Best place to live in WA?

[chris]

Places in mind: Index, Leavenworth, Eastern N. Cascades (Winthrop), North Bend, Bellevue, Bellingham

And finally, I don't live there and I'm just looking for your thoughts, so please excuse any 'dumb questions'.

Lets hear it!

Since I moved here in 2000, I've gotten to live in Ashford, Seattle, Bellingham, and after a hiatus to California I'm back in Seattle.

Index, Leavenworth, Mazama or North Bend would be my first choices, but finding work is hard. Mazama is also three times as hard to reach in the winter than in the summer, which can be a real problem if you need to leave town in order to make money. Still, it's on my short list for property.

Bellingham is a great place to live, but equally hard to find work, and the mountains aren't as close as they seem (1:15 to Mt Baker, 1:30 to the ski area). Heading anywhere else requires driving south and making a 90 degree turn east - no cut-off routes.

I either want to be in the city or in the country, not suburbia, so Bellevue's out.

Seattle's centrally located with good access out of the city in all directions, and plenty of work opportunities.

[Dannible]

So the general consensus is Leavenworth, if you could get work, and maybe Mt Vernon on the westside? What's Wenatchee like?

I bet there's a good amount of jobs to be had (I didn't say careers) in Leavenworth, considering its a tourist trap, right?

 

Dang, I grew up in MV and now live in Leavenworth. Guess I'm doing it right! There are jobs in Leavenworth, but you will most likely have to have two or three of them. Many (maybe most) work at Stevens Pass or Mission Ridge (ski areas) in the winter. The forest service and the hotel/food industries are the biggest summer employers. I honestly couldn't pull off living here and climbing so much without my friends who give me work in various industries in the shoulder season. I think I've worked for 5 different companies/people this year alone. I can't say much about Wenatchee, most of us here consider it a necessary evil.

 

Mount Vernon has more jobs, and is 30 minutes away from descent (but not great) climbing, about 1-1.5 hours from great climbing (Index, Goldbar, Darrington) and 1-2 hours away from some of my favorite mountains in the world. The social scene sucks though.

 

Seattle has more jobs still (in theory at least, I lived there for a stint, applied for 70 or so entry level, low pay jobs and got one interview), is 1 hour or so from climbing and skiing, 3 hours from the North Cascades, and has a great social scene.

[Buckaroo]

Seattle cuz it's centrally located between Banff and Yosemite. You could live in Index but you'd be commuting to Seattle to work every day on 2 lane hiways. Why not just live close to work and drive 1 hour to Index to climb on the weekend? I also drive up there after work sometimes on the long summer days.

 

Exits 32 and 38 1 hr. L-town is 3 hrs. WA pass is 3.5 hrs. Smith is 5 hrs. Lilloette is 5 hrs. Banff 13 hrs. Yosemite/Sierras/Red Rocks 14 hrs.

[rob]

Seattle cuz it's centrally located between Banff and Yosemite. You could live in Index but you'd be commuting to Seattle to work every day on 2 lane hiways. Why not just live close to work and drive 1 hour to Index to climb on the weekend? I also drive up there after work sometimes on the long summer days.

 

+ 1 million. In addition to driving back and forth to seattle for work every day, there is the additional downside that when you get back home at night you FUCKING LIVE IN INDEX.

[JoshK]

Seattle cuz it's centrally located between Banff and Yosemite. You could live in Index but you'd be commuting to Seattle to work every day on 2 lane hiways. Why not just live close to work and drive 1 hour to Index to climb on the weekend? I also drive up there after work sometimes on the long summer days.

 

+ 1 million. In addition to driving back and forth to seattle for work every day, there is the additional downside that when you get back home at night you FUCKING LIVE IN INDEX.

 

Yeah, I can't imagine living in that little slice of Methopotamia. I'd say go east of the crest (l-worth, for example) or Seattle. As much as the traffic and passive aggressive people of the city piss me off sometimes, Seattle is a really, *really* nice place to live. Centrally located, surrounded by water and mountains and all the big metro area amenities are the payback for dealing with the rain. I can't imagine dealing with the wet-side weather and also living in a total shithole like Index.

[jordansahls]

Seattle cuz it's centrally located between Banff and Yosemite. You could live in Index but you'd be commuting to Seattle to work every day on 2 lane hiways. Why not just live close to work and drive 1 hour to Index to climb on the weekend? I also drive up there after work sometimes on the long summer days.

 

+ 1 million. In addition to driving back and forth to seattle for work every day, there is the additional downside that when you get back home at night you FUCKING LIVE IN INDEX.

 

Yeah, I can't imagine living in that little slice of Methopotamia. I'd say go east of the crest (l-worth, for example) or Seattle. As much as the traffic and passive aggressive people of the city piss me off sometimes, Seattle is a really, *really* nice place to live. Centrally located, surrounded by water and mountains and all the big metro area amenities are the payback for dealing with the rain. I can't imagine dealing with the wet-side weather and also living in a total shithole like Index.

