I’ve lived here about 15 months now and starting to get used to it. It is overcast a lot with scattered sun breaks.
Good things - clean air, green, great mountains to the east and west, crabbing, August is glorious and rarely over 80 degrees when the rest of the country is parbroiling, good food, culture, art, younger folk like you think there is a good scene, great place for families, etc.
The bad: the weather. Seriously, every freaking doctor I’ve seen asks are you taking vitamin D? The traffic sucks pretty badly (but nothing like LA) during rush hour. If you don’t have to be out in the relatively short rush hour much, then of course it’s not bad.
Did i mention the fact that it is overcast a lot? Half the summer it was overcast every morning until about noon. Then it was beautiful until the sun went down at 9:00 pm. If the sun showed a little more this place would be awesom.
Oh yea, the sunrise sunset is about 8:00am - 4:30 pm in the winter. Then flips to about 4:30 am to 9:00 pm for the summer solstice.
I always thought of it as Cool Rain, Cold Rain, Cool Rain and Maybe Some Clearing…
I was born in Seattle then we moved to Bellevue when I was 9. I escaped from WA when I was 35 and in the almost 20 years since then I’ve only been back thrice. You have to be able to deal with the almost constant gray and chilly weather, and (when I was there anyway) the kind of unique I guess insular attitude of the locals. I’m surprised to hear that the driving skills have gotten bad - it used to be that you could tell who was a recent import by the way they couldn’t deal with having wet or frozen stuff on the roads.
One thing I didn’t see (tho I didn’t read thru all of the older posts) is western WA is the allergy capital of the US, if not the world. I travel all over the western half of the country, as well as frequent forays into the rest, Canada and Mexico, and the only place I have had trouble is WW. When I was there last June, I thought I was going to dehydrate if my nose and eyes didn’t quit running! And I had driven up from a four day stay in OR where I had no problems.
I will say that the transit is (or was) good and that you should be able to get a good house with at least a large lot for not too much money. But I’ll take our traffic (tho neither one of us commutes), tourists and prices over WA weather any day!
Bwahahahahahaha. love the seasons description as it is currently 58 degrees and overcast, although we have a heat wave reaching 80 degrees forecast for next week. Although, keep in mind, it’s pretty standard to see the 5 or 7 day forecast with beautiful sunny weather predicted only to turn into actual rain when the day arrives.
You’d be surprised at how international and Bellevue and the eastside has turned into. Tens of thousands of educated professionals from all countries now work for Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, Travelocity, Google, etc and have completely changed the make up of the residents. My kids go to Clyde Hill Elementary and there are 60+ countries represented. Even 20-somethngs are reporting that the bars, restaurants and mating game around the Bellevue Square area is tolerable, and that sure wasn’t the case even a decade ago.
Yeah, Seattle is where I learned the weather guys are just guessing…
That really is different - back when I lived there, we had almost zero minority representation. I remember quite clearly the stir caused when a black family moved into our neighborhood - and how all the WASPs patted themselves on the back for how tolerant they were. :rolleyes::smack:
Another thing about island life is if you fly a lot for work you are rushing to catch the last ferry to get home from seatac. In the summer the ferry lines were really long to get on so you have to take that into account unless you ride a motorcycle. But I loved the ferry we had names for our ferry attendants and they started to serve food.
None of my business, just curious- where in Idaho do you live? I’m in Moscow, and my wife and I are considering eventually moving to the Seattle area to be closer to her extended family.
I’m here in Bainbridge Island and it is so beautiful and peaceful. It’s just gorgeous here!!! There are woods and hiking trails and real forests and you can see the stars at night. I like here. But I am scared witless! It would mean a move across country. And I would have to get a driver’s license. (I’ve only recently learned to drive. About…oh…three months ago.) And my husband wouldn’t get to work from home anymore. He’d have to commute to Seattle instead. So I wouldn’t have him around all day. I’m absolutely terrified! What the hell do I do?
Sometimes the scariest stuff turns out to be the best thing ever. If it’s a good move career-wise for your husband, then go for it. Besides, just think of all the exploration you could do around here if you got your license! The Pacific Northwest has lots to offer and there a ton of great places to see and go to.
I live down in Pierce County which is much, much less expensive than King County. Thankfully, my job is in Pierce County too. I’ve often thought of taking a job in Seattle, but I’d probably use public transit to to get there and back. Traffic is a just bitch up there.
As nice as tonight was you have to ask? Move already! We went to a bbq tonight with some friends and it as fantastic. Frankly I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Did you guys try any microbrews while you are here?
