Need some advice about Washington.... (Seattle, Lakewood: house, buy, camping)

[jlbour]

Hi There -

My husband and I are contemplating a relocation to the Ft. Lewis area for his job. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Washington State other than it's supposedly beautiful and where to find it on the map.... So, I've got some general questions that I'm hoping some residents can help me out with. I've been reading a variety of posts on this board and elsewhere on the web to try to get a feel for things. We are in our mid 20's with no children at this point. We have been living in North Carolina for the past 4 years. I am originally from MA, and he is from MN.

- What is the weather like in Washington in the Ft. Lewis area? The stereotype ingrained in my brain is that it rains - A LOT. Any truth to that? I'd like an honest assessment if at all possible. What's it like in the middle of winter? Average snowfall, if any? Average temperatures? What about the summer time? Excessive fog? Wind?

- What are some of the more desirable areas to live in around Ft. Lewis - say within a 30 minute commute? If someone can point me in the right direction, I can do some additional research on those areas? We aren't looking for urban life, would prefer a rural or small town area within 20 minutes or so to necessities....

- Are most of the housing options cookie cutter sub divisions? Or can you buy a house with some land? Farms? Or is it all within a development?

- What would you say are one of the greatest perks to living in Washington? Drawbacks, if any?

- What are the major industries in the area? Manufacturing? IT? Medical?

- What is the landscape like? Flat? Mountainous? Rolling hills? Lowlands? Coastal?

We enjoy the outdoors, hiking, camping, rock climbing, etc. I appreciate any input you all can provide as it is often tough to do this from across the country!

[Hemlock140]

Yes, it rains a lot, 40 inches annually, but stretched out from September through June, mostly light misty drizzle. Snow happens 2-3 times in a normal year and melts away soon, this winter was worse than normal.
We do get to 15F a few times, but mostly above freezing all winter. No summer fog, summer is spectacular here, rarely above 85, and cools off at night. Expect sunny days from July 5th through August.

I'd suggest Lacy and Dupont as areas to check out for homes. You can find farm-like properties a little further out, they will be a lot older than the more recent developments.

You will have some fairly flat areas but mountains on both sides, lots of rivers and lakes, forests.

The major industry in that area is really the military. It's not a big area for big industry until you get closer to Seattle.

You can't beat this area for outdoor activities despite the rain.

[Sobefobik]

Yes, Washington is beautiful and yes it does rain.

Weather in Fort Lewis is just like everywhere else in Western Washington--wet, cloudy, moldy, and miserable in the winter, at least in my opinion. As far as rain is concerned, we probably don't get as much as the Carolinas. The problem that people have a really hard time getting used to is the constant gray cloud cover. No exaggeration, we sometimes are clouded over 9 months of the year with little breaks. For example, It has rained every day in March this year except for one day. However, we have absolutely beautiful summers with no fog, little wind, and very not much rain. The other poster is right in that it's nice starting around July and sometimes September is the best month (Of course this year was crap and the year before that). Don't expect it to be too cold, usually around the 40s I would say throughout winter. We get snow a couple times a year most of which isn't much.

To be honest, I hate the area around Fort Lewis including Fort Lewis, Spanaway, Puyallup, Lakewood, South Hill, etc. To me it's a crowded mess with ugly buildings. Obviously others will have differing opinions and of course there are some nice areas. I recommend Lacey, Roy, Yelm, and Orting if you're looking for some property. You're also very close to Mt. Rainier up there, and you might even get more snow.

The reason I don't like some of those areas I mentioned is because is cookie-cutter galore. No originality. If you look further out it's better as far as that goes.

The best things about Washington are the beautiful summers, lots of outdoor activities including hiking, camping, biking, skiing, water sports, swimming, etc., lower pollution compared to areas of similar size, and beauty. The drawbacks are horrible winters, traffic, and high cost of living.

I guess the biggest industry would be military. Like the other said, most industry will be further towards Seattle where you have Boeing, Microsoft, manufacturing, medical, etc.

Landscape? We have just about everything--trees, rolling hills, beautiful mountains, oceans, lakes, rivers, forests. It is not flat here at all.

As far as outdoor activities you cannot come to a better place. The hardest thing is adjusting to the winters which can be very constraining at times.

