Moving to Washington

brett_duenas · 08-31-2011, 07:46 PM

Hey all,

I'll be relocating to the Olympia-ish, Washington area from Central Texas within the next few months. Does anyone have preferences on where to live? Any e90post members up there? MFEST members??? Anything would help at this point!!! Thanks

jmeas · 08-31-2011, 07:49 PM

sweet! i was born in houston but lived in seattle pretty much my whole life. awesome move! olympia can stretch out into the boondocks, i'd say anything close to the freeway is awesome. further up north would be even better though. i just moved over to renton, you're pretty much 20 minutes from all major cities, bellevue, seattle, tacoma.

brett_duenas · 08-31-2011, 07:54 PM

I'm somewhat restricted to Ft Lewis because I'm active duty military... do you guys have any major meets around the area?

atown88 · 08-31-2011, 09:28 PM

Lewis-Mcchord? Why not look into living near Tacoma? My sister and brother-in-law are moving to the Tacoma area because he is being stationed there too next year. Welcome!

98005xi · 08-31-2011, 09:32 PM

See you and your AW e90 around soon!

brett_duenas · 08-31-2011, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atown88

Lewis-Mcchord? Why not look into living near Tacoma? My sister and brother-in-law are moving to the Tacoma area because he is being stationed there too next year. Welcome!

Yes JBLM, but I'm not dead set on where to live yet. Trying to figure out the best places to do so... My father lives on Bainbridge Island and I've been to Seattle a couple of times but that was maybe 5-6 years ago. I'm very unsure on an area and was trying to ask for any input.

Thanks! Be there soon! Cant wait to meet the other e90post members!

tolbert86 · 08-31-2011, 10:55 PM

If you want nice and close to base I say look at Dupont. traffic sucks up here. I'm also active duty and live in puyallup so I dont have to take any freeways because they are hit or miss and 85 percent miss. But Dupont is nice close and cheaper now BC of the housing market. If you are set on Olympia look into Lacey or tumwater. Any other info you want pm me and I can hook you up.

asdflkijd · 08-31-2011, 11:16 PM

Olympia is really dead... Try Tacoma or Lakewood, its really close by ft. lewis and a lot of guys from there seem to live around here. It's basically populated by military families, you get military discount basically everywhere lol..

tolbert86 · 08-31-2011, 11:59 PM

Lakewood is no good stay away unless you want to your stuff to get broken into. I've been here five years. Tacoma in certain areas is nice but you have to pick wisely. South hill puyallup is okay as well or spanaway area off of 176th and I believe 13 the street. But over there Google map it.

brett_duenas · 09-01-2011, 07:49 AM

So:

Dupont
Tacoma
Lakewood
South Hill Puyallup
Spanaway area

I'll look into these, thanks!

tolbert86 · 09-01-2011, 06:28 PM

I wouldnt even bother with lakewood its a bad area.

Scrubber · 09-03-2011, 11:11 PM

I've worked at JBLM for the past 6 years (minus a short 15 month stint), so I can provide a unique outlook on where to live. I've resided in the following places:

Puyallup (South Hill): handy to get to Tacoma and Seattle (on 167). PAIN getting into work and coming home. Traffic is absolute hell on the intersection of I-5 and Rt 512, which is really the only efficient way to get to post.

JBLM: no brainer, on post is great. There is plenty of outdoor activities to do without leaving post (to include access to American lake). I-5 splits the installation, so if your partial to visiting Seattle and Tacoma, it's not too bad.

Tumwater: It's south of Olympia, so...it's a drive. If your only going to JBLM, life's great, but if you want to visit Tacoma/Seattle, it is a long haul. With that said, Olympia is a great little city with plenty of fantastic restaurants, outdoor activities, and a raging hippie culture.

Tacoma: I never lived in Tacoma, but had plenty of friends who did. If your single, or even married with no kids, it's not too bad, so long as your staying in the city in a condo. There are a LOT of rough areas around Tacoma, with the notable exception of the nice neighborhoods around Ruston Way (a beautiful waterfront boardwalk). If you have the money, I'd live around there, it's a great place with lots of mature neighborhoods for kids to play in. Expect the commute to be 45 minutes to JBLM with traffic, probably 40 minutes for PT times.

I currently live in Graham. Nobody on this board will know about it because it is literally OUT there. It's out behind East Gate Road on the other side of the training area and is definitely a bit more country. My commute is still 35 minutes, but there is NO traffic, I don't have to get n I-5 (you'll understand soon), and I'm a hop away from Mt. Rainier (without being in the eruption zone) and it's fantastic 50 mph windy roads. Also, I can get 2x the house for the same price, :-D

Seattle is a nice place to live, assuming your a general and love to sit in traffic. If I worked up there, it would be perfect, but the commute is absolutely not worth it. Not to mention you'd live in a pretty small condo given what I know about the military pay scale (I'd recommend that you make at least Major pay and sell the BMW for a civic if you want to make that commitment). If Seattle is an absolute must, I'd recommend living in Tacoma, its close enough to Seattle to bop up there for activities, but then again, and THIS IS MY OPINION YOU SEATTLE PUNKS! ;-) I personally enjoy Tacoma a little more. It's not as pretentious as Seattle, and definitely not as full of hippies as Olympia. Its a nice port city with a lot of local flavor to offer. Recommend you spend ample time visiting all these places (particularly while your hoteling prior to buying/renting) and see what I mean.

As far as meets go, I know of two:
Seattle: Every Tuesday at 7:00PM at the Dicks Burgers on Holman Drive. Lots of E9x series and other late model BMWs. Great group of guys. I try and make it up there when I can, but for me it's at least a hour long drive, longer with traffic.

Tacoma: Every Wednesday at 7:30ish on the side of Target on Union Rd, right off of I-16. Lots of E46 model BMWs, in fact, I'm the only E92. This tends to be a more early model group, but still is a fun bunch of guys. Expect them to make fun of you if you drive an automatic (I got my lickings already). I go to this one more often primarily because it's closer, but also because the coffee shop right next door sells great chai. Dicks burgers in Seattle is awesome too (and for a great price)!

Hope this info helps! PM me if you need any specific info.

98005xi · 09-04-2011, 01:28 AM

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