Looking for Leave It To Beaver! (Port Townsend, Sequim: cul-de-sac, health insurance, low crime)

[Shadowekat]

Last year was my first visit to WA as an adult. I am in my late 30’s and looking to move with my DH and two sons, 1 and 6, probably to the PNW area, no specific time frame in mind. My parents will likely come with us as well (mid-60’s just retiring).

I have many years in the health insurance industry (think Blue Shield, and no boo-ing please). I am currently a systems analyst, although I honestly have no idea how I landed that – I HATE computers, coding, logic, etc. I am more interested in the medical side of the insurance biz and would love to take my experience and use it for the greater good and attempt something like patient advocating. I also have 1 yr experience dispatching for a small police department. DH is an account manager for a security corporation and runs security for a car manufacturing plant.

I am planning on this being our last move, at least until the boys are out of school, so I want to get this right.

Wants and needs are:

For all:
Hospital nearby, Low crime rate, Pretty location

For my parents:
Fishing – Dad’s a big fisherman and actually takes charter bi-annually out of PA with most recent trip off Orcas Island
Prefer no snow – Mom’s a little scared to drive in it

For my boys:
Good schools – that’s a given, right?
Good neighborhood – really want something that may be very difficult to find – somewhere perhaps in a cul-de-sac where almost all the homes have youngsters, where it is safe for them to go outside and play until the sun goes down (ha, if you can see it, right) and then come in for evening routine. Does this really exist anymore?
Entertainment – 6yo is now in karate, loves to be outside and exploring, wants to be the next “Survivorman” eating bugs and all. 1yo, we have yet to see what he’s going to get in to.

Previously we lived in Fremont, CA and then moved to HECK (which is actually better known as Redding, CA) to get away from the increasing population in the Bay Area. Redding is just way, way, way to “good-ol’ boy” for us, as well as too HOT! We like the country atmosphere, but not the mentality, nor do we deal well with 118 degree summers and $600/month electric bills for the A/C.

From researching I have seen most people suggest locating work and living close by. Who are the major employers in the PA, Sequim, PT areas? Does this area sound like it might be a good fit for my family?

Sorry for the length of the post – just looking for great info from friendly people. Thanks, Kat

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by Shadowekat

From researching I have seen most people suggest locating work and living close by. Who are the major employers in the PA, Sequim, PT areas? Does this area sound like it might be a good fit for my family?

Hi Kat:

This is off the cuff based upon my best guess. I'd bet if you go to the city or county websites (Clallam and Jefferson) you'd get more exact employment numbers.

For PA (in no particular order): It's going to be OMC (Olympic Med Ctr), school district and college, city and county jobs, paper mill (Nippon), wood mill (K-Ply), shipyard (Westport) and then the whole range of business/retail jobs: Walmart, Safeway, banks etc. The prison is also a fairly large employer but it's over in Clallam Bay.

Sequim? Not as sure about it as we live in PA but probably would be the retail type jobs (Walmart, Safeway, Home Depot) and so forth. Sequim has a larger retiree population than the other towns you asked about.

The big employer in PT is again the paper mill (Port Townsend Paper) and the shipyard (Port of Port Townsend) and marine related jobs. More tourist industry (IMO) there, again with the Safeway and Starbucks jobs as well as school and city/county positions. There's also the hospital (Jefferson Healthcare).

These are small, friendly largely blue-collar towns. Coming from "the Blues", you'd probably want to check with OMC or Jefferson Healthcare to see if they had any openings that might suit you.

Last of course is the obvious. Redding for the most part is hot, dry and sunny for much of the year. PA, PT and Sequim (despite the advertised days of sunshine in the latter! ) are very much the opposite of Redding weather-wise. Make sure you and your family would be OK with fair amounts of gray drizzle and wind during the winter months.

Good Luck!