jazzyrider

Yes I am. Most years I can cope with whatever mother nature throws at us, but some years like this year really gets to me. I really need my vitamin D replenishment soon. Today is a very good example on the roller coaster weather, dry one moment followed by hard heavy rain.

Agree we're hoping this winter will mean a good and mild summer unlike last year's scorcher. Where about you from @Velocivixen?

Velocivixen

Hi @jazzyrider - from Eugene, OR and have lived in the Willamette Valley my entire life. I'm in the Portland Metro area now.

Long dark days suck, but the winter rain is what keeps us green in the summer.

joeyduck

Then after yesterday's rain this is the point every drop is worth it. We are house sitting on an island in the Georgia Straight and this is my view from my bowl of oatmeal and spill proof travel mug.

toddles

There is no better place than PNW with clear weather, but we pay for that with some dark, dank winter months

2702

I'm giving thoughts of moving to the Tri Cities or Yakima. Seems very affordable and SUN!!

Senior Ryder 00 

Hi folks,

We’ve lived on the Central Oregon Coast for the past 4 years. And, yes, there has been more rain this year than during the passed couple years. Abnormal or not, who knows?

We’re quasi snow birds. We leave in early November for about a three month trip to California to visit family/friends and get out of the rain. We spend some time in the San Jose area and then move to Southern California. We follow a similar route home. Sometimes we get rained on other times it’s dry the entire trip. This year we returned the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] week in January and the trip was miserable. We lost a day waiting far a storm to pass and the roads to clear between Northern California and Southern Oregon. After we crossed into Oregon, it rained constantly. The road from I-5 to the coast was a nightmare. Areas of high winds and/or heavy rain. Road blocked with debris, rocks and fallen trees. A whole lot of fun in a 40ft motorhome.

In the month that we’ve been home, we’ve only had a handful of dry days. BUT, the last three winters have been mild and the summers are great. I’ll take this any day over 100+ degree days or the congestion and pollution of California.


Cheers.

B. Carfree

While I love, love, love living in the Willamette Valley snugged up against the coast range (my favorite place to ride), the main thing I miss about NorCal is the superior air quality, especially in the winter. I've never been in an area with as much soot in the air as I encounter in Oregon. You'd think no one can afford to equip their houses with modern heating devices or something. Now that we are dealing with the effects of climate change, coupled with inadequate fire budgets, we often have even worse air in the summer. Thank goodness the legislature forced the end of grass burning by the grass seed farmers, otherwise I might just give up and move.

Funny enough, I also miss 110F daytime high temperatures. After nearly two decades, I'm finally acclimated to the lack of hot days here, but I always get a thrill when I head into the Sonoma Valley on my way back to the Sacramento area on my annual ride south. The cooler temperatures are a small price to pay for the beauty and wonderful areas we get to ride.

suncruiser

I suppose that's matter of opinion haha. Just moved from Phoenix, (Avondale/goodyear, actually, but west phx nonetheless) The dry heat is a nice trade off from the humidity. I hope to move back one of these days

jonpear6

Yeah, my wife is from Blythe, CA. And she wants to end up back in the SW eventually. It isn't awful, just not my cup of anything.

enigmaT120

I don't know about the Tri-cities, but don't be fooled by Yakima's claim of 300 days of sunshine a year. That town is in a bowl of fog for much of the winter. Just out of town, up in the hills a little bit, yeah it's beautiful. I don't think the Cities have the ridge of hills around them to contain the fog so they may not be as bad. But they don't have pretty hills around them, either.

toddles

In a nutshell, if you like living miles away from a major metropolitan area and like the way a flat desert looks and feels, then Tri-Cities is for you. About the only thing to do there is head down to the river with the runoff of Hanford for your enjoyment. If you want to be closer in (a full hour closer) to the big city, then Yakima is your best bet. But it's pretty ugly too -- unless you get into West Yakima . Then it's kinda nice IMHO.

