I'm hoping some Washingtonians can help me out. I have been offered a position with a firm in Port Angeles and need some general feedback about the area. I've wikied the demographics, weather, economy but it would be great if some natives could fill in the gaps. I've been to Seattle a few times and love it but still don't know if I can handle the gray, though it appears Port Angeles gets significantly less rainfall than Seattle. I've lived in the midwest, Miami, and now New England and have been able to assimilate and enjoy each stop. I love nature - hiking, boating, fishing - but also enjoy a little culture every now and then.

Anyway, whatever insight you can share would be greatly appreciated!!

if you love clams and mussels , you'll love living there.. use to go claming there quite a bit.... other than that don't know much about the actual city/community...

I've never lived there, but I've driven through it and even looked around with my family when going through there on the way to the Hoh Rainforest. It's a small town in a rural area that is 2+ hours from Seattle. Population is apparently 20k. It's touristy. There's definitely plenty of hiking, boating, and fishing nearby, but you can also say that about a lot of parts of western Washington. Including places 30-45 minutes from Seattle, instead of more than two hours. Based on some Googling, it's still overcast more than half the year, though has a ~month more sunny days than Seattle, which is a decent difference.

If all of that strikes your fancy, I imagine you will enjoy it. Personally, I could never live so far from civilization again.

Move to Sequim. I hate PA, but it's just because I had bad experience, and I think it's an ugly town (a strip mall layout), but the area is lovely. Thing is though Sequim is 15 minutes away by car and the way the mountains and weather patterns are, PA gets a LOT more precipitation (probably 3x as much). Washington gets a lot of overcast days, but the rains are light all over except on the coast, but PA is so much wetter and drearier than Sequim IMO, it's just so much nicer. I probably just unduly slammed PA and made it sound far worse than it actually is.

The people are friendly, it's a blue collar town because of it's mills and tourist attractions and service industry, and to be fair it's no wetter than Seattle, it's just I have been spoiled by 15" a year Port Townsend for so many years and now in Sequim I have the same kind of drier area, I just can't see ever going back to live in PA. There is tons of wide open country and cheap property in the area. You have just hit the jackpot if you really can relocate here, it's AWESOME! You may never want to live anywhere else when you are on Hurricane Ridge (just outside PA) enjoying probably one of the most breathtaking views in all of God's creation (or random act of randomness if that's your inclination)!

Seattle from PA driving is about 3 hours, but you took a Ferry it's two, but the Ferries are getting spendy, so you are looking at a $20+ there round trip, and 2 hours to Tacoma plus a $5 toll on the Narrows. Unless you need something Seattle specific, Poulsbo and Silverdale (about an hour and hour and a half away), and Tacoma (2 hours), would have anything you'd ever need you couldn't find locally in PA. The Ferry system is the world's largest and very good if money is no object for saving you driving time, being environmentally conscious, and just to make it more pleasant so you can get out and stretch your legs and enjoy the break from driving. Plus you got Ferries to Victoria from PA, though I know none of those details.

One thing on the negative side is that hurricane force winds on the straights of Juan De Fuca are very common stuff occasionally in the winter and fall and even sometimes spring and summer. So depending on exactly where you live, power outages and all the resulting damages from such things can be expected. Because of the old growth trees and terrain, plus the fact that this is much more recently settled than back east, that kind of weather isn't such a biggie, and we are also way tougher than your typical east coast sissies. I hope that's not too "shackish" for the Lounge. If so LMK I will edit it down if you don't Les.

Just remember, Hawker84, that it's pronounced "Squim" despite the ridiculous spelling; and people in that area are rather particular about it.

It's an Indian name, that's why it's spelled weird, but we are particular about it. We love our area and the Native American people and ways and traditions are integral to the area and just because some of us may look white, don't count on many of us not having considerable native blood and or family who do. I don't think I've ever seen anyone be rude about it, but everyone in Washington knows it's "Skwim", and visitors find out politely but quickly that it is indeed pronounced such. I think just about anybody who has pride in where they're from would be particular about it.

See, that's the thing. When I moved back to Seattle, it took me FOUR YEARS to ever hear anybody say the name of that city. If you don't watch statewide weather forecasts, it never comes up in conversation for any reason. Ever. Sequim is tiny, and hours from Seattle. I was born in Seattle, though moved away at the age of two, so it's not like I remember it from then; but people in Sequim have this ridiculous notion that everybody that "lives here" knows how it's pronounced, when in reality, the rest of the state doesn't care.

Now, that comes off as way more smarmy than I intended it to be; but early on in my current job (which I started in spring of 2004, a little less than four years after I moved back to Seattle) I had a person on the phone that lived in Sequim and was a real estate agent in that area and they were having a problem finding listings, and when I was verifying her search criteria back to her, I paused at the city name of "Sequim"; I had seen it on a map before, but never had cause to say it, or heard anyone else say it. She said "It's pronounced 'Squim'; I guess you just moved here, huh?" My response was "Well, I've lived here for four years, I guess I've just never heard it pronounced before." What I thought in my head was "Who the frig cares about your small, irrelevant town? There's no reason I should know anything about it." Her response really annoyed me.