[Or3g0n]

During the middle of winter, it is usually in the upper 30s to low 40s toward to low 50s. Freezing is rare. Rain in Western Washington is different than East coast. East coast gets more precipitation, but here the catch, most of it is during quick downpours. For here, we get constant, light mist, light drizzles, that goes off and on. 95% of precipitation days are showers, which are scattered misting drizzles instead of rain. Snowfall, again, is rare, occurring from absolute zero to few days during each winter, nearly all of them melts within a day. But it is a different story in The Cascades (world most snowiest spot on Earth, recording a world record of 1,140 inches of snow in a season, with 500-700 inches of snow during the normal year) We DO get absolute clear sunny days during wintertime (usually is cold and dry) but not often. Don't ask me about summer time... Wow... best in the world. SUNNY, SUNNY, SUNNY, absolutely 100% blue skies from morning to night everyday (with the exception of only FEW cloudy days) for some of June, all of July, August too, and most of September, and some October. Western Washington is home to world's most humid spot on whole Earth, averaging 85% throughout the year. Wintertime, it is very mild, wet, and humid (again it is in 40s, not warm sticky humid). During summertime, it often has 75% to 90% humidity right before sunrise (nighttime lows usually between 50 and 60 degrees), dropping to 25% to 40% during daytime (daytime highs from low 70s to mid 80s therefore, we don't get sticky humid summers. Eastern Washington is high desert, very dry, receiving ranging from only 5 inches to 10 inches of precipitation annually, comparing to 200 inches of rain in Mt. Olympics which is located near the coast, while Seattle (receives 38 inches annually) is in between Mt. Olympics and The Cascades). The Cascades is 700 miles long range running North to South through the half of Washington, separating Western Washington and Eastern Washington and Western 1/3 of Oregon from Canada border to Southern Oregon. Therefore, rain shadow effect occurs, leaving Eastern Washington including Eastern Oregon bare arid.


We have rainforest in Mt. Olympics, valleys (area with lots of winery and fruit farms), high-desert, massive Cascades mountains, and dry Eastern Washington (lots of wheat fields, also suppling 90% of apples to U.S. from that area) We also have LOTS of rivers, LOTS of HUGE green forests, and of course, coastlines!

[mrslovettstailor]

Originally Posted by Or3g0n

During the middle of winter, it is usually in the upper 30s to low 40s toward to low 50s. Freezing is rare. Rain in Western Washington is different than East coast. East coast gets more precipitation, but here the catch, most of it is during quick downpours. For here, we get constant, light mist, light drizzles, that goes off and on. 95% of precipitation days are showers, which are scattered misting drizzles instead of rain. Snowfall, again, is rare, occurring from absolute zero to few days during each winter, nearly all of them melts within a day. But it is a different story in The Cascades (world most snowiest spot on Earth, recording a world record of 1,140 inches of snow in a season, with 500-700 inches of snow during the normal year) We DO get absolute clear sunny days during wintertime (usually is cold and dry) but not often. Don't ask me about summer time... Wow... best in the world. SUNNY, SUNNY, SUNNY, absolutely 100% blue skies from morning to night everyday (with the exception of only FEW cloudy days) for some of June, all of July, August too, and most of September, and some October. Western Washington is home to world's most humid spot on whole Earth, averaging 85% throughout the year. Wintertime, it is very mild, wet, and humid (again it is in 40s, not warm sticky humid). During summertime, it often has 75% to 90% humidity right before sunrise (nighttime lows usually between 50 and 60 degrees), dropping to 25% to 40% during daytime (daytime highs from low 70s to mid 80s therefore, we don't get sticky humid summers. Eastern Washington is high desert, very dry, receiving ranging from only 5 inches to 10 inches of precipitation annually, comparing to 200 inches of rain in Mt. Olympics which is located near the coast, while Seattle (receives 38 inches annually) is in between Mt. Olympics and The Cascades). The Cascades is 700 miles long range running North to South through the half of Washington, separating Western Washington and Eastern Washington and Western 1/3 of Oregon from Canada border to Southern Oregon. Therefore, rain shadow effect occurs, leaving Eastern Washington including Eastern Oregon bare arid.


We have rainforest in Mt. Olympics, valleys (area with lots of winery and fruit farms), high-desert, massive Cascades mountains, and dry Eastern Washington (lots of wheat fields, also suppling 90% of apples to U.S. from that area) We also have LOTS of rivers, LOTS of HUGE green forests, and of course, coastlines!

The humidity is completely different than in the midwest though. It is not the unbearable, lay in front of the airconditoner and wish you were dead, heavy humidity. Even on really warm days we found it unbelievably comfortable.

[Sobefobik]

Originally Posted by mrslovettstailor

The humidity is completely different than in the midwest though. It is not the unbearable, lay in front of the airconditoner and wish you were dead, heavy humidity. Even on really warm days we found it unbelievably comfortable.

Agreed. It's nothing here like what you have in the Carolinas. I remember one trip I took to New York, and it was 100% humidity and 100 degrees outside. It was awful! I just wanted to sit in an ice tub.

The summers are VERY comfortable and humidity is not bad.