A Little OT, but thinking of moving the WA/Or area, any advice?

With the realization that my folks aren't getting younger, and the real desire for my kids to have them as a little bigger presence in their lives than they had been because of the distance apart, we're looking at uprooting from SE New Mexico and heading up to Wa or OR. Any folks from that area have any advice? What is the weather like? Any parts of the state having more problems than the rest? I appreciate any info I can glean. Thanks.

 

it rains a lot here.....not hard....just drizzle....and did I mention a lot of rain. Also in Oregon you can't pump you own gas....really pisses me off.

 

I like it up here in Olympia.

 

Seattle is to mutch monny for rent, tacoma is so,so, just depends, but give us N.W.H.A.M.B.'ers a yell when ya get here and we will help where we can......Roach.

(In Rust We Trust)

 

Get a wet suit and antidepressants

 

Very mild summers that are not real long, decent spring and fall but rains in both seasons. Winter is not terribly bad other than the rain. I feel for the more "traditional" scene you will want to be more in the vancouver area or north, here in Eugene area there is not as much of it. That being said this area is an hour from the coast, hour from the mountains and an hour and twenty minutes from Portland. The economy ****s right now and home prices vary depending on the neighborhood more so than the town itself. Hope this helps, Joe

 

Huge car scene up north of Seattle. As everyone says, it rains alot but it gives you lots of time to work on your car. The last two years really ****ed for rain but typically its not that bad. Been here since 1980 and can't think of anywhere else I want to live.

 

Believe it or not, there are areas in WA/OR that are desert with 330+ days a year with sunshine. Thing is you have to live around Yakima or the Tri-Cities. I lived in Kennewick for a while and really liked it, family friendly and lots of old iron around.

 

East of the cascades there is summer(hot & dry) and winter (cold & mostly dry).
Westside we have spring (cool & wet) and fall (cool and a little less wet)

 

Where do your parents live at? I grew up around Seattle area. Went to Elementary school in Buckley, then move up to Mt. Vernon/Sedro Woolley for middle and high school. I really love WA, but it's sort of a love/hate relationship. My Mom lives in Monroe, and it great to be so close to Stevens P*** area, as I love to snowboard. And my Grandparents live in Wenatchee, straight over Hwy 2 from Monroe.

Everytime I go back, I love it, miss it, wish I still lived in the area. But when I get back to Dallas I am always happy to see the sun and realize that I can ride my chopper every week of the year. Even if it's cold, it's sunny.

But my wife is from Humboldt County, CA and has the same feelings about the West Coast. If we were to move back, we'd live in Portland. Pretty city, more spread out than Seattle. Plus a super cool atmosphere. People are awesome.

 

You might look at the Se**** area, it's a rain shadow and has a large retirement population with amenities. And real estate prices are still reasonable (my opinion).

 

Watch out for Portland.

Every second car is a Subaru or a rusty blue Volvo and the owner is afraid of big trucks.

Seriously, no-one knows how to drive in Oregon.

Shawn

 

Oh nice, driving tips from a Canadian... maybe you could tell your brethren that two lane roads aren't conducive to setting land speed records down here. Also, people from Oregon drive okay, it's the Idaho plates you really have to watch.

Seriously though, I've lived all over this state, east side to west and back again. I prefer the east side because it has regular seasons, as opposed to the west side, which goes from rain to sun, and then back again. Watch where you go to live on the west side also. There are a lot of areas that look just swell, right up until spring when the floods come!

East side is less densely populated (if you ignore Spokane). The outlying areas around Yakima are nice, I particularly like the Ahtanum area. Goldendale, my hometown, seems to be coming back pretty strong after it lost its major employer. There are a lot of windmills down that way now. Bingen/White Salmon is a pretty area, lots of outdoor activities in a very beautiful part of the Columbia river gorge. It also has great freeway access to Portland/Vancouver without necessarily being an urban area itself.

I could write a book about this, but I better not. If you find an area drop me a line and I'll give you my unbiased opinion, for what it's worth. I love the Pacific Northwest and don't plan to ever leave it again.

 

I'd have to say some of it would have to do with what kind of work you do for a living. Plus some of where you pick depends on where your folks are. It isn't going to do a lot of good if you move up to be closer to the folks and you are still five hours and a mountain p*** away.

Every major population area of both states has an active car scene thing going on but some are a bit more active than others. There is almost always something going on during the "good weather" months but it may not always be what is high on your interest list unless you are willing to travel a bit. Then there is just going and doing and there is always something to go to or do to unless your scope of activities that you are willing to try is extremely limited. A family can spend many a day or weekend in the PNW just packing up and going for a ride somewhere be it the beach, mountains or interesting towns to poke around in. Sometimes there are fun car events held in those interesting towns that make the trip more than drive, park the car and sit and then drive home again.

But it does rain a lot west of the Cascades in both Washington and Oregon and it is usually too hot or too damned cold over here on the east side of the Cascades.
Actually it rains more often in the Seattle area but they get way less total rain than Houston does.

