If you could choose one NW city to live/train in year round....

Is Salem any good for training? I've only been there for the Willamette XC meet.

penticton, bc would be my choice...

living in training in calgary, ab is cold but decent.

Bellingham has the best trail system, but the weather can suck in the winter. Redmond has the Redmond Watershed where you can run close to 20 miles, some local parks, and is within a short drive of some other pretty good runs, plus it's relatively close to Seattle. But if running is really important to you, I would say Bellingham. You'll never have to run on the roads again...unless you want to.

Bend, OR: Great trails. Some altitude. Close to Eugene.

Pullman, WA: Lots of great hilly dirt farm roads. No big-city distractions.

Now if having fun were part of the equation it would have to be Seattle or Vancouver. I did my best training in Pullman when my life was boring as hell.

H. North Bend. I'd love to live next to Mt. Si and the other mountains. I'd run up Mt. Si every other day.

2nd H. Olympia. Nice town. Running is ok. An interesting view is at the top of Capitol Peak in the Capitol Forest. On a clear day you can see the Sound, the Capitol, the Seattle skyline, the Pacific Ocean, and the mountains. Good luck Tony.

H. Other?...Astoria, OR. Funky little city with a cool sub-culture. Close to the beach. Lots of old abandoned logging roads. And if you are bored, just head down to the hills behind Seaside and start searching for Bigfoot. I will be moving to Astoria soon. Don't know if they have a running club, but if not, I may start one.

seattle portland eugene for the training groups and coaching. If you are more the solo type it is hard to beat bend oregon.

I'd pick Bend, Bellingham, Kalispell, Missoula, or Astoria. I like Portland and Seattle both, but they're too large for my liking. Eugene has too many hippies. Astoria is where I would live if it was closer to good skiing.

Ashland. thats it.

Bit bias for having lived there, but Corvallis is a diamond in the rough.

Is Corvallis a good place to raise a family ?

Having spent time in only Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, it'd be Vancouver for me. Don't intimately know how well the "train" side of the equation stacks up against some of the others, though it sure as hell seemed to have more and better places to run than NYC; but it scored high on my "live" meter. As long as you're not too freaked out by the legions of drug-addled homeless, who are considerably stronger in number there than in New York these days. Though less than the Night Of The Living Dead zone in downtown LA!

beat up fords wrote:

Is Corvallis a good place to raise a family ?

Don't see why not. Quiet, clean, college town with lots and lots of trails, parks, bike lanes everywhere, sporting/arts events. Educated and fairly liberal people. Food is dirt cheap, no tax (WinCo!). The only downside is cost of housing, which is offset by the excellent quality of life. Jobs revolve around the university and HP. Weather is mild year-round, and the rain is not as bad as people claim, although it typically floods near the Willamette River. Corvallis is 55 min. from the ocean and 1-2 hours from the mountains, so the best of both worlds.

any locals know what the area just north of seattle is like for running/living? areas like kenmore, woodinville, bothel etc??

Vancouver

Astoria, OR is indeed a cool town. It's also a bit famous as movies such as "The Goonies" and "Kindergarten Cop" took place (and were filmed?) there. You have flatland, massive hills, a river... I guess I didn't spend a lot of time there, but my whole family thought it was great.

Pullman, WA, home of WSU, is a decent place, but I think there are better choices. It's a small town even with the college, and without it I think the town is only 5000 or so. Like one guy said, you could probably get in some good training but life would be pretty boring unless you're college age.

Seattle and Portland are both good. Seattle really seemed like a cool place to live, but I don't know how good the running scene is there.

Coeur d'Alene, ID is pretty cool, as is just about any town in western Montana or that northern part of ID. Lots of mountains, beautiful trees, altitude, but cold in winter.

I haven't been to the other cities mentioned, so I can't help you out there. In summary:

Coeur d'Alene - forest, mountains, altitude

Seattle - lots of fun but running not the best

Pullman - good training and college but that's it

Astoria - best all around

All the towns are within 6 hours or so from each other. You might take a 2-7 day road trip to get a feel for them all sometime.