere in Western Skagit county. It's just part of life in the area. You might get a long stretch of quiet and then you get them overhead or rumbling in the distance.

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by mayfair

One more tip on the growlers- you will not avoid them completely anywhere in Western Skagit county. It's just part of life in the area. You might get a long stretch of quiet and then you get them overhead or rumbling in the distance.

Here's a secret: We live in Oak Harbor, harbor-facing view. We rarely hear jets. And when we do, they're just passing through on a wide sweep-around. North end of town, Yeah, you'll hear them more.
And we get less rain than Anacortes. Facing south is better than north, in the winter.