 

Get some property with a barn, or outbuildings to store your car/stuff. It is pretty wet in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Eastern & Southern Oregon are pretty dry.

Also, be aware that in Oregon atleast, the local municipalities (Especially Multnomah County) are very anti-car. They don't like cars (unless they are electric hybrid) and are especially hard on people with "junkers" laying around their properties.

Besides that, Oregon is a great place to live. If you can find work. Our unemployment rate is pretty high right now.

 

I'm pretty sure the drivers license requirements for Idaho consist of having a pulse and being conscious when applying for the license.

 

Eastern WA would be best if you're not a big fan of cloudy/drizzly days. As previously stated - Yakima, Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco) have some of the best weather available. Wenatchee is beautiful also, and if you have a 4x4 to attack Stevens P*** with in the winter, the Seattle/Everett area is just a bit over an hour away. Summers in Wenatchee are stunning - it's the apple capital of the world (per their CofC) and the smell of all kinds of fruit blossoms is euphoric during the spring. Columbia River and Wenatchee River meet there, and Lake Chelan is a short drive to the north.

The "Banana Belt" (Clarkston/WA and Lewiston/ID) is also nice, and has a decent contingent of hotrodders and superior boating on the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Weather is excellent year-round with reasonably mild winters (compared to Spokane area). Smaller towns...driving distance to larger cities may give you some pause, but the "Palouse Country" (up near WSU and UofI) is beautiful. Eastern WA also provides some very straight roads where you can check your top speed from time to time.

wow...probably more info than you were looking for....

dj

 

i believe the conscious part is handled in the written exam. if you break the crayon you fail.

 

Having lived in Portland, Or. for nearly 61 years I have watched it change a lot over that period. I wouldn't live in the city of Portland if I hadn't been here all my life. The town and those running it are a mess, and if I moved to Oregon from outside the state I'd steer clear of the tri county areas. Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, unless you're in rural Clackamas or Washington county.
Rain is just something we get used to, and we work around it. Do all the car stuff once the weather turns ugly, and enjoy the sunshine whenever we can.
Portland area does have a huge car culture, with lots of car venues to participate in from June to October, but pretty much dies the rest the year. Beaches at PIR gets around 1100-1300 cars every Wed., if the weather is nice. Actually broke the record last Wed. with around 1500 cars attended.
If you can live within 45 min. of Portland, you can have access without the h***les of living here.

 

When your driving on the freeways look out for the on ramps. Many drivers up here don't even look over to see if it's safe to merge even though the merging lanes are three times longer than anywhere else!!! Seriously! Also their are a lot of Zombies here. I'm starting to think all the roof boxes on the Subaru station wagons are for corpses!

Other than that Nik, I dig it up here it's a nice change of pace for me.
The car scene is more condensed into a few months so it really packs a punch!

 

For anyone looking to relocate, look at www.city-data.com
It's often cut and dry, rather than personal experience, but gives a good indication of the fit for you. As mentioned, J-O-B-S are important to find anywhere along the coast. I looked at the area and that was the toughtest part of the deal.

 

West side of the state is wet. Over here on the east side is a lot more dry usually. Of course, there is a real winter over here. Lot more snow during the winter months than the west side.

 

Since I live right on one of the busy North/South Highways in the state I see plenty of Oregon and Idaho drivers. The Oregon drivers are always a bit impatient but watch out for any Pre 2000 Toyota 4x4 pickups with Idaho plates as they will not only blow by you at speed but catch and p*** any Oregon vehicle that p***ed you. Those guys hate to be behind anyone and think that Washington or Oregon speed limits don't apply to them.[/QUOTE]

This is funny only because it's true, every time I have ever been to Washington or Oregon all the Idaho tags seem to group together and set the cruise and haul ***.

 

i lived in W Seattle for around 10 yrs, before that i was over in Ballard, in a nut shell it's a great place to live, i wish i never moved to AZ. yes the wheather is well wet. but it never bothered me unless i had a car show or such to go to and it rained, sure in AZ we have about 9 mo of great car wheather, but i don't care for the state, but i have made so many great friends that now it would be hard to leave.
hey if you can move up there then go!!

 

No one has mentioned the Portland expo / PIR swapmeet....it's a big one

 

check out southern oregon,mild winters & warm summers,lakes, rivers,pacific ocean,big trees, small trees, really great people!! Great country life,lot's of good schools and great people ,great car related stuff you can drive too all summer.....been here 20 years and every day is fun!.....

 

i really like Oregon, i have friends there around Eugene, farm country, then day trips out to the coast, i owe a speeding ticket in Oregon could someone pay that for me?

 

It is cool and rainy here yesterday and a little this morning and were are in the middle of July!!! everyone here freaks out and starts tapping on there brakes and if there is a small snowflake we all freak out and we call it a winter storm warning!

 

^^^............