I think I’ve outed it here before anyway – I’m in Ketchum. (Please note that I have a job and work for a living, I am not one of the rich contingent. I have gotten the stinkeye a few times elsewhere in the state just for saying I live here. I know this is the weird bit of Idaho, people, but don’t hate us all!) I never lived in a place with winter as an adult and actively enjoy it (most of the time). And it Does Not Get Hot Here. When the natives complain about the heat when it’s 82F and there’s next to no humidity I have to try so hard not to laugh. Get in the shade, feel that breeze? That coolish breeze? Yeah. It’s not hot. Try New Orleans in August, people, now that’s misery.
I’ve always liked the Pacific Northwest, however, and would head straight out there if I had to leave here.
I live on Vashon, and while it’s doable, the ferry commute can be brutal. My last gig I was commuting out to Redmond every day. The only thing that made it possible was the vanpool. Although going from Bainbridge to downtown as a walk=on isn’t that bad. But expect to budget some serious time for the commute if you choose to live on the other side of the sound. You really need to rent before you buy. Although, it’s probably a great time to buy…lots of people trying to unload their places. Although, the glut of properties on the market doesn’t mean great deals, it means that nobody is willing to sell for the market clearing price.
Seriously, due to the geography of the area, with mountains, lakes and Puget Sound, there are some serious travel bottlenecks that make commuting here pretty rough. Think long and hard about where you want to live, and how much of your life you’re giving up to commute to work from there.
No stinkeye from me. I’m in Idaho’s other weird little bit, Moscow, “the Berkeley of Idaho.” The state’s only other county that votes Democratic
Ditto regarding winter. Spent my first 54 years in San Diego, retired six years ago, moved up here to be with our closest friends and less than a day’s drive from my wife’s kinfolk in Seattle.
I’d been in really cold winter weather before, but only for a day or two at a time. Never would’ve believed that I’d like prolonged extreme cold and snowy winters, but to my amazed delight I love it.
Same here. We love visiting Seattle, and think we’d enjoy living closer to it than we do now. Since we dislike big cities (after living through San Diego’s 50-year transformation into Little Los Angeles), Seattle proper would be out. We’re imagining in or near the mountains to the east.
Over and out. Gotta go lay in some firewood or something.
You should move, you should practice driving, you should find things to do now that your husband will be out of the house all day. Change can be difficult, but once you get the hang of things it won’t feel like change anymore.
I can’t imagine turning down an opportunity to add new experiences to your life.
August in Seattle is fantastic. The rest of the year is horrible. I lived there for 8 years and hated almost all of it. If it were always like it is in August, I’d have never left. In my experience, having left a few years ago, it’s not “3 months” of great weather. It’s more like a month and a half or two months. Summer doesn’t start until half way through July, and by the end of August or middle of September it’s getting crappy again. I acknowledge that I’m probably affected by weather more than most people, and aside from the weather I really like the place. But the weather is awful enough that I’d never dream of moving back.
Yeah, I agree that I shouldn’t let fear and anxiety stop me from doing what I want to do. It’s just getting the courage to do it that’s the tricky part.
People keep complaining about the weather, but I’m not sure how it could be worse than Ottawa, where in the summer it’s oppressively hot and humid, and in the winter it’s -40 and it’s so cold it feels like you’re sticking razor blades up your nose. So cold, that it just sucks all the moisture out of your skin. Bitterly bitterly cold. So I think weather is all relative. But I don’t know, maybe the lack of sun would depress me. Not sure how to find out except by moving.
We also have to see if my husband is up for the commute everyday. If he thinks it will be too much, then we’re not moving.
CJ, enjoy the rest of your week here - you’ve landed in the Seattle area on what is possibly the nicest run of weather we’ve had in a lonnnngggg time! Recall from all the helpful posts, this is HIGHLY unusual weather-wise. Most of the time, it is much cooler and yeah, get used to the color gray. That noted, as my neighbor who’s a pilot for Delta said the other day, there’s no other part of the country he’d rather live - even with the gray, it is beautiful here.
Yeah, a driver’s license would come in super handy, and sure, your hub wouldn’t be at home as much, but talk about great opportunities for you to explore and get plugged into a new land! Adventure is good! Shakes things up! Turns the status quo on its ear! Forces growth and gasp change! And, it’s good for ya If it’s a good move financially, and you’re all in agreement as a family it’s something you should try, then go for it. This really is a beautiful corner of the country, and people are overall pretty nice. Talk to the shopkeepers in town on Bainbridge - hit the local coffee joints and see what kind of intel you can get from the locals on what there is for you and Jr. CJ to plug into. Hey, ya got some local dopers That’s not a bad start