Ty0604

I can't speak for Yakima but my best friend lives in Richland and just bought a house there. It's pretty cheap. Just over 100K for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house built in 1948. At least that's cheap for where I live. Love the area too. It's growing fast.

Ty0604

+1 on the Hanford comment.

Although Badger Mountain is pretty cool if you're a trail runner. Not a ton to do there for most people but I grew up in a town of 2,800 people so I find it rather large.

woodway

Well, the population of the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick and Pasco) is ~193,000 (2010 census) so it's hardly a little podunk outpost.

I lived in the Tri-Cities a number of years ago and I actually found it to be a pretty decent place to live. Hotter in the summer and colder in the winter than here in western Washington for sure but also very dry compared to here. From a recreational standpoint there is plenty to do from cycling (road and mountain) to fishing, hiking, hunting and all kinds of water sports. You've got the Columbia, Snake and Yakima Rivers all close by. Easy day trips to the Blue Mountains and Bend is sure a lot closer to the Tri-Cities than it is from here. The entertainment and cultural scene is certainly not what Seattle has to offer but it's not a wasteland either. If you are looking for a place with cheaper cost of living and a little slower pace you could do a lot worse.

[On Edit]: Ditto on the 300 days of sun comment. It's more sunny than western washington but inversions are common in the winter and it's cold and gray (can feel worse than here). Also in the springtime the wind blows a LOT which can make you a little crazy sometimes.

toddles

I have considered Tri-Cities to live myself. I know the area pretty well. There's some decent places to ride your bike around there. Ironically, I drove to my wife to the Blue Mountains and Bend last year via Tri-Cities. Speaking of Bend, now that's a great place... if you can afford it.

Seattle Forrest

I think somewhere outside Heavenworth would be the place to live in WA, or the Okanogan Highlands.

toddles

Leavenworth is definitely nice but https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ca...dc378734b9ffa4 is a hard sell.

enigmaT120

Leavenworth, Wenatchee, Ellensburg. I've only ever visited them but liked them all. It's a similar ecological region to the Bend/Redmond area, but for some reason I never saw Juniper trees in WA.

Seattle Forrest

I was thinking somewhere up the Chumstick Highway, near Plain or Lake Wenatchee. But it's getting pretty built up out there. Or in the Icicle, but sheds start at a million dollars there.

Great spring ride: park at the Leavenworth park and ride, go E on Route 2, and go left immediately on the Chumstick Highway. Eventually the road dead ends and you go left on Route 207, then left again on 2, and descend for 15 miles into Leavenworth. Comes to about 40 miles, with lots of great scenery.

Did a beautiful loop from L'worth to Wenatchee and back, mostly avoiding Route 2, a couple years ago. Lots of really pretty side roads.

That whole area is probably best in spring, or late fall.

toddles

^^^ Yar. Icycle Creek Road would be the place to be.

2702

A lot of rain lovers on here. It looks like another 7 days of rain ahead! I wonder if the sky will ever stop peeing on us.

rawly old

The desert can be so beautiful in a wet spring, But like a friend once told me.
"You can be an indian if you don't like rain." We're in a pattern now where it
rains mostly a night. The roads are wet most of the time, but I've grown so
accustomed to it, I hardly notice. I don my rain hoodie & ride almost every day.
It's a joy to breathe clean moist air instead of fumes.

toddles

I don't know if we are lovers. We're just conditioned not to let it stop us and we realize that it's the rain that keeps the PNW beautiful.

Gyrine

Seattle Forrest

[h=3]Seattle and Western Washington have the Longest Spring Season in the Nation![/h]

I like to tell folks that typically spring begins in western Washington the third week in February (let's say Feb. 25th) and ends in mid-July (local meteorologists like to use July 13th). Look outside now: flowers are blooming everywhere, weeds are growing, and the grass is getting longer. After Feb 25th, the chances of major flooding, low-level snow, and strong windstorms plummet. And we all know that June is often cloudy and cool and we don't make the real transition to reliable summer weather until mid-July. A spring of 4.5 months.

I've been seeing plenty of cherry blossoms on my rides lately.