Moving to WA and the bumpy road taking me there

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So its been an interesting couple years.

August of 2020 a drunken argument at my maternal grandfathers house resulted in my great uncle shooting and killing my cousins boyfriend. My mother moved from Fresno, CA to take care of him as the 4 others living on the property were:

in jail
an emotional wreck
dead
a barely functional alcoholic.

My two remaining grandparents both passed last year… I consider myself quite fortunate since many of my friends have long since lost both parents and grandparents have been gone since their teens. Both of them were in their 90s.

So, I got some money from one side, and I am inheriting part of my grandfathers house/property on Marrowstone Island in Puget sound from the other grandparent. I still have to do a small buyout of another relative with a partial interest in the property, but I can easily cover it. The money side turned into a bit of a kerfluffle with a trustee trying to manipulate the price of a house in their favor. A few hours of lawyer shut that down promptly.

I will be building a shop space on the property and semi retiring. Will probably make a variety of things for craft fairs and farmers markets. Have a bunch of fruit trees, a huge garden area, and enough blackberries to choke a rhino. planning on dropping in a few beehives maybe some chickens. With all of that i should be able to have an assortment of my own fruits and veggies for canning. Jams, jellies, sauces, honey, wine/mead.

Shop area will be big enough to handle my many nerdy hobbies, probably around 2K sqft…

Will be signing up as a volunteer EMT/firefighter with the local FD for a way to meet some locals and do something useful with my life. I used to be a working EMT in Fresno, CA many moons ago, and I graduated from the local community college fire academy. Firefighting is something I have always wanted to do but never quite made the cut for hiring. Here the bar is a bit lower, but so is the paycheck :laughing:

So once the dust settles I should be in a vary happy place…two states away from where I have lived since I was a teenager.

Dopers in the area…any cool “must see” stuff?

2

Wow. Drama. (Forgive me, but Fresno is a punchline in this house.)

We haven’t been to Marrowstone Island. We live in Birch Bay, and don’t get out much. I’ll be looking in to see others’ recommendations, as it would be nice to get out and about.

3

Fresno is always a punchline…

4

About 800 people in the entire county, a lighthouse, an abandoned fort and a winery.
I don’t know what you might want to do the second week you are there.

5

Nope, Jefferson County has over 30,000. Marrowstone Island has around 800.

6

That sounds utterly blissful to me. (Well, except for the fact that WA has winter weather.) Good luck with the transition; I hope you are indeed very happy.

Small towns with a limited number of attractions are not everyone’s cup of tea and that’s cool. But depending on your temperament, it may be fine. I live in a small, quiet community and just love it. Working with a non-profit, being a crazy cat lady, cooking creatively, reading books, talking to people, exercising, enjoying the natural beauty around me, playing music, watching Netflix … it’s enough for me. I don’t miss the buzz of big city life AT ALL.

7

My Linotype and printing press came from a shop on Marrowstone Island. So I can say I’ve been there twice but that’s the extent of it.

ETA: that’s not true. I’ve been to Fort Flagler as well, so three visits. The old base is a beautiful area to spend a day.

8

I am kinda looking forward to a somewhat slower pace of life I’m figuring the EMS thing will keep my life plenty interesting. I will still be involved in the SCA (society for creative anachronism) Bremerton has a very active group about an hour south of me.

9

You’ll have some peace and quiet, but you’re also close to a lot of cool places… including Seattle (less than two hours away).

Much closer are all the other islands in Puget Sound: Orcas island has cool art/pottery galleries, and a tall hill in the center with a lookout tower. You can see most of the other islands from up there. There are always whale-watching trips, and kayaking-with-orcas expeditions.

San Juan Island is full of… everything. Friday Harbor is like a full city, albeit a touristy one.

And you’re right next to Whidbey Island… great for produce, antiques, and Whidbey Island Liqueur, made from native berries. Yum…

Oh, and you’re less than a half hour (add an hour if you want to bike it) from one of my favorite towns, full of quaint bookstores and coffee places and restaurants: Port Townsend.

Damn, I’m jealous!

10

Same here. It’s a great place.

11

Once Canada is easier, the Gulf Islands are also lovely.

12

Agreed, we live in the general area, and love it. Port Hadlock is the closet community to your island. Some stores and restaurants.

Check out the Old Alcohol Plant

Ajax Cafe is a good place to eat.
https://www.ajaxcafe.com/

The Dungeness Spit is a great way to spend a day hiking on the beach.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

13

take vitamin D for, well the entire year.

Figure out how to get sun between Oct and Jun. For me, I snowboard from Dec through March, and that keeps me sane. April onwards, tend to set sunbreaks and it’s not too horrible until the rain stops on July 5th

14

Good advice. Marrowstone Island is in the ‘rain shadow’ at least, so slightly less grim.

15

The area is dryer and colder than most people think. They used to have a fast ferry to Victoria that was awesome. You can catch salmon, halibut, and dungeness crab if you have a boat. In many marinas there might be a wait list for a slip, so even if you don’t plan on it you might want to get on the list. Learn the tides, the protected water in the Puget sound can be done in a smaller boat if you watch the tides and the weather but you still want a backup trolling motor for safety.

16

So much this. And you can always go someplace sunny in winter, if only for a bit. May this all work out well for you. It sounds like heaven.

17

There are 7 boats on the property None of them in working order to the best of my knowledge. The only one I am planning on keeping is a 15’ aluminum “boston whaler” style one. Big enough to toodle around the island, go fishing or cart out a couple crab pots, but still small enough to manage solo. The rest I am looking for homes or junkyards that will take them. Several are quite large, grandpa was big into sailing, me not so much.

Also 6 dead vehicles Most likely will all be towed off to a junkyard. I have 2 functioning vehicles of my own and I am not interested in taking up car or boat restoration…I have enough expensive hobbies.

18

My Seattle relatives have full-spectrum “Gro-Lights” that they use in the winter. BUT not the people I’ve known who live “in the islands, mon…” [/marley accent]

That rain shadow is a godsend. The clouds blowing in from the ocean dump their rain on the Olympic Mountains, then are dry over Puget Sound, raining again when they hit Seattle and the Cascade Mountains.

19

@digs By rain shadow you mean what is also referred to as the banana belt, no?

Crabbing is freaking awesome. I used to go off the pier in Mukulteo or Edmonds a lot when the kiddos were younger. Toss in the pots, go to a playground, check pots, go get ice cream, rinse lather repeat until bored. Usually a couple of dunginess and red rocks to take home.

With a boat, once you find a good spot, you should be able to get your limit in an hour. Big ones too!

20

Well I have been here for about a month.

I love the weather! I have lost seven pounds and I am already feeling in much better shape from a couple hours a day of heavy yard work. Mowing 3’+ high weeds with a brush cutter is a pretty solid workout. Tearing up 8-10’ high blackberry brambles isnt exactly sedentary either.

in about 3 weeks I have demolition contractors coming to remove boats, cars, 2 RVs, a 5th wheel. 3 sheds/outbuildings, and a small mountain of general junk. Much of it will get smashed with some flavor of excavators/backhoes/whatever and loaded into dump trucks and or rolloff dumpsters.

I plan to post videos of boats smashing on Tiktok. if anyone wants a boat I am not averse to incentivizing their acquisition.

Video that shows the major boats. RV. etc.
https://www.tiktok.com/@letsgotosushi/video/7103620278755921194?