USA Today picks Sequim as Best Northwestern Small Town

What a surprise to see Sequim get chosen as the Best Small Town in the Northwest among 20 others in WA, OR, AK, ID, MT and WY. This win will definitely influence people's decisions to visit Sequim or even to move to this lovely small town with big town amenities as we did 10 years ago.

The last snow before spring 2017

It seems Sequim received this precious award just at the right time. Sequim's Irrrigation Festival Grand Finale continues on this weekend with multiple events:
Grand Parade on Saturday, Logging Show, Hot Rod & Harley, Strongman Show and more.

Sequim Irrigation Festival 2016

Not only that we celebrate Sequim's 122nd Irrigation Festival and got awarded with the Best Western Small Town, Spring is in full bloom with the lovely sweet
scent of Lilacs and colorful Rhodies everywhere after tons of daffodils in Sequim residents' front yards.

Real Cherry Tree promises big 2017 harvest

The run for a nice house in Sequim to buy, keeps realtors already very busy with several bets on houses for sale. Inventory is low and the competition is big for what's available. Ask our friend Tom Blore whose "pending" signs are all over town. Do what we did, research the area, make a list of houses you are interested in and then set up a vacation for a real visit. Don't buy 'unseen', even if it sounds more than tempting.

Cherry Blossom Trees everwhere

Moving to Sequim Olympic Peninsula

Relocating to Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula has become a very attractive idea for many vacationers who spent a vacation in Sequim this summer 2015 for different reasons:

Why moving to Sequim?

Baby boomers are looking for the perfect place to retire...

Sequim offers the most moderate weather: mild winters & moderate summers

No EXTREMES!

Tired of living in a big city? 

   

Sequim located between the Olympic Mountains and the Straits of Juan de Fuca 

offers country living with the amenities of big town box stores like Costco,

Walmart, Home Depot, Pennies and more.

Housing

There is a wide range of homes, condos, manufactured homes available at a 

 reasonable price compared to the rest of the nation.

Taxes

   

There is no income tax! But sales tax of a bit over 8% on all non-food purchases

can add up easily. Property tax is a little over 1% of assessed value.  

Utilities

The City of Sequim provides water, sewer, electricity by PUD and trash pickup

within city limits. Be aware that private wells and septic systems in rural areas

in the Dungeness Valley can be a costly expense for construction and maintenance.

Employment

Sequim is foremost a retirement town with needs for tourism, recreation and health

care. There is plenty of work to do for handy men, gardeners, yard & house 

work or nurses and nurses aids for home care or in rehab or assisted living         

facilities. Experienced realtor companies always look for independent co-     workers www.clallam.org

Education 

Sequim High School offers quality education till 12th grade. Peninsula College   

offers adult classes in Sequim and Port Angeles.

Churches 

The over 20 churches in Sequim represent most of the major denominations. 

The Sequim churches are a center for many social events around the year.

Fitness Clubs & Golf Clubs

  

Sequim senior citizens love an active life-style socializing with retired friends at   SARC, Sequim Gym or Any Time Fitness . Sequim residents may play golf in 

Sunland on the weekends or at any time at the 7- cedars resort golf course. See 

golf rates here. 

We love to answer your personal questions about 'Moving to Sequim' right here on the Sequim Town Blog when we feel our answer will be helpful for the big Move!

Is Sequim the best town to retire in US?

Sequim best retirement city?

Yes, for us definitely. For all those who have followed our blog "Sequim Town" over the years or even for the many guests who stayed with us at our Sequim Vacation Rental over the last few years - by the way, an impressive 50% of those ended up moving to Sequim and live here now for good - this is nothing new.

View from Bell Hill over Sequim Bay, the Straits and Cascade Mountains

But now the 'Huffington Post' and 'Fox News' individually named Sequim as best retirement city in the USA, which makes our little town really stand out among retirement options. However, we can't agree with all the reasoning of those two -  like pot is now legal in WA and therefore in Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula, which might be the biggest attraction for some - we love best the closeness to the ocean (Straits de Juan de Fuca) and the mountains (Olympic National Park), the moderate temperatures all your round with a very average of annual rain fall between 12 - 15 inch. One can't beat small town living with big town amenities - Costco and WalMart on the top of shopping opportunities.

View over Sequim Valley, with the Straits and Mt.Maker in back

SARC Sequim Aquatic Recreational Center including modern work-out equipment, big variety of exercise classes, Olympic size swimming pool, steam and hot saunas and wonderful jacuzzi has become the morning meeting place for seniors, "competing' with our top notch Senior Center, to socialize and stay in best shape ever.

