My daughter wanted me to ask you guys a question about Washington state...
She has been offered a job in Aberdeen and would like to know what city would you choose to live in if it were you? She says it wouldn’t bother her if she had to commute an hour to and from...
Thanks everyone in advance....

Her and her husband are going next week to see if this is the job she would want and to check the lay of the land.

I don't have an answer not knowing WA but I would look inland. They get a lot of rain there. They average 76" a year where we get 43". My guess, and it is just a guess, is that inland would be drier. Lots of jobs in Oregon too :)

Having lived all over I would say that Aberdeen looks ideal. Right on the coast with tons of evergreens all around. The fact that they named their bridge the "Kurt Cobain Memorial Bridge" supports the idea that they are probably chock full of leftist folks who make fantastic coffee and grow mind-blowing weed.

Aberdeen/Hoquiam is on the wet side of Washington, 80+ inches of rain a year.

The area is some what economically depressed. Logging and lumber use to be the main economic driver but has fallen on hard times beginning in the 1980's.

In many ways it looks like some of those Appalachian towns after the mining shut down.

Drug and homelessness is about on par for a city of a similar size. The wet weather has made homeless a little less noticeable.

20 miles to the west is the Pacific Ocean, Ocean Shores on the north side of bay, is a vacation mecca especially in the summer.

On the south side of the bay is West Port, a major salmon fishing on the coast.

If you find the job to your liking, I suggest you look at living in Montesano, about 12 miles east of Aberdeen. It a little drier and sunnier, and the area seems to just nicer.

Politics is more conservative especially when compared to the Seattle area.

A concern is the area is preparing for the big earthquake.

Not to scare you off, spend an hour watching this video the lecture the geology professor from Central Washington University put on about the big earthquake that will happen someday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW4D6OE7Qkc

Good luck.

Thank you Susan, praydude,and tumwater; You provide good information. Thanks tumwater for the videos.
We’re going to talk with them this evening and give them the pros and cons before they go on their expedition there next week.

STOP STOP!!! - Don't do anything until you study the Cascadia subduction zone. It is a major fault off the north west coast of the U.S. and when (it's a when not an if) it goes off there will be major destruction in Washington state and Oregon as well. If I remember right it's long overdue. Go to YouTube and search on Cascadia. There are lots of videos giving details about it and all the destruction that has happened in the past.

Here's Prof. Zentner's lecture on the subduction zone.

The information that struck me is that Oceans Shores will move 50 feet west in 5 minutes and sink 30 feet.

The elevation of Ocean Shores is about 13', so it'll be 17' underwater.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ7Qc3bsxjI

The Washington coast is pretty rough. It is very different than the Seattle metro area. Tumwater's response is very accurate. Olympia is about an hour away & is pretty decent. It's beautiful during the summer. Lots of windstorms during the winter on top of the rain. I wouldn't recommend living there as it has a bad vibe.

Decent coastal range
Yes, a commute, to Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Puget Sound, interstate highways... Oregon coast, etc.

The Olympic Mountains, Olympic N.P., Hwy 101, the NOP (North Olympic Peninsula), Canada (ferry to Vancouver Island, British Columbia), rainforests, ocean/ coast, and more woods and rivers and boonie county than you can shake a stick at. And there are lots of those too.

It rains...
Olympic mountains close; Cascade mountains a few hours, or less, away. Anyway:)

I lived most of my life in the San Francisco bay area, and I loved my home--in spite of all the earthquakes--and there were a lot of them!

I was hiking up Mt. Vesuvius, after seeing the ruins of Pompei, and I asked our guide if he worried about living so close to a deadly volcano. He laughed and asked me if I worried about the constant earthquakes where I lived.

Anyway, as a native of Northern California, I would not let possible earthquakes influence my decision where to live.

I did not really enjoy my time living in Washington State, but University Place was a nice little town. Beautiful the two or three times a year the sun shined.
Too gloomy overall for this desert rat. I made it a year then moved back to AZ.

valkyriequeen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My daughter wanted me to ask you guys a question
> about Washington state...
> She has been offered a job in Aberdeen and would
> like to know what city would you choose to live in
> if it were you? She says it wouldn’t bother her
> if she had to commute an hour to and from...
> Thanks everyone in advance....



Well what's the verdict, has she made a visit to Aberdeen and if so, what was her impression?

Did she visit during the RAIN, or during the fun in the sun last week?

Hope they had a blast
It doesn't always last
Especially on the fast

I have been wondering too :)

Tumwater, moremany, and Susan: I’m sorry I haven’t replied back sooner but we just now got back from a great trip to Washington!
Our daughter and son in law flew there for our daughter’s job offer on Wednesday last week. She loves the job and the offer and they love Washington!
She has been shadowing the person that she will replace; that person is retiring, and management just loves our daughter; they want her to start in May. Work will be in Aberdeen.
They love Montesano (thanks Tumwater for recommending Montesano)
My husband and I arrived there on Monday and while we were there they already found their home that they want and made an offer already and it was accepted. At the same time, they got their home on the market and it has been listed for one day and already has several offers on it. It looks like we’re going to be making many visits to Washington! They want us to move in with them...

I usually charge a 10% finders fee for my services....same as tithing w/ LDS.

You can just make a donation to the RFM fund raiser, it would be more acceptable to everyone here.

Glad I could have helped.

Great to hear! Sounds like everything is falling into place. The summers and falls are truly glorious. :)

I can picture how beautiful summers and falls are there; it was so pretty there and that was March.
They were able to sell their home here and are moving next month.
Eventually we’re hoping to follow; they want us to stay with them.
Would like to see Sequim and Spokane also.