Port Angeles, WA

Port Angeles is another town with a bit of an unfair advantage, given that Cameron grew up here and we've spent many holidays visiting the Littles and exploring the Peninsula. When Cameron and I first started dating (almost 10 years ago!) I asked if he would consider moving back. Back then, it was a hard "no," but since then PA has gotten more hip. The downtown is expanding and young people are moving back into the area. 

PA has great access into the Olympic National Park, and even excluding the outdoor aspects, there is a lot going on given how small of a town it is (population just at 20,000). There are a growing number of bars and restaurants, a great walking/biking trail along the Salish Sea, there are regular festivals and activities around town, and you can easily ferry to Victoria, Canada. Since we've seen most of the tourist highlights, we took this trip as an opportunity to experience residential life. Rather than staying with the Littles in their mountain home, we rented a tiny house in town (both for practical reasons, but also to practice for van life).

The Good

• Really close to family. Cameron's parents, sister, and grammy live in town; his other grandparents are an hour away, and his brother and all of our Washington friends are within 3 hours.
• The Olympic National Park literally boarders the town. I love this park! Almost all of our backpacking trips have been here and the Hurricane Ridge skyline (which is only 30 minutes from downtown) is represented on our wedding bands.
• Although the downtown is a little worn down, it's growing into a young hip community with a strong local vibe. Every time I go back there's something new and nice that's been added. The most recent cool spot is Buena Luz Bakery (owned by Emily Little).
• The town has a year-round farmers market and plenty of annual festivals/activities. 
• Great views: Olympics, the Puget Sound, the Salish Sea, Victoria, and the Cascades. On a clear day there are even views of Mount Baker. Plus, because it's on the north end of the Salish Sea you see both the sunrise and sunset along the water.

The Bad

• Really close to family. Yes, I know this is also on the good list, but my ideal distance to family is a 1-3 hour buffer – close enough that you can visit for a day but not so close that we have no autonomy. I want to move to a place that feels like it's my town, and not my in-laws' town.
• Far from an airport (about 3 hours from SeaTac, which includes a light rail ride and a ferry ride, which add to the transportation costs). However, it seems promising the the regional airport might start offering daily flights between PA and Seattle.
• The main road leading in and out of the town is also the main peninsula highway, which means to drive into town you have to go through fringe dumpy highway businesses.
• Far from good/reliable skiing. There technically is a Hurricane Ridge ski area, but the road is rarely open and it does not meet my minimum lift and vertical drop qualifications to consider it a "real" ski area.
• The weather, especially in the winter, can be dark and dreary, and even being back for just a week reminded me of my seasonal affect disorder (SAD).

The Verdict

Yes? I guess it has to be considered a definite "yes" since we bought a house while we were there.

"What? You bough a house?!" you ask incredulously. "Does that mean the Goldilocks Project is already over?" 

"No," I respond. "It just means we will have a secondary home base. We're still moving forward with the original plan, and renting the house to family while we get in on those sweet sweet first time homebuyer tax credits."

But in all actuality, I do like Port Angeles, and would say it is currently tied for the top position with Mountain Green, UT. Although being close to family is both good and bad, since Cameron's vetoed everything in the Southwest I'm more inclined to seriously consider the locations in the Pacific Northwest. The draw of being near my closest friends is also pretty immense, and I've considered PA as a potential future home for a long time. If I had to make a short list prior to starting the Goldilocks Project, PA probably would have been in the top five. Now we'll just have to see if it can stay there as it stacks up against the less well-known future contenders.

The views are the best part of Port Angeles. Of course the whole time we were there it was pretty gloomy, which is typical for fall/winter.

Port Angeles has a really nice community college. If we moved her I might toy with the ideas of becoming a professor.

It's very lush. Part of the Olympic Peninsula is taken over by the Hoh Rainforest.

One of the plus sides of all that moisture is fungi. We harvested and cooked up this lovely cauliflower mushroom.

This is one of the two streets of downtown. It's nothing special, but it's getting better.

There are some really nice spots in town, and plenty of sculptures and murals.

This was our cute tiny house for the week. It was a great stay.

Hopefully this place is even greater, since we went ahead and bought it! Yep, this is our house. It's a cutie, isn't it?

~~~~~

For those of you who are regular readers, please note that there may be longer gaps between posts as I do not have any immediate travel plans. There will still be periodic van buildout updates, but we are on pause until some key pieces get shipped (which may still be a month more of waiting). Thank you for your continued readership and have a happy new year!