Wow! Thanks everyone for your input. I didn’t expect such a voluminous response. I’ve been traveling (with my kayak) and found it difficult to respond to these responses each night but I’m home now, so here’s some kind of a potpourri of responses and additional somewhat random thoughts.
A few additional things that would add to the appeal of a given location that I didn’t mention initially are (1) industrial infrastructure (sounds silly but as much as I enjoy paddling in nature, I also enjoy paddling with big ships and tugboats and cranes and all that human stuff). So that’s pretty true of Portland OR and Tacoma but not so much I wouldn’t think with respect to Maine. I started kayaking in New Haven CT (well over 30 years ago and there was a small port there that more often than not had a freighter docked and further up the coast is a naval base (New London I believe) where I was paddling once and had a sub cruise by (which was pretty damn cool - 2nd time as I had a similar experience down in GA with a SLBM sub popping it’s hatches as it went by). Anyway, the 2nd thing is an active paddling community. I don’t have that now (in Atlanta) but occasionally make it down to Charleston SC and am really impressed with the kayak meetup group there, the weekly scheduled activities and so on.
Celia - I hadn’t even considered proximity to good medical facilities but even though I’ve generally been in good health, I guess that should become more of a consideration as I move into my 60’s and beyond. I would think that all of the places I mentioned, being in or adjacent to big cities would have good medical facilities with the exception of the Maine coast perhaps? Anyway, I will keep that in mind.haven’t thought about medical but I assume everywhere I’m considering would have good access except perhaps Maine if I was up the coast
bud16415 - Yes, I think you are correct that no matter where I move I will have to become a snowbird, and consider therefore the merits of being a sunbird in those different places on our potential retirement spot list. Atlanta is a nice place to travel from as it’s a big Delta Hub. I did a quick look at some travel itinerary’s from Portland OR, SeaTac, and the Portland International and Connecticut (Bradley) airports and most seemed to offer reasonable access at a reasonable price to sunnier, warmer climes. Perhaps a bit more of a drive to the airport in CT and Maine (depending on where along the coast I lived). It’s kind of a big issue in terms of how to go about being a snowbird. I’ve considered getting a condo somewhere nice and affordable (like if I were in the PNW, maybe Baja) which is cool because you’ve got your own place but the downside is that then your somewhat committed to giving up on exploring and just going to the same place over and over. I don’t know anything about this but I’ve recently begun to think about having a condo that is an investment property (renting it out with the help of a management company) but don’t know how much of a headache that is. I’ve also considered getting a mini-trailer to preserve the options of exploring different areas. I like to drive now but not sure how I’ll feel in another 5-10 years. It would be nice though because I could take my boat with me. There’s the larger RV option but I think it may be at least AS cost effective just to fly somewhere and stay in an Extended Stay place for a month or so. Anyway, lots to think about.
Pikeabike - yes I worry about the persistent gray drizzly weather and its affect on my mood. Oddly enough, my wife is one of a small subset of people on whom gray skies actually have the opposite effect.
re: traffic. Yeah, it sounds like most everywhere we are considering probably has bad traffic, which I really don’t like, but Atlanta is hardly a treat either and not working, I can mostly avoid rush hour at least. On a related note, the seasonal flood of tourists in the NE sounds very unpleasant.
Celia - very interesting to read your comment about downeast ME being similarly afflicted by long stretches of gray weather and also about crowds dissipating by midcoast. I’m wondering if there is a sweet spot in the middle somewhere. Also regarding arts, culture, etc., I would really like to have year round access to a healthy restaurant scene, and the occasional concert (e.g., by aging classic rock bands and the like). I have to assume that Tacoma and Portland OR have good restaurants and enough that you don’t end up going to the same places over and over. Driving through CT on this trip, I saw a lot of what looked like smaller fine cuisine type restaurants along the coast (is it Boston Post Rd) but I didn’t have time to stop and explore so don’t know for sure how the quality is. I’ve had some good meals in Maine over the years but not sure what’s available when you get out of the touristy places, or in the non-tourist season. I love fried haddock and chowder and lobster pie and cod cakes and all that but wonder if there’s enough non-seafood options available to keep a foodie happy year round.
Brodie - RI is an interesting possibility although I traveled through there on this trip (and had made a few trips decades ago when I lived in CT) and the parts I was in tended to look kind of run down. Pot holes, gravel parking lots…just sort of old looking, even though some of the neighborhoods I drove through (based on some pre-trip Zillow scanning) looked very pretty.
Kayakmedic - I’m not a beer lover, and i DO like avocado toast so, for me…not a check in the pro’s of Maine column!!
Based on very limited experience - 2 paddling spots, I found the paddling in Puget sound to be a bigt monotonous. Long linear stretches of cobble beach front. I do like sea stars and anemonoes though and could hopefully find some craggly coves.
A few final miscellaneous comments.
From very limited experience, I think I might find the craggy coastal regions of Maine more interesting than what I have experienced in the PNW where I’ve only had the opportunity to paddle areas that have somewhat linear monotonous cobble beaches. I know that could very well reflect a small sample size (I’ve paddled near Bellington WA, Dabob Bay, and somewhere near Clallam Bay). And I love east coast salt marshes (probably my favorite paddling), especially near high tide (the York River, as I drove over it on 95 a few weeks ago, looked so pretty). However, I think I much prefer the warmer winter air temps in the PNW even though the water is, for me, basically drysuit water on both coasts year round.
Oh, I came across a great website for comparing the essential climatic features of different cities in the US (and around the world I believe). It’s called Weatherspark. It shows in a clear graphical format things like air temp throughout the year, wind speed (tends to be greater in coastal Maine vs Tacoma or Portland OR which also makes the PNW a bit more appealing to me), water temp, cloud cover, days of precipitation, etc. and allows you to directly compare different cities.
One question I had is what are the lake temps like in the PNW. Are they warm enough to paddle / swim in a bathing suit in the summer. The lakes in GA are all artificial (formed by impoundments), with clay banks and clay-colored water. I don’t enjoy them. But maybe I would warm up to lake paddling, so to speak, in the NE or PNW.
Well, sorry to go on for so long. Thanks again for everyone’s input.
-Dave
