Moving to Leavenworth?

[mhux]

I've been stuck here in Salem (OR) for too long, dreaming up plans to move somewhere cooler with my better half when our lease is up. Wondering what the reality of living in Leavy is like, a friend of mine lived there last summer so I've spent a few days there checking it out, in addition to the rare climbing trips. I'm psyched on the climbing and skiing and even just the alpine scenery; my girlfriend doesn't climb too much (though loves the idea of it) but is more worried about meeting friends in town since its small, or as she put it "I don't want to hang out with just you all the time"

Finding jobs and housing aside, I'm convinced it'd all work out great, anyone have anything to share? PM me if you prefer...thanks in advance!

Max

[Alex]

Housing isn't too hard. And you will have no trouble whatsoever meeting people.

 

If you can find work, there is little if any downside.

[Pete_H]

There's already a Max from Oregon who lives in town; you'll have to move elsewhere.

[Dannible]

Yeah, Pete is right. It would be better if you changed your name; it's getting hard to differentiate between all of the guys named Max. Leavenworth is great when it's not 100 degrees or Octoberfest, Christmas Lighting Festival, super smokey, or a summer weekend. It works well if you work in forestry (though those jobs are getting harder to find), healthcare, river guiding, the service industry, the ski industry, agriculture, or are rich. There are no other industries, unless you want to commute all the way to Wenatchee; a journey that I try to make only a few times per year. The rewards are a friendly community of outdoor minded people, nice mountains, good bouldering and sport climbing, ok trad, epic skiing, and all the Bavarian style mixed meat products that you could eat. I'm told places to rent are actually hard to come by much of the time (I've always been lucky enough to slide into empty rooms at friend's houses).

[denalidave]

There's already a Max from Oregon who lives in town; you'll have to move elsewhere.

Just change your name to Dave, Steve, Bob or Bill and everything will sort itself out...

[mhux]

Oops, I'll just save you guys the trouble since my girlfriend's named Maxine! (seriously though...)

Do you just head north (WA pass) during the summer weekends? Seems like the weekdays are the time to get out, true of most places I guess. Any housing tips? Craigslist seems pretty sparse..maybe best to just visit and ask around?

[Dannible]

A lot of people here end up working on weekends, which works out pretty well. The Stuart Range is a good place to escape the heat and the masses, or the North Cascades, but I'll admit that it can be hard to get motivated to make the 2 or 3 hour drive when we have mountains here. As far as housing, I don't know what to tell you. I guess you can come and camp out and ask around. Put up a note on the message board outside of Dan's Grocery: it's our local Craigslist. Maybe look in Peshastin or Dryden: a few miles from town, but quiet and cheaper apparently.