Washington State Oppos

"This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:" (hkt00)
09/29/2020 at 03:12 • Filed to: and now for something completely different

Tell me everything.

If you had to start over in Washington, where would you settle? Which area offers the most opportunity to live and work and raise a family and not go bankrupt in the process? The less civil unrest the better.

It’s a long story, but not one for today.

DISCUSSION (18)

pip bip - choose Corrour > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 04:27

Point Roberts maybe? (98281)

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > pip bip - choose Corrour
09/29/2020 at 05:46

Really don’t want to be there now:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/point-roberts-covid-1.5740806

The purpose for Americans would be housing close to Canada for shopping and tourism and summer get away base in a rather sleepy town. Unless you’re retired and in good health (no hospital) you probably wouldn’t want to live there.

F or Canadians it was a place to get cheaper gas, booze, and free/discount US shipping on items, also those not available to be directly shipped to Canada and we personally bring across . Maybe explore the beach in the summer, instead of having to endure the major borders at Blaine which can take hour or more without Nexus depending on traffic .

ranwhenparked > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com
09/29/2020 at 08:03

I always wondered why there was never a referendum there, especially post 9/11. I mean, if the citizens want to be part of the US, fine, but at least let them have a choice. Just seems like it would be way more convenient to be part of Canada.

Same thing with Derby Line, Vermont and Rock Island, Quebec - put it to a vote, see if you can get both halves to agree on the same country, whichever one it is, and redraw the border around them. If not, in that case, at least, move the customs and border control points to the inner municipal border so the towns themselves are fully open to each other.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 08:16

You want to leave Canadaland?

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ranwhenparked
09/29/2020 at 08:53

There’s a chunk of Minnesota like this too. It’s cut of from the rest of the US by land

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Angle

There’s a tiny little chunk in the same area as well, but that one is uninhabited.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elm_Point,_Minnesota

And at least one instance in the other direction is Campobello Island, a Canadian island who’s only bridge leads to the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campobello_Island

ranwhenparked > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
09/29/2020 at 09:06

Yeah, but those places aren’t * as much* of a problem - the Northwest Angle only has 119 residents, Campobello Island less than 900, Elm Point is totally uninhabited.

Point Roberts is over 1,300 people, Derby Line/Rock Island is like 1,600 - and life really seems to be annoying, going through international border control just to walk to the other side of the street, intersections permanently blocked off or made one way, etc.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ranwhenparked
09/29/2020 at 09:12

True, I was just pointing out some other map oddities because I find them fascinating. I didn’t know about Point Roberts until today.

Tim (Fractal Footwork) > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 09:31

Don’t move to Yakima.

CivicWagonEngineer > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 10:07

I like Skagit County, lowest cost for northwest W ashington and still has a rural small town feel. Also plenty close to the big city and nature if you’re into either of those, and still fairly close to the border as well for trips up north.

camarov6rs > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 10:10

If you want to stay close to Canada then I might suggest Bellingham area, south of Delta/Vancouver. If not then I might suggest Wenatchee area.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 10:15

Mt. Vernon, WA.

You can find work there; you could also work up north in Bellingham; you could also make the longish commute to Everett or Lynnwood. But you would like have an affordable* home (* comparatively) in the process, be near outdoor recreational activities, not in fire county, nowhere near the protests.

Don’t move to west King County without a white-collar career; Snohomish is starting look the same; don’t move to P ierce if you don’t like long commutes.

Skagit County, Whatcom County, or Island Co unty (the less fancy islands) get my vote.

Beefchips > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 10:51

Friends in Anacortes love, love, love it there. Bellingham and Mt Vernon are good suggestions too, as others have pointed out.

In the Portland area, I can also suggest Camas and Washougal, cheaper housing, good schools and easy access to Vancouver/PDX.

In what field would you be looking for work?

Roadkilled > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 11:17

There are many good places in Washington and others have pointed out a few. I haven’t seen Spokane mentioned yet. It’s got a reasonable urban core with plenty of nearby mountains and lakes. It will be more affordable than many cities west of the Cascades.

There are “affordable” areas near Seattle, but they will be in the periphery and could involve quite a bit of driving depending on where you work.

School quality can vary a bit across the state. Keep that in mind if it’s a high priority.

I’ve lived in a city of 55,000 in the middle of Illinois corn fields, an urban area in St. Louis, the St. Louis suburbs and the eastern suburbs of Seattle. I’ve got family in Atlanta, Chicago, Sarasota, Toronto and Hong Kong where I’ve spent a lot of time. Maybe I’m too much of an optimist, but I found things I liked about all of those places except Hong Kong. (I can’t recommend Hong Kong right now, but your request to avoid civil unrest and for an affordable city would rule out Hong Kong anyway.)

That being said, affordability is definitely a limiting factor. It’s hard to be an optimist if daily life poses a risk of going bankrupt.

just-a-scratch > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
09/29/2020 at 11:30

It’s Canadaland? I’m confused. I always thought the proper name was Canadia. I mean Canadians, Canadia, it makes sense.

If the place were Canada, the people should be Canadans right?

[bad joke ]

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
09/29/2020 at 11:52

Well I have been complaining about Surrey for a while now...

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
09/29/2020 at 11:58

Surrey is so bad that you want to live in a different country? I support this extreme form of social distancing

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > ranwhenparked
09/29/2020 at 14:36

Yes, the whole 49th worked until the extreme west . Point Roberts is just so small to have a border. It doesn’t have a hospital or middle and high schools so it’s a good 40min trip to seek those things.

Covid has basically killed them for being a niche spot like this and honestly if they did have a referendum today I’m sure they’d be in favor of joining Canada instead of geographical jail. I f they don’t recover post covid , it might still be a serious option to consider.

ranwhenparked > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com
09/29/2020 at 16:00

I know that's how I'd vote if I lived there. Derby Line, VT, I could see going either way, but Point Roberts really only has one logical option. It's a relic of the days when a free and open US-Canada border could still be a thing, a big part of that died post-9/11, and COVID killed the last traces.