Coming back to the fact that Sequim got named in the top of best national retirement cities, this development is not welcome by everybody in town. We all love our peaceful living, wonderful natural environment and neighborhood watches to keep us safe. So some consider more retirees as 'intruders', even though most of them have been one not far ago.

John Wayne Marina

We all got to realize that only change can make things happen. Wouldn't we all like to see the value of our real estate property going up or see our health care system further improve?! So let's embrace change and welcome the new retirees to Sequim!

Sequim Jamestown Golf Course views

Come for a visit and you might want to come back to stay!

House for Rent in Sequim - Peaceful location, Walk to Downtown - RENTED!

Dear Sequim town visitors,
You loved your summer vacation in Sequim a lot and consider now seriously to move to Sequim for good but don't know what life will be like for the rest of the seasons, your best first move is to rent a house for a year! This allows you to get to know all the facets of the Olympic Peninsula and find the house of your dreams at the same time. 

Sorry, this Sequim Townhouse is now rented. 

The 2Br/2Ba Townhouse (1290 sft) is conveniently located in the center of Sequim town, yet in peaceful neighborhood bordering Pioneer Park within walking distance to shops, restaurants, medical offices & gyms. The townhouse features open floor plan, skylights, computer nook off dining room, kitchen with Maple cabinets, granite tile countertops, stainless steel appliances, hardwood & carpet flooring. The modern heat pump supplies tenants AC in summer & saves money on electricity in winter. Electric fireplace in living room. Large master bedroom with walk- in closet. Covered front porch and back patio. Attached 2-car garage.

Contact us at SequimRental

Sequim Houses for Rent

Summer is here, not just the beautiful Sequim summer weather indicating it but more emails from potential future Sequim residents show that people think again about moving to Sequim. We received the following email today from San Jose, CA. We decided, in agreement with the email writer, to publish it on Sequim Town blog together with our personal response regards the request for help:

"Found your blog and enjoyed reading it.

My son lives in Auburn and has suggested I consider moving to Sequim. He is flying me up in a week or two for a visit and to explore the area. I've been online looking at rentals and have found some possibilities on the Peninsula but nothing in Sequim. I'm not looking for a vacation rental but for a place to live. Do you have any suggestions as to where I should look for listings?

It will take awhile to prepare for the move assuming I'm going to like the area as much as I think I'm going to but I need to have some idea of what's available and at what prices.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Cassandra Andre"

We are always happy to hear that people really appreciate the information on our Sequim Vacation blog. From the above email and our phone conversation, I have the feeling that Cassandra already did plenty of research about Sequim as her future place to live and is just narrowing down her options where to live in Sequim.


As she is not interested in buying a house in Sequim, she is asking for resources where to find adequate Sequim home rentals at affordable prices. Here are our recommendations for her and others who look for a house for rent in Sequim:

Sequim Homes for Rent Resources

It has never been easier and more affordable to find a house for rent in Sequim than NOW. Sequim Gazette is a good place to look. I was not surprised to see how much Sequim house rental rates had come down during the last months! Good for the renters, not good for the owners.

In finding more resources for Cassandra, I also came across this forum where people posted their experience with Sequim. It never hurts to read personal feedbacks about the town you consider to move to.

Here are the current Sequim rentals available for lease by Action Property Management But remember this is a limited resource as not everybody lists his house for rent with a rental management company.

The Classifieds in the Peninsula Daily News always list new places for rent. We recommend to check those on a weekly basis. I just checked the houses for rent in Sequim + Port Angeles area today.

Last but not least, we told Cassandra to come here for a short vacation. Use the above house rental resources and make a list of the ones you take into close consideration: square footage, rate per month, location with physical address. It's so much easier to make a decision when you have had a look at a house from the outside. Upon our arrival in Sequim, we worked through a list of about 12 Sequim houses for sale. In the end, there were only three left which we were interested to have a look at the inside.

It's a little bit different with renting or leasing a home in Sequim compared to buying a house, yet still you want to feel comfortable with the countryside, the neighborhood and whether you can imagine living there.

BTW Cassandra, who is an artist and a writer who works from home, asked me to include her email address with this blog post. Sequim houses for rent owners may write her an email with details and photos about their house for rent. Good luck, Cassandra, for finding a nice house to rent in Sequim!

Tags: Sequim Homes for Rent, Sequim Houses Leases, Sequim Vacation

Sequim WA or Santa Rosa CA?

Dear Sequimtown blog visitors,

Most of our regular blog readers are following our Sequim articles because when contemplating moving to Sequim for good, one wants to know as many details about the town and area where you intend to live before making a serious commitment like buying a new home in Sequim. Believe us we know better than anybody else because we moved from Hawaii to Sequim!

