ITT; You tell me about the PNW

[dball4]

I would avoid Yakima. Previous comments mostly sum it up.

[PNWDan]

I would avoid Yakima. Previous comments mostly sum it up.

Yes stay west. Crackima and Spokompton are to be avoided

[10Toes]

Portland is the e30 capitol of the world.

On my block in SE not only were there 4 bmws, but 2 of them were red e30s.

seattle is maybe the bmw capitol of the us, newer yuppie ones. The OG bmw owners that now have lexus hybrids.. The e30s mostly travel to portland when the kids go to school, and then they sell them for weed.


Seattle and portland are only about 150 miles apart.

Its hard to compare them to cities in the east. Portland is kind of.... a bit of a ghetto boston. Younger college town.

Seattle I cant really give an east coast analogy that doesnt also include boston. Its a little like a larger boston. It has loust traffic but is very wealthy and safe.

Actually Tacoma is the E30 capital of the world, thats why we have the E30 picnic here.

[e34croak]

I'm from the east coast (Long Island). The PNW has shaved 10 points off my blood pressure and added several years to my life. It's very laid back and relaxing compared to the east coast.


And I think Stamar is the one who is smoking weed..

[HippyEarly]

Salt lake, Chicago , Boston , Columbus, LA, Portland. Lived in or damn near all of them. Wouldn't leave the PNW to live anywhere. Unless a really good job came up in Chicago. Bloody cold but chi would be my only second. Come on out for the weed, stay for the beer. And uh, damn, umm, o you'll forget to leave

[Mlarsen]

Actually Tacoma is the E30 capital of the world, thats why we have the E30 picnic here.

Word.

[kennyvb]

Watch Portlandia on IFC; that show pretty much sums it up.

Coming from SoCal, I can tell you people up here drive butt-ass slow (the speed limit) just as mentioned before, and anything more than 15 miles is considered far. People are also less inclined to open up when meeting others but relationships seem to run deeper whereas down in LA, it can be a bit more superficial (quality vs. quantity?). Under no circumstances, should you make eye contact with someone while walking down the street in PNW.

There's a heavy mist (rain) all the time (west of the Cascades), and you should not use an umbrella unless you want to announce to everybody you're from out-of-town. You can carry one when it's coming down like cats and dogs to show you're ultra-prepared but still do not use it, just wear a jacket. If it's not raining, there's this round, yellow thing that appears 50 days out of the year and turns the sky a lighter shade of grey, but the trade-off is that temperature drops 10-15 F.

No WA state income tax and low cost of living is a plus.

Anyway, we can all tell you our opinions but if it comes to it, my recommendation is to spend a couple weeks where you think you'd be living and see if it suits you.

[Gooch]

I appreciate the responses but I feel some of you are missing my main question.

Why would you never leave? What draws you to the area and keeps you coming back?

Talk to me about the culture and lifestyle.

[Grand525]

Well, to each their own.
You should spend about a week in WA state, go drive around during normal weekdays in Yakima and Seattle areas, compare between the two, and don't spend the entire week by going to the touristy areas.
Experience the actual day-to-day life i.e traffic, weather, sub culture etc.
Search the zip codes of the areas you are interested in, for their crime rates, demographics, etc.
Then you can decide afterwards.

[Mauiwowi]

hella weed

[stamar]

if weed is up on your list humboldt has way more.

weed gets pretty boring eventually.

[kjlang]

As previously stated W. WA is completely different than E. WA in almost every way- the weather, the terrain, the people. Most would agree that OR is the same way.

The metro areas in both states would be considered extremely 'Leftist' by many outsiders, while the rural areas of both states are dominated by old fashioned 'conservative' white folks i.e. farmers, millworkers, and unemployed tweakers that drive Power Strokes, jacked up rattle-can camo Toyotas, and Pontiac Grand Ams.

hmm. I'm rural, why don't drive a rattle-can camo Toyota or farm and meth never really caught my fancy,s strange. ;)

[kjlang]

in short i would never leave because of the summers, things to do, endless places to explore, and it's easy to get a change of scenery.

[stamar]

I would hate to be stuck anywhere forever. So I would like to be able to leave......


However why I like portland or seattle more than any other part of the us is

#1 nature. Forest and urban right next to eachother.

Both of these cities are right next to a giant mountain.

Cost of living and economy. Its taken a hit in the pnw but I promise california is way worse off.

Gas is 50c cheaper, and everytihng else is cheaper than california.

people are fitter and healthier.

Portland is one of the safest cities of its size in the country.
Portlands traffic is not bad.
Seattles is though.
Basically it has most things a big city can have between vancouver bc, seattle and portland although its no new york...
but it also has great forest, ocean.

And I love the temperature. Not the lack of sunlight that definitely gets old. I hate the hot summer. I hate below 0 weather that is possibly deadly also. lol or sometihng like denver or minneapolis would make the chart.

Oregons economy is not that great but washingtons is, because its a varied economy. So while I cant say its easy to find work anywhere not knowing what you do, I can say in washington everything from fishing to IT is very strong and its easier to find work there than any western state.


Now I must say as cool as the pnw is, parts of canada blow it away. Its just a us centric view that makes seattle seem so nice.

Canadas pnw city is the most awesome. minimum wage is 13$ an hour its awesome and cool. Would marry a canadian in 10 minutes.

[Ryann]

Talk to me about the culture and lifestyle.

You're talking about moving to Yakima.

hmm. I'm rural, why don't drive a rattle-can camo Toyota or farm and meth never really caught my fancy, strange. ;)

You live in Vancouver, which is not rural.