 

:lmao:

 

I was driving through Baring and someone had painted over the sign so it read "welcome to Boring". There are worse places than Index.

 

[mhux]

There's actually a town called Boring, right outside of Portland...just passed it today on my way to Hood, actually! Doesn't look like a meth town though...

Seems most of you like the city life, but what's wrong with a small town if you have a job and are super close to climbing? (I'm not just talking about Index)

[BootsandPants]

Growing up in Philly, I swore I'd never live in another city as I really hate "city life", but I love it here in Seattle. In my opinion, Seattle has all of the culture, amenities, jobs, and social life of a big city without the big city feel. All of that and only 1-3 hours away from some great climbing and skiing makes it a no brainer for me anyway. It allows me to develop a good career, have an awesome variety of things to do and people to see at night after work when the weather sucks, and go climbing/skiing after work when it's nice out. It's a good balance I feel.

[jordansahls]

Seems most of you like the city life, but what's wrong with a small town if you have a job and are super close to climbing? (I'm not just talking about Index)

 

Nothing, different strokes and all that. I grew up in a small town but have found that, like BootsandPants, I enjoy the balance between city life and the mountains. Seattle is certainly different in that the outdoors are never far away. It makes the whole "urban" thing bareable, otherwise I would be sitting at Index in a wife beater drinking a coors (seriously). That and I enjoy the social life of the city, always something to do.

[kevino]

Just a little food for thought from a non Seattle based person. I personally like not living in a city and enjoying a quieter life closer to the outdoors. With that said, I lived in Ellensburg for 6 years and on Snoqualmie Pass (Alpental) for another year. Ellensburg, similar to leavenworth and wenatchee, is east of the crest therefore having much more stable weather and a true four seasons. While Ellensburg isn't as close to the icicile/tumwater as leavenworth, we coould still get there in 50 minutes. 35 minutes to vantage, 60ish to tieton crags. The stuarts and snoqualmie pass are 50-70 minutes away, and bletwett is barely 30 minutes away for skiing. then you also have easy access up the teanaway and cle elum river roads, which provide more access to climbing (mountains and crags) and skiing.

 

Snoqualmie pass is its own animal. I think its the highest elevation of year round residents in WA. Very small but close community. Skiing is some of the best in the state (i'm sure that'll fire people up) and lots of alpine climbing and trails to explore.

 

With all that being said i'm moving to spokane this fall for grad school but look forward to the abundance of trails and crags in/near the city, good skiing in the nearby hills and the large canadadian and idahio mountains a short drive away.

 

everything above is my opinion so enjoy and welcome to WA.

[obwan]

How come no one has mentioned Yakima or even a real small town Naches? You can climb at Tieton - very close by. And you'd be living in the 'rain shadow' of Mt. Rainier.

[DPS]

Snoqualmie pass .. Skiing is some of the best in the state (i'm sure that'll fire people up)

I worked with a gal whose husband was a pro snow boarder and thought Alpenthal was great.

[AlpineK]

Nobody's mentioned Metaline Falls either. Small town, cragging, and close to Nelson and the great white north.

 

Metaline Falls

 

One of the

100 best small art towns in America.

 

[img:center]http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/24524398.jpg[/img]

[bwwakaranai]

I ended up moving here by chance but Mount Vernon has done me well. Quite a bit of good local rock, close to Darrington, close to Cascade National Park, not too far from Index for a day trip, jump on hwy 20 for some WA Pass action, Bellingham just up the road but its half the expense and closer to local climbing, far enough from Squamish you wont want to do a day trip but a two day is worth it, cost of living is cheap cheap cheap but it is a bit ghetto. Food is not so great but nearby Anacortes has some real nice restaurants. Im told there is a little bit of nightlife in Anacortes but Im a hermit so I cant say. The winter days are limited for sure but I climb at least one day outside every month of the year. We need a gym in town or in Bellingham! Whats up with the Fulcrum gym guys? But thats another topic.

[Tennessee]

Stehekin.

[Roadstead1]

Nobody's mentioned Metaline Falls either. Small town, cragging, and close to Nelson and the great white north.

 

Metaline Falls

 

One of the

100 best small art towns in America.

 

[img:center]http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/24524398.jpg[/img]

Any town with a 509 area code would be better than living on the wet side of the state.

[mhux]

Stehekin.

Or Marblemount or Newhalem, right? Might as well be smack dab in the center!

[cascadesdj]

I've lived in Roslyn for 37 years and worked as a HS math teacher in Ellensburg. I now work a couple of days a week here and live part time in Seattle. Roslyn is great--1 hour to Vantage, X38, Lworth and a little over one hour to Tieton, half hour to Snoq Pass. Literally xcountry ski out the front door, hike the ridge that starts in town, mtn bike all over the place, etc. Now that I'm working much less, it's nice to go to Seattle where there's something to do when not working or climbing/hiking, etc. If you're not busy, small towns like this can be kinda boring.