Well, I'm waiting on a few final things to close out, but I'm starting to get details together on my move down to annoy you guys.  I'm not really set on a town quite yet, so I would like your thoughts.  Cooler weather and nowhere near King county is preferred.

If it comes down to it, I'll head over to Pend Oreille and annoy my family in Newport, but it get's pretty damn toasty in the summer there.  Mostly I need to be within a few hours drive of Seattle for my doctors visits, even more so since I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder earlier this week as well.  So I'll be going to Swedish to deal with neuro for my brain tumor and for the immunologists.

So where is a quiet and inexpensive part of Washington?  I'll be on a fairly minimal income (disability + whatever little bit I can scrape in part time if I can work) so cheap is good.  I'll admit I'm not looking forward to the change in gun laws or the steep learning curve of living in the states though.  Being near the doc is more important than my comfort at the moment though.

Well, my thoughts for staying close to Seattle yet away from King County and cheap would be to look at the Yelm area maybe Roy. You weren't too specific about what kind of area you like so I may be way off, but I think they are good places.

I'll have to look those up.  By close, I'm meaning a couple hour drive or a quick flight.  Hell, I drive 10 hours to go fishing, so a 3-4 hour trip to town isn't horrible.  In a perfect world, coastal and not to hot with lots of trees.  I have sort of looked into Port Angeles but need a lot more research.

Yacolt?

What are your requirements other than income/cost of living?

Fairly quiet, not a big city, cooler weather, decent access to a place to shoot.  About it really.  I'd like to stay under 100-200k people in town if possible.

I was looking at Aberdeen, Port Angeles, that kind of stuff.  Coastal with a lot of rain would be nice, I just cant take weather over 90f very well.  Has to be within a couple hours of Seattle for monthly/bi monthly doc visits.

Agree somewhat.

 

Anywhere from SE Pierce County (south of 224th out in Graham/Spanaway and E Gate Road towards Roy) out to the rural areas of North Thurston and Lewis Counties are good to go. Rent/Mortgages are cheap. Plenty of recreational activities and places to shoot. Far enough away from the assholes and ghetto goblins around the I-5 corridor but close enough to be in Seattle in less than 2 hours.


Yelm at one point was nice. It's heading downhill as it grows larger and larger. Population must be near 9k-10k at this point and the housing market in that area has gotten retarded even rentals.


A better understanding of what type of part time work you'd be looking to do would definitely help us throw out some more suggestions. I'm partial to towns that are under 4k and not growing anytime soon. Large enough to have a gas station or two and a local market but small enough that a McDonald's is at least 20-30 minutes away.

Aberdeen sounds like perfect area.  Cheap houses there too.

Coastal with a lot of rain would be nice,

Forks should do it.

P.A. is not bad.

Newport is nice, Sandpoint or Garfield bay is also awesome...major highways connecting to CD/Post Falls and Spocompton.

I'd love to live in CDA/Sandpoint/Post Falls but I have to stay in Washington or Alaska for my medical coverage to work. Otherwise I'd be heading that way in a heartbeat.

I was surprised how cheap. Nearly 1/2 of rent up here.

NP sorry to hear about brain tumor.   Hope that is all under control for you!    

What kind of auto immune problems do they say you have?     I have to go to Seattle about 5 times a year to be monitored for Ankylosing Spondylitis (auto immune).    

I will say that Westport and Aberdeen might be a good choice for you.  Or maybe even down south by Morton or Eatonville.  Those two can still get hot in the summer though.  

Good luck to you.

Thanks, I'll need it. Unfortunately that's nowhere near the complete list of what's wrong. . Btw, it's Hyper-IGM syndrome type 1, which is supposedly really rare.  I'm going to consult with an immunologist up here (I actually found one amazingly enough) but it's probably not his domain. He doubles as the head of diagnostic medicine at one of the clinics. Good guy, just medstaff up here is lacking.

I'm strongly looking at Absrdeen. I've never done a move like this, so I know there will always be something I'm missing or screwing up.  It'll be interesting lol

Good luck to you too.

Yelm is highly recommended.





 

I'll do some checking into Yelm.  I'll just be renting though, sure as hell can't afford a house on my $0 budget.  If I were putting money into a house, I'd renovate one of the family properties in the state.  Hell, after a year or two I might do that.

I'll give a shout out for Skagit county, as thats where I'll be moving July 11. To say I'm excited is an understatement. Its about an hour or so north of Seattle. Housing market is super tight though I did manage to land a place. In a weird twist of fate....My wife has a very rare autoinflammatory disease.

Not sure if autoimmune and autoinflammatory fall into the same category, if so I'd be interested in knowing where you are intending to go for treatment? My biggest concern with the move is the transition of care.

I don't even think I've looked at that county yet, I'll take a look Monday.  (I'm off doing photo stuff most of tomorrow)  Personally, I go to the Swedish hospital at Cherry Hill in downtown Seattle.  Mostly because their neuro guys are some of the best on the west coast and they've done wonders treating my brain tumor.  And I'm not 100% sure if they are related, but I know there is a fair bit of overlap between them.  I think it just comes down to the cause that counts them as different.  I'd imagine an immunologist would be treating your wife regardless.  I'm looking for one at Swedish this upcoming week.

 
Ah good info. To give you the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say, I had a bit of an incident a few years back and ended up with lesions on my brain. The doc said..."Symptoms suggestive of MS". My opinion is the Doc can shove that up his ass, I dont want MS.


Either way, knowing where good neuro facilities are isnt a bad idea for me.

Ouch, sorry to hear that. I'd look at getting in with Eric Gierke at Swedish's neuroscience institute. He's one of the guys working on my and is their head of neurology. Good doc and very personable.

Well, iwe both have our challenges in life thats for sure! As the saying goes, you play the hand your dealt. Some people get a straight, some of us get a hand of trash.


I figure it doesnt much matter as long as you keep playing.


 

As far as Skagit County (Which hopefully has a lower cost of living than something closer to Seattle) Burlington and Mt Vernon are right on I-5. I'll be in Sedro which is just 10 minutes or so down the road from Burlington. Nice enough communities it seems, although I've heard Mt Vernon has a slight issue with gangs but I've not seen anything that would make me out and out avoid the place.

Look around port orchard or Bremerton in Kitsap county.  Average high in July is 76, there are a few places to go shooting and housing isn't crazy yet.  If you look outside of the city limits it gets cheaper.  You are an hour ferry ride from seattle or 90 ish minute drive depending on traffic.  We moved here about a year ago and have liked it.  Port orchard has about 14,000 people in the city limits so not big city but we have 4 or 5 grocery stores and just about anything else you may need.  if we don't have it you can find it within a 30 minute drive to either Tacoma.