This week, we received another one of those emails from somebody who had heard about Sequim and is now wondering about all kinds of things: why we chose Sequim and not Bellingham or PortTownsend, what we like in Sequim, what we don't like and much more. We published Jack's email with his permission as a comment on our recent post 'Get Ready for your Sequim Vacation'. Before continuing reading this article, you might want to visit that post and read Jack's entire comment.

We decided to answer a number of Jack's questions in this post, which we called ' Sequim WA or Santa Rosa CA?'

Why Sequim and not Port Townsend or Bellingham?

Jack believe us we studied many WA weather charts, average temperature and rain fall by month and year of all the places in WA we had considered and Sequim with its location in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains came up with the least rain and the most moderate climate.

Are we missing cultural events of big town living?

Well, we have lived in Hawaii for many years in a peaceful, rural countryside, in a small town community (actually very similar to Sequim) in the most wonderful setting surrounded by rolling hills, snow covered volcanoes and white sand beaches a short 10-minute drive away. When in Honolulu, we longed to be back home! Now you can imagine how small Sequim town perfectly matched our expectations with its wonderful location and scenery between mountains and ocean. There are lots of cultural events happening on the Peninsula, just on a smaller scale. The big city, Seattle, is a short 2 hr drive away for those who want to be there occasionally.

Is Santa Rosa a better place to live than Sequim?

It all depends what you are looking for. I did not know many facts about Santa Rosa, so I checked Google and found a lot of answers about Santa Rosa like the number of residents in 2007 was 157,985 compared to 5000 in Sequim, and the annual rainfall is 30 inches compared to 12 inches in Sequim. CA homes were on the high end when we looked at homes in CA and even now that prices came down, they are still too inflated (just like Hawaii home prices) to attract retired people on a fixed income. Well, if home prices are not an issue and you don't mind higher temperatures above 90 F or big town living, Santa Rosa might be the way to go for you.

Bottom line: Nobody and no place is perfect! There is no perfect weather, not even in Hawaii, which got too hot for us when getting older. And global warming will probably change a lot of weather patterns around the world. So make sure that you live in a likable community with friendly people, amenities and activities you like!

What we like in Sequim

We like the unique location between mountains and ocean.

We like small town living with big town amenities (from Costco to WalMart etc.)

We like the moderate weather. Milder winters and not so hot summers.

We like the outdoor activities such as walking, hiking, biking and more.

We like Sequim's friendly people.

We love SARC Sequim Aquatic Recreational Center. Best reason to move here!

What we don't like

When not used to seasons, the winter months, moderate or not, can stretch a bit. Hawaii, Palm Springs and Phoenix AZ are great options for getting away for a month or two to break the winter spell.

Moving to another place and whether Sequim is right for you, is all about finding out about your own priorities and expectations and then find the best possible match for you! Best way to find out whether Sequim is a match, come visit Sequim for a vacation!

Tags: Sequim, Olympic Peninsula, Sequim vacation, Moving to Sequim, Best of sequim

Happy New Year Sequim!

Dear Sequim vacation blog visitors,
The holidays are over and a short Sequim round-up what happened since our last blog 'Sequim Winter' might be a nice time to catch up with happenings in sunny little Sequim town.

First things first, the winter is not over. Since our moving here in January 2006, we experienced our coldest winter in Sequim. That's at least what long time Sequim residents confirm us. Yet, we thank ourselves for our thorough research we had done before we moved to Sequim. Yes, at several times during the holiday season we got some snow and it was still lying on the ground Carrie Blake Park, so I guess we could call it a white Christmas in Sequim. However, we really got protected by the Olympic Mountains from piles of snow which came down on Port Townsend, Port Angeles and of course, Seattle.

Our gym friends Edie and Brian, who live off Old Olympic Highway, 'donated' those lovely Christmas snowman photos! Their daughters visited from Seattle for Christmas in Sequim. Thanks guys!


Well, finally we are in possession of the snow chains which one needs in 2009 for entering the Olympic National Park for a visit to Hurricane Ridge. Even though we have the snow chains, we are not in the mood and pushing our luck going up in the mountains when conditions are too challenging. It's quite interesting what was happening during the holidays.

We watched the Sequim weather and when Sequim was nice and sunny and winds were calm on a weekend, we'd call the hot line for Hurricane Ridge 360-565-3131 weather forecast. Alas, it never sounded, we were ready for the mountain road adventure hitting snow and frost on the roads. So, we are still waiting for the perfect day for our winter wonderland visit to Hurricane Ridge. Good thing is that the snow there will last for a long time all the way into spring.

