Best Spot to Retire

[wabmester]

I have to admit, retiring to the Rockies would be nice.  I decided that I wanted rural character combined with close proximity to a big city.  And a big moat to keep undesirables away.

Here's a shot I took yesterday from our backyard:

 

[haha]

Here's a shot I took yesterday from our backyard:

Wabby- that must be a telephoto shot from the southern tip of Whidbey Island. What a beautiful picture of a beautiful place, my home for the past 30 years.

Mikey

 

[wabmester]

Close, Mikey. It's a non-telephoto from Murden Cove on Bainbridge Island. I've only lived out here for four years now, but I love it.

-- Wab

 

[Cut-Throat]

I'm sitting here in Minnesota and the current Temp is 16 below zero actual. Wind chill is about 45 below zero!

I'm not going to sugar coat this at all. There is almost nothing good about this kind of weather. I can't say to many kind words about Minnesota in January. My friends that ski admit that when it's this cold, they don't go!

When spring does finally come here, you have never seen so many appreciative citzens in your life!

Only 3 more weeks to Florida!

 

[John Galt]

Cut-Throat, I feel your pain! A few years ago a bunch of
us were going to Ely, Mn. on a fishing trip. The lodge
called before our departure and said don't come. The
lakes were still frozen. This was almost Memorial Day!!!
Anyway, it's below zero here too and like you, we are
counting the days until we head south.

John Galt

 

[Ted]

Close, Mikey.  It's a non-telephoto from Murden Cove on Bainbridge Island.   I've only lived out here for four years now, but I love it.

-- Wab

You must be close to one of the most ambiguously named places on earth -- Point No Point. I went there once but couldn't figure out why.

 

[John Galt]

Hello Wabmester! Before we married my wife lived
in Michigan on some land that came to a point at a lake.
The road was Goodemoot, so she called her place
Moot Point. I found her quirky sense of humor very
appealing.

John Galt

 

[wabmester]

You must be close to one of the most ambiguously named places on earth -- Point No Point.  I went there once but couldn't figure out why.

Yup, Hansville is just a bit north of me. Lots of great names in this area. Foul Weather Bluff is in the same general area, but it's in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, so the weather is usually pretty nice.

Origin of the name:

http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/buildings/lighthouses/pointnopoint/pnp.htm

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Close, Mikey. It's a non-telephoto from Murden Cove on Bainbridge Island. I've only lived out here for four years now, but I love it.

-- Wab

Ah, I have a friend who moved to bainbridge island about 4-5 years ago. That reminds me that I need to give him a jingle, I havent talked to him in quite some time. He seems to like the place.

 

[unclemick]

Sounds like the early 90's - when I was back to sell my mother's house - SW Washington - lots of articles about cashing out CA home equity- moving north and distorting property values in Washington and Oregon.

BTY- I once owned a vacation lot in the low rainfall 'shadow' part of Whidbey - never built though. Two nephews stationed at the naval base after rotating back from the Middle East. The oldest (native Washingtonian) will of course exhibit common sense - sell their sailboat and move to someplace warm Mississippi/Florida gulf after he gets out - he's the Jimmy Buffett nut.

After growing up in the Pacific NW - I can take it or leave it - in my old (60) age leaning toward warm.

 

[John Galt]

Hey unclemick! I am your age and warm is where it's at for me. Drove into town for lunch with my folks. It was
about 9 degrees. Then the sun came out briefly.
Temp. dropped to +4 immediately and is headed for
minus 5-10 tonight, or so they tell us. The dog water
freezes as fast as I fill it. Who with a choice would
voluntarily stay around here?

John Galt

 

[unclemick]

John

I think these things are relative. 34 degrees this morning when I took the dog out and nowadays that's too cold - but it only lasts a day or two at most.

To think - 0 degree's was warm enough to go sking - when I was young and lived in Colorado.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

55 here and overcast. Taking the dogs out for a w-a-l-k shortly. Have to spell it...they're watching.

 

[haha]

According to him, Whidbey is in a banana belt, and does not get the rain that Seattle gets.  Is that a fact?

Hi Jarhead,

Well, Banana Belt is relative term. But yes, there is less rain and a bit more sunshine than in Seattle. I have lived in Forks, WA-144 inches of rain a year- and though I never lived there, Sequim (pronounced "SQUIM"WA gets around 20 inches I believe. The difference derives from Forks being on the West side of the Olympics, and Sequim on the northeast.

But weather wise, it all sucks relative to California. When I first came here form SoCal, it took me a year to get warm. Although it isn't all that cold, it is dark and wet.

Sometimes when I think of places that I left, I wonder if they look so good because I was young, or if they really were that good. BTW, for stream and lake fishing, I think California is quite a bit better. I particularly enjoyed fishing for Browns in the Owens River, east of Bishop. Got almost as many rattlesnakes as fish, but I loved it.

Really good fisherman here love steelheading, but it is hard to catch fish. If you are good, you endure a cold day on the river, but the prize is one of the most beautiful and best tasting fish anywhere. And our rivers are failrly clean, so you don't worry that eating a fish will give you cancer.

Mikey

 

[unclemick]

Mikey

Winter steelhead fishing is a passion that transends logic. I went a few times with adults as a kid and froze my butt.

 

[wabmester]

I don't fish. Which is unfortunate in a way. I own a waterfront rental house that's about 100 yards from the point a fresh water creek feeds Puget Sound. Steelhead, Cutthroat, Chinook, Chum, and Coho are literally jumping in the backyard. I enjoy watching the eagles pick them off.

Let me know if you need a vacation rental

 

[haha]

STEELHEAD !!  Now you are talking my language!

Congratulations, amigo. What a fish!

Mikey

 

[Ted]

STEELHEAD !!  Now you are talking my language!

Here is a 23 lb. fish caught in B.C. on a dry fly in 1988. These were in my glory years

The steelhead is a beaut. The best that I could do in 3 years of stream fishing in Washington was to catch two that ran about 4 pounds each.

But why do you have an image of a coelacanth as your logo? Is that what you are after next?

 

[John Galt]

That fish is a beauty! I've caught larger, but not many and never caught a steelhead even close.
Now that I am in the autumn of my fishing career I wish
I had a couple of them mounted. Never thought about it
at the time. We just ate 'em.

John Galt

 

[ed_teach]

I was looking at deland fla. but mount dora seems like it deserves a good look, close to orlando so if one needs something you have a metro area only 20 min, away, and the town seems quaint with a historic distric and home prices are not to expensive.