Trashy compared to Portland and Seattle or Trashy in a general sense? Maybe because I lived in Metro Detroit and I am immune to ugliness and trashiness, but it didn't seem bad to me.
I am a pretty conservative person when it comes to safety. I don't go out partying etc. By "alive" I mean interesting things to do. Where I currently live in Seattle, I couldn't even begin to count the number of ethnic restaurants within 5-10 miles of me for example. Or the number of bookstores. Or the number of small theaters and similar cultural things. That's the kind of thing that the Vancouver suburbs are missing.
As you properly note, everything is relative. Vancouver is much nicer than metro Detroit. I wasn't trying to trash Vancouver as it isn't really a terrible place, it is just that if you are going to live in the Northwest I think it is one of the last places I would pick. I would still pick it over almost anything east of the Mississippi personally, but that's just me.
Do most people who live in Vancouver travel to Portland to get their cultural/partying/socializing or is Vancouver, WA too far away from Portland?
Reno, Nv. The Biggest Little City in the World! It is Las Vegas in small. A dozen ski areas in less than 2 hours away. Lake Tahoe is 40 minutes away, without the high cost. It gets much less snow than Tahoe, so you don't need to dig yourself out of 10 feet of snow. But you get the taxbreak. If you don't gamble, you get dirt cheap entertainment. It is big enough to have a citylife but small enough not to have trafficjams. To the East you have Utah, the beautiful, to the West you get San Francisco, less than 4 hours away. Reno has a nice small airport with Southwest Airlines, the cheapest in the country, you can jump to almost anywhere for pennies. The geographical diversity is unparalleled in the US. You get mountains, deserts, lakes and the ocean in a 4 hours drive away... Florida has no 4 seasons, whoever said that. It will be underwater in 10 years. What did I forget about Reno? Oh yes: Legalized prostitution!!!! Enjoy your stay.... And if your trading doesn't go the way you planned, you can still pan for gold in the Truckee river!
The subburbs of vancouver isnt exactly what i had in mind of nice places to live (i can't even imagine the burbs of vancouver, didnt it all get blown away with st. helens anyway?) I was speaking of areas 1 hour east down in the colombia gorge. I lived there for a couple years, and they are quite nice small towns, yet fairly cultured as well. not nearly as metropolitan as seattle, but then, not many cities look the inside of a starbucks either... Too far to commute on the daily, but fine for going into the city on the weekend in my opinion. being born in seattle, raised in portland, i personally prefer the portland climate. Annual rainfall inches aside, seattle undoubtedly has more grey days than portland does. Portland is inland from the ocean approximately 60 miles and has a little protecting range of moutains. When it rains it rains, but when its clear its clear. In seattle, when it rains it rains and when its clear, its really just overcast. But, I have had my own sneaking suspicion about tech industry development in seattle being due partly to lack of guilt from staying inside on all those "clear" seattle days... All together if i was to choose between seattle and portland to live in.. I would choose seattle. but any reasonable person would move to san diego...
My Wife's stepmom lives there and I'll have to correct her when I see her. If my wife could handle the incessant rain I'd be on Bainbridge Island, WA.
Oh yes it does! I live here. Nov through May sucks. If its not raining then, its usually cloudy.Specifically why I am just spending one more summer here (which is great, and then I'm off to sunnier climes). Today, ironically enough, is gorgeous. We've had maybe ten days like this all year so far though.
Exactly the town I'd look at if moving to Wyoming. Some of the best skiing anywhere. Note, I wouldn't live there personally. Too cold.