As our kids are all spread around the world, with no easy 'hop' to Sequim, we celebrated Christmas and New Year's with neighborhood and SARC friends. We had a wonderful, peaceful time each holiday. Midnight at New Year's we were all by ourselves standing on our balcony bundled up in warm clothes and waiting for fireworks in Sequim but nothing much happened. We retreated to the cozy warmth of the house and watched the firework spectacle at the Space Needle in Seattle. What a show!

Watch 2008/2009 Fireworks at Seattle's Space Needle - Happy New Year!



Well, it's not too late to wish all our friends in Sequim, Hawaii and around the world 'A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year'. As we told everybody in our year-end greetings we have not once regretted our moving to Sequim. On the 12th of January, it will be our 3rd anniversary of moving to the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest. If you have any questions about little Sequim town, life or a monthly vacation in Sequim, we'd happily answer those. Stay connected with Sequim through our Sequim Town blog!
p.s.
We received some more photos from our Hawaii expats Christmas party and thought we place a few here to show everybody that even Hawaii guys can be happy in Sequim.

Tags: sequim, moving to sequim, sequim in winter

Hawaiian Party in Sequim

As everybody who has been following our Sequim vacation blog for some time knows by now, we moved from to sunny Sequim from sunny Hawaii Big island about 2 1/2 years ago. Within those years we've met quite a number of people who had moved from other Hawaiian Islands to the Olympic Peninsula with the main purpose to retire in Sequim, just like us.

We were happy to hear from our friend Margret - who is actually not from Hawaii but always liked and likes to vacation there - that those 'transplants' from Hawaii meet on a regular basis and that there will be a potluck Hawaiian luau in the Park close to the Dungeness Spit. All former Hawaiians and people in love with Hawaii were warmly invited to join the Hawaiian luau on Saturday 8/9/08.

When we arrived at noon in the Park by the Dungeness Spit, a big crowd had already gathered. Food was plentiful and mouthwatering. Even Hawaiian Poi, made from Taro root, was available. Here I must admit that in the many years of living in Hawaii, we both never got used to the Poi. I guess it's an acquired taste. But there was plenty of food and desserts to choose from.

First, the weather was a bit on the chilly and rainy side but it definitely did not 'chill' the aloha spirit and smiles of about 40 - 50 people. And when the hula dancers around their excellent teacher Mahina and Mike and Erma from Naki'i were ready to play their guitar and ukuleles and the hula, the sun broke through and warmed our hearts and spirits watching graceful hula ladies of all ages with happy smiles and listening to familiar Hawaiian tunes. It was amazing what a great job the dancers did after have practiced the hula only for 7 months with Mahina at The Senior Center in Sequim.

We all had a wonderful time with fond memories of our lives in Hawaii. We are definitely looking forward to our next Hawaiian luau reunion. The uke (ukulele) players and the hula dancers made this party really special. OK we did not roast a pig in an imu covered with T-leaves for 8 hours like at a traditional luau in Hawaii but that did not stop us from having a great time. Aloha (love) and ahui hou (till next time). Heidi (Pua) and Keoki

p.s.

If you want to learn how to hula, join Mahina and the other Sequim ladies at the Sequim Senior Center Thur 10am - 11am and Sat 10am. It's very spiritual plus gives you a great work-out.

Tags: Sequim, vacation, travel, best retirement town

Sunny Sequim Weather in Fall !!!

Its as good as it gets in the Pacific Northwest. Is it time to hibernate in Sequim? Not Yet! Certainly Fall weather has arrived effecting our Sequim life each day with a color palette from golden yellow to dark reds, dahlias are still blooming in our flower beds but night temperatures are going under 50 degrees. It feels great to get the benefit of a heat pump and the ambiance of a wood stove.

For all those who still doubt the truth of the Sequim Blue Hole and our Sequim Rain Shadow weather, just a short account of these last 2 days. Ever since we moved to Sequim, 18mos ago, we have made it a habit to watch the weather forecast with Andy Wappler on KIRO 7 late news. Soon we realized though that the Seattle weather forecast and the actual Sequim weather are worlds apart. Best way to find out what Sequim weather will be like is to look out the window in the morning and watch what's happening. Yesterday Seattle and most of the rest of the Pacific Northwest were soaked in rain, coastal areas like Forks and Ocean View, Port Angeles and Seattle. Sequim did not get one drop of rain but had sunny weather all day for walks in Carrie Blake park and for bike rides on the Discovery Trail all day long.

