Travel

[ruthbe]

March of next year myself, husband and 2 daughters will be moving to the area of Seattle..Tacoma...or Olympia.  We will be renting a home.  Both myself and husband work from home, so we don't have to be near work.  Daughters are 20,22.  We are in our mid 50's.  My big want.....Trees.  We live in the desert of Arizona. 

Any suggestions!!  Thanks a lot

[Desertdi]

Congratulations!   

[Azcowgirl]

It's where I grew up and the song " the bluest skies you'll ever see are in Seattle " is true ...... Lots of rain, but that's why it's so green....Beautiful part of the country ......you will have trees and green every where you turn. Enjoy (:

[arizona babe]

Yes I have a suggestion don't go as you will be very sorry- I came there from California and lived there (Puyallup) for over 30 years and never did I find the people to be friendly or wanting to be social, they are very cliquish- you will hate the rain and gloomy days day after day- I live in Phoenix now and I love it, yes it is hot but for only 4 months or so and then it is beautiful- I actually found the Seattle area to be more expensive then here in AZ- it snows in the winter too- it may be a nice place to vacation but it stinks to live there 

[arizona babe]

Oh one more thing that I left out, if you have arthritis or any of the other auto immune diseases like fibromylagia you will hurt all the time due to the dampness and high humidity, that is why I made the move to AZ- as for living Tacoma does not have many nice areas and neither does Olympia, please check your areas out before renting anything- good luck

[sissel]

Arizona babe is right. I lived in Bothell,Wa. for 3yrs and could not wait to get out. I was in my mid twenties but the people are clicks (at least in my neighborhood) the dampness & cloudy days are something. I was depressed with the weather. Oh you will see trees & trees yep make sure they are not near your house when the wind blows. Have seen so many trees fall on my neighbor's houses. First thing we did was clear out our backyard. Make sure you get a woodstove because when the power goes out you can heat that room & use it to heat up can of soup or something. Maybe this is for you and your family will like it but it wasn't for me. 

[susanks1]

Check out the Seattle section of city-data.com.  You can get a lot of information on there.

I know someone who has lived in that area for about 20 years and I have spent a lot of time there.:

Covington - very nice

Newcastle - very nice

Renton - not a nice area

Redmond - nice

Seattle rent is very expensive.  I wouldn't live anywhere in Tacoma.  Olympia is nice and has less traffic.

[alice87]

Unless your family has a lot of money to waste on rent, Seattle area is not good place too move. A lot of IT businesses (higher paychecks), and a lot of social programs make housing not affrodable for other working people. Housing prices are ridiculously high here, the same as rent. 

There are nice areas in Tacoma and Renton. The traffic is generally bad. 405 is busy all the time, day and night, I-5 might have periods of not being so busy, but Seattle has one of the worst traffic in the country. 

Not to discourage you, trees are good.

People who have allergy, or never had allergies will get them in Seattle, the rates for allergy here is much higher.

[GusMo]

I visit that area several times a year. The rents are very high in Seattle. But I love Sumner, Puyallap, Auburn, Bonney Lake, Gig Harbor and many of the smaller towns south of Seattle. 

I find the people very friendly. There are great farmer's markets, shopping, beautiful waterfronts, mountains. All with big city activities like sports, plays, etc in a few miles. 

There are parts of Tacoma that are bad, but much of it is beautiful. 

The rain can be tiresome, but I live in the Arizona desert, and the heat is tiresome too. 

I hope you are happy!

[Day1128]

I lived in Lacey (near Olympia) for a year before moving back to Alaska. I would definitely choose the Olympia area over the other two. Smaller size, lots of choices and options on what to do, and a very nice community.