Bellingham WA. Good place to live?

If you like meth and trailer trash then it sounds like a match made in heaven.

just moved back here after going to college here about 15 years and love it. It may feel a little small if you are used to bigger cities, but Vancouver/Seattle are close enough for weekends etc. People forget about Vancouver as an option because of a line on the map, but it's closer than Seattle.

The unofficial motto "City of Subdued Excitement" seems fitting. The upside is that people are generally friendly and don't flip you off over minor traffic incidents etc. The downside might be that people are content rather than driven, and this leads to there being less people pursuing to be the best in their fields (fewer top notch restaurants, national class local writers, really good music acts etc. than I expected) There's things going on, but for a college town of this size a little less than I expected. the local beer scene is fairly good and growing quickly.

People's mindset is definitely local/outdoors orientated which is nice for quality of life and dealing with people on a day-to-day basis, but if you are someone who needs the stimulation of being around ambitious people with big plans, you might find it lacking in some areas.

I personally find most 'ambitious' people to be a little obnoxious, so I don't mind, but after 6 months I'm already finding the local options for entertainment/social stimulation etc to be a little limiting. For me the cure has been exploring the rest of the region, lots of nice smaller towns to explore on the weekend. Thinking hard about getting a sailboat and learning to sail next summer, one of the best places for sailing in the country I think.

Overall quality of life score 8.5/10

thanks for the response! hmm yeah that description is definitely in line with what I've observed while visiting. Outdoorsyness seems to rule supreme. The lack of social/cultural activities does concern me a little bit, though it does help to know that Seattle and Vancouver are so close.

As someone who's spent a lot of time in PNW "scenester" college towns, resentment of ambition seems to be pretty commonplace throughout the region.

Grew up there. Fondly remember every memory from that place. Great trails for running. Great secluded trails for running. I remember being in high school and telling the coach I was running on the trails, but I would really go there to masturabte. Great isolation. No one ever caught me. So if you want a good place to jerk and run, go to Bellingham.

whatcom wrote:

The upside is that people are generally friendly and don't flip you off over minor traffic incidents etc.

Haha what? The stereotype of Bellingham locals is that they're rude, especially towards transplants and passerbys.

Also, OP is 1 of at least 100,000 people that I've heard say they plan to move to Bellingham.

Chris You already know wrote:

Grew up there. Fondly remember every memory from that place. Great trails for running. Great secluded trails for running. I remember being in high school and telling the coach I was running on the trails, but I would really go there to masturabte. Great isolation. No one ever caught me. So if you want a good place to jerk and run, go to Bellingham.

dude! I saw you, got very turned on & I myself was jerking off in the bushes; wish we'd met then. god you had a beautiful c*ck-- still do, i hope-- & o the late afternoon sun glinting off your sweaty forearms

Bellingham locals rude? ha, that's a first. The friendliest place I've ever lived and I'm a transplant.

The only thing I can think of is the slight sense of irritation against Canadians flooding into their box stores on the weekend, but that's about it.

whatcom wrote:

Bellingham locals rude? ha, that's a first. The friendliest place I've ever lived and I'm a transplant.

The only thing I can think of is the slight sense of irritation against Canadians flooding into their box stores on the weekend, but that's about it.

+ horned up kids j/o'ing in the woods! maybe today with ubiquitous pron it's different.

whatcom wrote:

Bellingham locals rude? ha, that's a first. The friendliest place I've ever lived and I'm a transplant.

They're nice so long as you're just like them. It's the great irony of the town -- so many open, accepting white people who prefer other open, accepting white people.

What kind of jobs are available there? Are you going to make minimum wage living there?

I don't work locally, so not sure of the job market. From my limited understanding it's a little challenging to get a nice well paying full time job right now, but I'm sure it depends on your skill set. Of course the minimum wage will something like $14 herein a couple years, so getting a job in the next tier up from that might actually pay enough to live a decent life, depending on your wants/needs.

whatcom wrote:

just moved back here after going to college here about 15 years and love it. It may feel a little small if you are used to bigger cities, but Vancouver/Seattle are close enough for weekends etc. People forget about Vancouver as an option because of a line on the map, but it's closer than Seattle.

Well unless you have NEXUS then you have to wait a couple hours at that "line on the map"...

Overall I agree, I would consider living there if I were looking for a mid-size town in a good location

Money money money wrote:

What kind of jobs are available there? Are you going to make minimum wage living there?

handjobs in the woods, $5.

BJs free!

how often have you had wait 2 hours?!?

I've crossed about 20 times this year and averaged about 10 mins at the border and usually figure on just barely over an hour for the the entire trip to Vancouver, including the crossing....not 2 hours just at the border.

This involved checking the border wait times online before I left and crossing at different borders sometimes but really never seemed to be much of an issue unless I tried to cross on Friday night of a Holiday weekend or something.

yeah just checked and at 9 o'clock on Saturday the wait was 10 mins. Not bad for a weekend.

F U C K Bellingham

Eugene, Oregon is the only Track Town USA

pnw wrote:

Outdoorsyness seems to rule supreme.

No, POSER outdoorsyness rules supreme, which is why REI is such a hit. If you already own a Subaru with a "TREES are the answer" bumper sticker, you won't fit in.

In fact, if you really want to fit in, just study JP's wisdom. He gets Bellingham.

glad to hear that the woods of bellingham are a jerker's mecca. I live on the east coast these days, but fortunately i get to come back and visit pretty frequently. as soon as i get to town i go straight to the woods. those back woods were the first place i ever sipped my own tip. bliss.

moose wrote:

They're nice so long as you're just like them. It's the great irony of the town -- so many open, accepting white people who prefer other open, accepting white people.

This is, unfortunately, highly accurate. There's also a lot of rich people who want to tell everyone else how to live. Fact: Whatcom County is no longer approving new residential wells. If you buy a plot of land you can't live on it unless it's already got one.