Looking For Advice on Ideal West Coast Location (Santa Cruz, Eureka: rental, living in)

[bakerjh]

Hey Everyone,

I've recently been promoted to a position where I can work remotely from anywhere in the U.S. and I have been thinking a lot about moving to the West Coast. I have been looking a lot at No. Cal. and the Pacific Northwest, but I would like to see if anyone has some good advice on smaller less popular towns.

Here are some things that I would like to be able to do wherever I move to:

-Be close to good surfing (Beg.-Int. Waves)
-Be close to some decent rock climbing
-Be in/near a somewhat liberally minded town
-Be in/near a town that has a good music scene

So far I have been looking at Humboldt County, parts of the Oregon coastline (Manzinita,Yachats, Coos Bay), and even places on the Olympic Peninsula.

Any suggestions? I would prefer to live in a somewhat smaller town...I am currently living in Somerville, MA (which is super populated), but I would like to get back to living in a smaller town (I lived in the Boone/Asheville area of NC for 6 years).



Many thanks!

[nightlysparrow]

Is weather a factor? Humboldt rarely gets above 70, and has a maritime climate (foggy, overcast a lot). The ocean is very cold there.

The Oregon coastline is more of the same, really.

Also, you did not specify budget for rent, type of dwelling sought, etc. Hope you have a car.

[bakerjh]

I'm not too concerned about weather. Western North Carolina gets an insane amount of rain, and after living in Boston this past winter, I think I can handle almost anything. I would prefer somewhere sunnier, but I just want to see what all of the options are.

I would prefer renting a small house/apt. for around $500-$1000/month.

I have an AWD SUV so living in the woods is not an issue.

[eccotecc]

Santa Cruz sounds like what you're looking for, but $1,000/mo will get you a room in a nice house.

[nightlysparrow]

I don't think you can get anything near the ocean south of Humboldt County for that low of a rental budget.

[Snort]

Taos, NM fits the criteria, except for the surfing bit.
It's a bit hard to find a good music scene in a smaller town, but here's other places to consider: Florence, OR; Newport, OR; Mendocino, CA; Eureka, CA (or Arcata, CA, for that matter); somewhere along the Columbia River gorge outside of Portland, OR...