We’ve been contemplating a move to Washington State for the last year and a half. In January 2020, we took a vacation/house hunting trip to North Kitsap County to see if we could tolerate the wet winter. We expected it to rain, and it did….every day for 10 days. We challenged ourselves to find things to do and to not get in a funk (mainly me) over the weather. We figured if we could have fun and stay busy, we might survive a move there. In addition to house hunting, we went to parks, trails, beaches, museums, restaurants and even grocery stores in every town where we looked at houses. Here are a few photos of how we passed the time in the rain.
Kingston, where I have family, is where we started with a short hike at North Kitsap Heritage Park and a long visit in a local museum of nostalgia. There is so much to see at “My Girl Drive In Museum,” which is good because the rain never let up that day.
In Port Ludlow, where we have close friends, we looked at property and visited the beach at Wolfe Property State Park just North of the Hood Canal Bridge. This park is a popular site for digging littleneck clams:
In Bainbridge Island we met a friend for brunch, then visited the Bainbridge Island Art Museum. This is a fantastic and free museum (thanks to members and donors.) Below textile art by Jite Agbro hangs in the window over-looking a rainy and wet Winslow Way.
Work by textile artist Jite Agbro.
We also visited the fabulous Bloedel Reserve (which I already blogged about), but here are a couple a photos in my archive that show the beautiful affects of the damp, raining climate.
We managed to spend time with family, friends and/or just have fun exploring together every day of our trip. I think we can handle the move if we get the opportunity. How do you pass the time when it rains?
Thanks to Terri at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives for the writing prompt and photo challenge.
ARTISTIC PENSION 
Hi Tracey, I enjoy an occasional rainy day, but I couldn’t live in that climate full time. I thrive on sunshine. Being close to family and friends does have its advantages though. Wish you well with your decisions and thanks for the tour.
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I hear you! My reservations about the weather prompted the trip. We’d like to get back West eventually and this area is a good geographical compromise with family and friends being a big pull.
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I love the rain, Tracey, and I often use the rain as white noise to sleep at night. You made me smile about your first house. Great photos. Challenging to share rain and puddles in photos. I especially like the moss on the bench. Thank you for sharing an interesting and fun post.
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Thank you! I had fun doing it and putting those unused photos to good use. The benches and bridges in that reserve are incredible!
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I have had many of the same thoughts, Tracey. I love living in the warm climate I do but I also yearn for forests and hiking trails. Maybe a home in two locations (do you think Elvis’s trailer is available?) could be a possible solution. I have a few friends who live in the Pacific Northwest and they love it – rain and all.
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That trailer would be fun. I do have friends and family in WA that travel South during the winter months (although they swear the rain isn’t that bad!).
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The rain has its place in the universe but your photos did the rainy days justice and you found ways to make it work for your trip! If you want to live in a rainy area, it’s best to have the right gear and just enjoy the weather! Great post, Tracey!
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Thank you Terri! If we go, I’ll need to get some better foot gear!
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Living in the rainforest is awesome. Especially when it means you can enjoy the outdoors year round (with the proper rain gear, of course). I came from a province where the winters were unbearable due to snow, ice and below zero temps, and the summers were unbearable due to high heat and humidity. To live in a temperate climate where the outdoors can be enjoyed safely year round is so amazing to me, as yet. I’m so glad I moved to Vancouver Island.
Deb
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I’m glad you are enjoying your move. I don’t think I could ever live where it gets really cold. Even the week of the “the big Texas Freeze” felt too cold to me.
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WA is such a beautiful state, from the three weeks we spent road tripping there a few years ago, that I can see why you would be drawn there despite the rain. Of course we were there at a more clement time of year, July, but we had mostly fine weather with just a couple of damp days. Were we lucky or are the summers much drier?
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The summer months are definitely dryer and, it is gorgeous all the time!
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Who can’t love a good Elvis sighting?! Such a beautiful area for sure. We lived in Portland for ten months on a hope that it could be a place we’d settle permanently. Summers are gorgeous up that way, but the dark winters are hard. My wife found it really challenging. Of course, we do think of it often during hurricane season. 😉 Lovely photos, Tracey! – Marty
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If you like Elvis, you’d love this place. Full of all kinds of stuff and its huge! There are definitely trade-offs in the weather. I’ve been in hurricane land a long time and that does get old…not to mention the heat and humidity. Oh to be able to fly and have a home in each place!
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Nature looks so refreshingly beautiful after a drizzle. I love that ambiance just after the earth gets soaked in rain. Beautiful photos, especially of that moss-covered bench.
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Thank you! I love what the rain has done to the benches and bridges in this reserve!
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I am So Cal born and raised. Just barely managed to put up with the relatively mild summer heat and humidity and relatively temperate winters in Tennessee for the last 15 years. My best So Cal neighbors moved to south Central Oregon several years ago while my two daughters have been in Kalamazoo, MI, for the last couple of years. I’ve already told my BFF that she gets too much heat and snow, relatively little as they may be compared to the desert SW and northern Midwest. My daughter told me a couple of weeks ago that she could see me living in Kalamazoo where they get way more snow though possibly less humidity than TN. Personally, I think she’s delusional and so perhaps is just indulging in wishful thinking! Happy house hunting. It’s at least a good excuse for travelling during this “dangerous” time.
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I’m sure your daughter would be very happy to have you near! My parents lived in Michigan for 30 years after my Dad retired from the Navy. I visited them often, but it was too cold for me! We are STILL looking for a house. Market so tight everywhere. Stay well!
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I live in a climate where it only rains occasionally and that’s fine by me as I am solar powered. I lived in Vancouver for 1 1/2 years before Prosaic was invented but if I had stayed I would have been a test patient for it. I love the cold and the snow and the hot and the dry with thunderstorms. Works for me. It must be a big decision to think about moving that far. Good luck with it.
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Thank you. Yes, it’s a lot to think about. My husband’s family is in Vancouver, so there is a double draw to the area.
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