She acted like Sequim was some big tourist destination, or important city, or something. I doubt the "Sequim Lavender Weekend" is reason enough for the world to know of it, lol. It's a small freaking town in the middle of nowhere on the peninsula with 6,600 people. I'm sure it's lovely in its quaint charm. Expecting the whole freaking state to revere it is just elitist as all hell, though. Left a bad taste in my mouth for the residents of that area, if she's any indicator.

The fact that Seahawker also thinks anybody that lives in WA automatically knows how to pronounce it correctly suggests my assertion may be rather correct, though... (Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with correcting people on how to pronounce your home town; but as I said, that experience left a bad taste in my mouth.)

I was just in Port Angeles on a road trip up US-101 and the network of primitive roads on the Peninsula. I rather like Port Angeles, though I have never lived there. The town itself is on the edge of the Olympic rain shadow, so it gets less rain than the Western coast of the Peninsula, but the weather still generally sucks for much of the year. As mentioned, you will get some of the strongest wind storms you've ever felt, plus dreary winters, and lots of overcast weather. I concur with Seahawker that Sequim is much preferred as it's allegedly the driest town in the state.

If you're looking for some good fishing, you will only be 1 hour away at the most from some of the best salmon fishing in the state!
Hence my name, Team Slapaho, we catch a ton of coho up at Sekiu And also lots of rockfish and ling cod
Can be found up the road in Neah Bay, a boat is mandatory. Also, if you're after Kings, there are plenty to be found near the caves at sekiu and halibut opens up very soon there. I cannot wait for the opener! There are also several lakes out there, like crescent, big trout! Lake ozette and there is plenty of hiking (which I don't do much of) to much fishing to do. You're also not to far from some of the best steelhead rivers around, altho, they have been netted heavily by the tribes and their numbers are dwindling. If you have any questions about specifics about fishing, hit me up In a p.m.

Oh yea, another thing, Sequim gets around the same rainfall as Los Angeles, around 18 inches a year.

Sequim is a Bermuda Triangle.

If you like the outdoors, you'll like PA, because you'll never want to be in the city.

Team Slapaho wrote:Oh yea, another thing, Sequim gets around the same rainfall as Los Angeles, around 18 inches a year.

That's a misleading statement to make, though. Most rainfall in L.A. comes in heavy spurts compared to Sequim. Los Angeles sees significantly more sunny weather.

@Sonic: Zing, good one.

Yeah, the rain patterns in a normal year around here are based off of El Nino years and "regular" years. We get a lot of small storms that don't do much, and then wham, we get slammed with high winds and a lot of rain. This year, not so much we are down a lot in rain. Fortunately there were late winter storms that helped pack the snowfall.

Today 77 and tomorrow friggin 87 !!!!....97 on Friday. Then back to onshore flow 82 Sunday and 71 with chance of showers on Monday....Hahaha, that is going to be a weird sequence of days.

I've tended bar in Blyn and Pt Townsend, lived in Gardiner, partied & played cards in Skwim, and went to school in PA (Peninsula College). I know that stretch pretty well, although I haven't lived there in 18 yrs.

Some of the best salmon & steelhead rivers in the world are on the West side (Hoh, Sol Duc, Bogie, Elwa, etc.) If you like river fishing, you'll love that area. You're also close to Crescent Lake and the Olympic Mtns.

Myself, I wouldn't live in PA proper, but would look for something outside of town.

Here's the problem; living on the Peninsula is like living on an island. It's always going to take you awhile to get anywhere.

Good luck!

This is a big help, guys. Thanks for sharing. I will definitely check into the commute from Sequim. I have some native American ancestry (at least more than Elizabeth Warren) and love the art and history so that's a selling point.

Never fished for salmon and the only real river fishing I ever did was catfish in the Mississippi when I was a kid. But salmon fishing sounds fun as hell. The natural wonders are definitely the biggest draw. The fam and I went out to Rainier on our last visit and were awe struck the entire time. It would be amazing to live amongst that. You folks are blessed...

I read about the winds but didn't realize they were that severe. During hurricane season in South Florida we got some heavy winds, of course, but I sense these will be...different. Icier for sure. I fly helicopters as a hobby so the winds are a factor.

Thanks again to everyone for sharing! Hopefully they'll fly me up there soon and I can do some ground recon.

He definitely needs to go there and salmon fish because even channel cat fishing which I've fished for doesn't hold a candle to having a 20-30lb Chinook on the end of your line. lol

Also in my first channel cat fishing tour a couple of pervious military friends took me out to a lazy slow river. We floated on tubes, dangled a huge treble hook down into the holes where you could see a couple of BIG channel cats. The trick is to snag them with the hook!

Be sure to have a float on the line and let it go if you connect because I saw a big tube tipped over in the blink of an eye by those that didn't.