Aquatic facilities in Vancouver/Portland (Mill Plain, Medina: 2013, apartment complexes, rental homes)

[AffeGeschaft]

My wife and I (currently living in Juneau, AK) are planning to move to the Vancouver/Portland metro area in the fall of 2024. We’re planning to rent an apartment for at least 6 months while we consider buying a house. We’re both recently retired so commute times are not a consideration. We want to be in the PNW and near a good-sized airport, health care and other amenities.

Most of my exercise involves lap swimming so I’m curious if there are any decent aquatic facilities in the area. I’ve Googled it and there don’t seem to be a lot of facilities. We’re pretty fortunate here in Juneau to have two decent city-run indoor pools even though the population is only around 30K. A single annual pool-pass gets you access to both pools. I’m probably spoiled in that regard.

Does anybody have any suggestions and/or insight regarding the local lap-swimming scene? Outdoor pools are fine too although I suspect most of those are seasonal.

[cdelena]

Consider joining an LA Fitness with a lap pool.

[texasdiver]

Hey, I'm a former Juneau resident myself. We lived in North Douglas (Bonnie Brae) and made good use of the pool downtown.

There is a shortage of good aquatic centers in the Portland metro area and a lot of them are pretty booked up by various team practices for local schools and clubs. If you just want to swim laps at your own convenience then cdelena is probably right. Find a good fitness club that has a lap pool. Just to cite one example, there is a 24 Hr. Fitness facility nearby in the Fishers Landing/Tech Center part of East Vancouver that has a lap pool that will probably give you much more round-the-clock access than a YMCA or dedicated aquatic center: https://www.24hourfitness.com/gyms/v...h-center-sport

I don't really swim much anymore (I'm more into cycling) and my kids are no longer into competitive swimming so I'm not super in tune with the local swimming scene and don't spend my weekends traveling to swim meets like I used to. But there are lots of local adult swim clubs around here (and in the rest of the Portland metro area) so you can probably get more expert advice from them. But I expect you will have options in any of the more upscale suburban parts of the Portland metro (Vancouver, Beaverton, Clackamas, etc.)

In your shoes I'd look very hard at the Fishers Landing area of East Vancouver. Safe area, lots of nearby shopping and dining, the airport is very close, much less traffic than in the rest of the Portland metro, and there are lots of retirement housing options such as patio homes. Plus you have tax advantages of living in Vancouver vs. Portland. Plus farmers markets, outdoor concerts all summer, etc, lots of parks and walking trails. There are lots of new apartment complexes going up in that area along 192nd and Mill Plain so lots of rental options for your 6 months to a year of getting situated. Over the long term there are also lots of interesting new developments planned for that area. Here is just one of various examples: https://thevicwa.com/index.html

[StealthRabbit]

If you want access to nice / large (50m) / available public lap pools.... you need to go to metro Portland (Tualatin Parks and Rec) https://www.thprd.org/activities/aquatics

Clark County has a few private options, but they are very heavily used, and some HC's are quite unsanitary as a result.

40 yrs ago, When we lost our vintage WWI pool ('Memory Pool', behind library on Officers Row) to a mysterious fire (right after asbestos was discovered to be problematic) ...many of us fought hard for pools and community centers, but the ones that did get built are not designed for lap swimmers (better for kids / splash pools), sometimes (3) lap lanes (25m) with limited hours and VERY possessive LT swimmers. (don't attempt to disturb them / share a lane)

Limited hours at Mt Hood college pool, and Hood River schools.
Plus Clackamas Pools (SE Portland)

Many Oregon Willamette valley communities have full sized (50m) public pools.

Lap pools are just not a priority for SWWA.

As a daily swimmer, with desires for PDX access and Available medical (I prefer Adventist Medical / now OHSU affiliate)..Unfortunately Kaiser ONLY offers Advantage Plans)
And being aware of homeless issues...
Consider Portland areas near https://www.playglendoveer.com/
Or near https://www.mhcc.edu/aquatics/

If you can drive daily to swimming... Corbett, OR would be a decent area (for rural desires).

Or, for further out... Hood River (dated facility, but not crowded)
https://hoodriverparksandrec.org/new...ted-pool-hours

BTW: I lap swim a mile daily. SWWA has been a challenge and a 35 yr gap to my swimming habit. I'm back at it through 'Silver Sneakers', tho at significant hassle. (except for the majority of days / yr I spend outside of SWWA). I was only at my SWWA domicile (9) days last yr. (much thx to PDX and $30 fares + companion pass)

[AffeGeschaft]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Hey, I'm a former Juneau resident myself. We lived in North Douglas (Bonnie Brae) and made good use of the pool downtown.

When we first moved here we rented a place on North Douglas pretty close to Bonnie Brae. After a year we bought a house out in the valley on the Mendenhall River near Back Loop road. When I was a state employee working downtown I would walk to/from the pool at lunchtime. Now that I'm retired it's just a short drive to the Dimond Park Aquatic Center.

What's your Texas connection? I grew up in San Antonio and then settled in Fort Worth after college. We moved to Juneau from Fort Worth in 2013. The three things I miss most about Texas are TexMex food, thunderstorms and a relatively low cost of living (excluding property taxes). Otherwise I don't miss it at all.

[AffeGeschaft]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

If you want access to nice / large (50m) / available public lap pools.... you need to go to metro Portland (Tualatin Parks and Rec) https://www.thprd.org/activities/aquatics

Clark County has a few private options, but they are very heavily used, and some HC's are quite unsanitary as a result...

Thanks for the info StealthRabbit!

Although judging by the responses so far, it looks like my swimming options will be limited. Not a deal killer for living there but it appears finding a good swimming solution might be a challenge. There's always positives and negatives to any locale.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by AffeGeschaft

... it looks like my swimming options will be limited. ... appears finding a good swimming solution might be a challenge. There's always positives and negatives to any locale.

Swimming is not impossible. Today there were only 3 of us swimming for 1 hr + each in our own lane. (I went during an ice storm )

Costco was even empty! No waiting.

Swimming is just better in Oregon communities (or in Puget Sound, or some other WA college towns).
SWWA could definately benefit from a well designed community center with large lap pool, indoor jogging track and senior center / library combined. These are very common in many great locations elswhere in the world. NZ and Australia have some wonderful community centers... it's part of the health focus. One Center we visited in a NZ town of 25,000 had over 20 swim lanes, and they served over 40,000 clients / month


I am usually near San Antonio for my USA winter destination. (We have (6) rural rental homes near Medina / Kerrville / Fredericksburg. And I swim every day there (2-3x / day if visiting in the summer) Often at Mo Ranch. We keep an extra cabin at our rental homes + a large shop for plenty of hobbies and toys (ADV motorcycles). We also have places in Colorado (sun escapes), since the texans overtook CO in the 1970's and we escaped, but kept a few props. (near Estes Park, where I grew up on a ranch). I swim daily in CO too (the lap pools at each HS are ~$1 for lap swimming). I also swim daily in other sun locations we visit. San Diego, Palm Springs, Sacramento, Tucson, Phx, Prescott, Las Cruces, Las Vegas. All are quite close and cheap to fly to. (and often sunny). Most places (including home) are better to visit, than to live.

I'll be getting my SD domicile if they ever offer an Enhanced CDL. My WA CDL costs ~ $300 to renew, and since I need Port clearance and HazMat, I need to renew often. SD is much less expensive and an income tax free domicile that only requires ONE overnight / lifetime to qulaify.