earlk on tue 20 jun 06
On Tue, 2006-06-20 at 16:51 -0400, bluefirepottery wrote:
> We will be visiting Washington State
Washington State ???
WASHINGTON STATE !!!!!!!!!!!
Debra, Debra, Debra,
The first thing you have to learn is to say
"Washington" (period) when you mean this
great country in the Pacific Northwest. And
to say Washington D.C. when you mean that
other place on the East Coast where we send
all our riff-raff, low-lifes and otherwise
all around slime-balls.
The next thing you need to learn is that
Washington is divided into two areas; East
and West. The dividing line being the crest
of the Cascade Mountain Range that runs
down from Canada to Oregon.
Eastern Washington is hot in the summer,
dry year round, cold in the winter, sparsely
populated and most of the people who live
there are Republicans.
Western Washington is cool in the summer,
warm in the winter, heavily populated, but
most of all just plain wet. However, contrary
to rumor it does not "rain all the time" here
in the Western part of the state. Indeed it
only occasionally truly rains. Most of the
time it's just that the air is thick with water.
Also and I trust that you can keep this a
secret, once summer begins which is always
on July 5, we often do have a two month
drought during which it never rains. Great
for picnics, boating, softball, hiking, camping,
mountain climbing, strolling the parks,
downtown shopping, gallery touring or any
other activity which keeps you out till after
9pm when the sun goes down.
On the other hand, during November, December
and January I have occasionally seen a faint
yellow-orange glow in the sky which some in
the know claim is the sun. I have my doubts
on this though. Once every few winters it does
really snow here. When it does it usually starts
out as fine dry flakes but soon turns into big
gloppy gobs that quickly build up to appreciable
depths. But then it generally turns to rain and
in a few hours, or a few days at most, it has all
melted.
In 26 years of being a resident here I can remember
two big snows. The last was 10 years ago where
we actually got two heavy snowfalls a couple of
days apart and had about two feet of snow on the
ground. Of course this was of the wet gloppy glob
type so the weight of it on the roofs caused the
collapse of many carports, sank more than a few
boats and blocked storm drains. We really lived
in a snow swamp for a couple of weeks.
And of course, we have coffee. Here a coffee,
there a coffee, everywhere a coffee coffee shop.
In the mall next to where I work there are three,
count them, three Starbucks. And there is also
Seattle's Best, Tullys and a multitude of smaller
names.
But, if you added together the micro-breweries
and wineries they'd run a close second to coffee.
The good news about Washington is there is no
state income tax. The bad news is they more
than make up for that with all the other taxes
they levy. I saw one site on the Internet that
said that Washington was #8 in the nation in
terms of tax burden. 8.9% sales tax where I live,
one of the highest gasoline taxes in the country,
and the property tax is forcing me to move
elsewhere.
That plus the traffic. In the greater Seattle area,
by which I mean the corridor from the Canadian
border to Oregon, the traffic is just plain horrible.
So, that's Washington, as I see it. But in
comparison to that other Washington I'll take this
one any day.
earlk...
bothell, wa, usa
bluefirepottery on tue 20 jun 06
We will be visiting Washington State in the not-too-distant future with =
the option of relocating there. Would love to talk to potters living =
there. Not sure which area we would be moving to so all replies are =
welcome. Thanks.
Debra
bluefirepotter@verizon.net
Chris Leake on wed 21 jun 06
We will be visiting Washington State in the not-too-distant future with the option of relocating there.
Hey Debra,
Earl pretty much covered the basics (By the way Earl, I grew up in Bothell). In Western Washington be sure to check out the Olympic Peninsula. Just be sure before you choose a place that you are well aware of the annual rainfall in THAT area! While the Hoh rainforest area is incredibly beautiful, living there is best left to ducks and beaver.
I believe if you do some checking, this should be a good time for music festivals in that area as well.
Chris
http://www.leakeart.com
Steve Slatin on wed 21 jun 06
Hi --
I live in Sequim -- life is great, but the
economy is a bit weak and opportunities to sell
are few. Port Townsend gets more tourists, and
is better for sales, but gets more rain. Also
there's a paper mill and if you're downwind from
it you will not enjoy it. (There are some areas
that never get the smell -- check it out before
buying if you're interested.)
There're some artists living around LaPush/Forks,
but they're all poor as churchmice, and the
region is really in the dumps economically
speaking.
I'm available if you have questions -- Steve S.
--- bluefirepottery
wrote:
> We will be visiting Washington State in the
> not-too-distant future with the option of
> relocating there. Would love to talk to
> potters living there. Not sure which area we
> would be moving to so all replies are welcome.
> Thanks.
> Debra
> bluefirepotter@verizon.net
>
>
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Steve Slatin --
The angel lay in a little thicket. It had no need of love; there was nothing anywhere in the world could startle it ...
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Andi Bauer on thu 22 jun 06
warm in the winter, heavily populated, but
most of all just plain wet. However, contrary
to rumor it does not "rain all the time" here
in the Western part of the state. Indeed it
only occasionally truly rains. >
Earl, I loved your description of Washington. As a new (two year =
resident), I'm just getting familiar with a lot of the things you =
mentioned. However, not all of Western Washington is heavily populated. =
The Olympic Peninsula is quite sparsely settled for its area (and =
that's what I am loving about it). We actually get forgotten whenever =
people are talking about Western Washington -- to most people that means =
the I-5 corridor. It's true that Sequim doesn't get as much rain as =
other areas. It's also true that it would be difficult for a potter to =
make a living at pottery over here, as Steve said (hi Steve). But we =
are enamored of the place nonetheless.
Andi, in very bright, sunny Sequim, on the edge of the continent.
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