Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

Retirement on the horizon

NFR 
3K views 36 replies 21 participants last post by  Rick Todd 
#1 ·
Background: Now that I am within spitting distance (~2.5 yrs) of retirement my wife and I spend a good deal of time trying to figure out what we want to do in our retirement years and where we want to settle down. We are both from Western NY where we raise our family and lived until I retired early from Kodak in 2006 after 32 years. We moved to Florida where she started a small business and I also became self employed. By the end of 2008 the recession had done us in and we had to regroup, which we have in Richland, WA. So we are relative strangers out here but both our girls have moved here, so we will be staying in the region. I love the fishing opportunities out here and my wife has enjoyed our exploration of the region with our travel trailer.

We would like to be near a small metro area to have access to cultural activities, decent health care, and restaurants yet be a short drive to decent fishing and other outdoors activities. We will be spending the next couple of years exploring different locations based on these criteria.

So the first place we want to get to know is Spokane. We have spent a few weekends there and really enjoyed ourselves. I would appreciate input from WFF folks familiar with living in the area and how you like it - pros & cons. Recommendations of other locales will be greatly appreciated.
 
See less See more
#31 ·
Hell, I am retiring and moving to Washington because I thought you could fish the year around there. Here you have to drill a hole in the ice and stand in the wind and endure temperatures in the teens and if you are lucky you might catch a blue gill.
 
#33 ·
Hell, I am retiring and moving to Washington because I thought you could fish the year around there.
You can, which is one of the nice things about this area. I retire in 8 years and have no plans to relocate from western wa.
Based on the posts, it seems like a fair amount of folks intend to relocate out of state in their retirement years.
Rivers, lakes or the salt always offer some place to fish on the wetside. As far as weather goes, I'd rather rust then burn or freeze.
I can take trips if I need hot weather or to give my ice auger a workout.
I had acreage in Eastern Wa but no longer do. Not being close enough to saltwater was a deal breaker for me. After fishing Puget Sound for 50+ years it still as a strong allure for me.
SF
 
  • Like
Reactions: Theron
#32 ·
Bought a condo in Hailey, ID a couple years back when the economy went in the tank. Plenty of "culture" up the road in Ketchum, walking distance to the Big Wood River, and an easy drive to more lakes and rivers than I could fish in a lifetime. Just need to tread water for a couple more years and the wife and I are outta' here.
 
G
#34 ·
At 53 years old ,the one thing I don't worry about is retirement. With the present state of afairs in this country I don't even Qualify for full s.s. until I'm 68 years old and the way the government is starting to tax the current workers to pay for all the B.S. free ride programs. I doubt that I will ever be done paying for the mass of freeloaders that inhabit this country. So my new retierment plan is to go to prison and get free tv,free,
medical care , free landury , a free libary pass,& no job. welcome to the new America P.s. I'll have lots of free time to tye flies, E-mail me to get on my mailing list!
 
#37 ·
Some of us also consider family in our retirement location. I have 4 grandkids from 1 to 7 years old all living in Ferndale. Wouldn't want to get too far away from them! Having grown up in San Jose CA, I find constant sunshine is over rated! Actually, from our place in Winthrop, I can think of 3 restaurants that are as good as any I go to in Seattle and better than I can find in Bellingham. There is a great community theater (The Merc in Twisp) and fishing and bird hunting very close by. Weather is ideal IMO and it has the best xcountry skiing in the country. (the Loop is not a bad small downhill area as well). Only drawback I can see for full timing here is health care as the nearest hospital is 45 minutes and the best near by health care in Wenatchee (90 minutes) Upton-I'm surprised you are leaving duck hunting for Florida, but if you lived there in the past, I guess you know about the hot humid, hurricane filled summers! No place is really ideal for weather as there is always a bad season! We will probably maintain a home base in Ferndale, use Winthrop a lot, and take a travel trailer to the south for a couple months when we need a sun break in the winter. Plus, the fishing in New Zealand is pretty nice when we are in the depths of winter, and my wife loves Ascention Bay for bonefish occasionally! Rick
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top