Forecast for today was high winds and rain everywhere. OK admitted we woke up to really high winds and some rain, however by 10am the rain had abated though the winds were still quite cold. By noon the first blue hole showed up and by 2pm the sun was shinning through the clouds to the east and west. We had a wonderful walk through Carrie Blake park, visited the dog park and the duck pond with a amazing 72 degrees in the sun.

If you want to know more about Sequim fall activities check out our previous post

Tags: Sequim weather in fall, sunny Sequim

4th Annual Olympic Peninsula Health Fair in Sequim

This blog post is sponsored by Easy Stretch Video - Body/Mind Realaxation

Dear Sequim Town Blog visitors,
We are happy to see that more and more people, who intend to relocate to Sequim from California, Arizona, Colorado and even from Hawaii like us, find our blog useful for their moving plans to Sequim. Please, feel free to ask any question regards life in Sequim, weather or whatever. Please, use the comment button, so we can respond right here at the blog and other Sequim interested blog visitors can read it too.

As long time massage therapists in the state of Hawaii, we naturally pay attention to staying healthy through exercise, stretching, right eating and nutritional supplements. The 4th Olympic Peninsula Health Fair on Saturday September 15 at Sequim High School offers lots of health and wellness services. Free health screenings will be available such as blood sugar analysis and even up to 300 free tetanus inoculations. Over twenty more free screenings will be available as a gift to the community! You can bet that I will take advantage of as many as I can, as I am not on Medicare yet and my monthly premium of $300 and $5000 deductible does not cover any of those needed services.

Since this post is about health related issues, we should mention medical facilities and doctors in Sequim. There seem to be many to choose from when you first arrive but to tell you the truth it is not that easy is to find a doctor. Here is why. Keoki is on Medicare. We had to call several doctors in Sequim in order to find one which would still accept a Medicare patient. A doctor needs to make a living too and with Medicare just paying the doctors to get by, a lot of the Sequim doctors don't take new Medicare patients. So we were lucky when we found a great doctor for both of us.

As senior citizens we were concerned about having easy access to a hospital in the Sequim area. Sequim does not have a hospital at the moment but with our Sequim requirement community steadily growing we might see one soon. Currently the Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles serves also for Sequim residents. With 15 miles from Sequim, it's in easy reach. The PA hospital is well equipped and patient service is decent. To give you peace of mind, the 911 Emergency Service in Sequim responds very fast to calls.

Stay happy and healthy in Sequim. We see you at the Health Fair. The Sequimers

Movie in the Dark at Carrie Blake Park

Oops, nearly missed the annual Sequim Dog Show but luckily we went for an afternoon bike ride through Carrie Blake Park and noticed all the tents and RVs and of course, all kinds of dogs! What fun, even when your are not a dog owner like us. We watched for quite some time the dog show competitions and were amazed how one judge was able to do all the selection and choose the winning dog. Seemed kind of subjective to us but what do we know. I guess this guy is kind of an expert like the Dog Whisperer!

Anyhow, we wanted to include a link to the dog show but were not able to locate one. Instead we found this site to the Carrie Blake Dog Park, which we mentioned in one of our posts about the Park. Sequim Dog Owners, if you don't know yet, this is a great place where your dog can socialize with other dogs, without being on a leash, and you can socialize with other Sequim dog owners.

We were busy welcoming our first guests at our Sequim 'Bell Hill View' Vacation Rental. Very nice couple from Colorado who want to do the big move to Sequim, maybe. It all depends how things work out with selling their house in CO and also getting new jobs in Sequim. We wish them all the best for their moving project! As Jason from Welcome Home Realty says, Sequim Real Estate is a buyer's market. This is the perfect time for buying a house or land in Sequim!

Looks like I got somewhat sidetracked with Dogs and Real Estate. So let's get back to the original issue. When you are on vacation in Sequim and want to experience something special, how about a night trip to Carrie Blake Park for a movie on Tuesday 31? The animated movie 'Happy Feet' will air at dusk on an inflatable big screen set up for the evening.

This movie at Carrie Blake Park will be the second this summer. The first movie was Grease. Drive your car to Carrie Blake Park, park around the bandstand circle, sit on the hood and take the show. The movie will follow a 6pm concert by Fat Chance, a Port Angeles based band. Don't miss the band or the movie. Sequim local sponsors are providing the free night of entertainment for you. See you at the dark at Carrie Blake Park. The Sequimers

Tags: vacation in Sequim, vacation on olympic Peninsula, Sequim Real Estate

Sequim Home for Sale in Sun Meadows

This Sequim House just SOLD! July 2008.

Well, by now after reading our Sequim Blog About everybody knows that we are not realtors but still like to talk about Sequim real estate and Sequim homes for sale. Sequim is a town of steady transition, more so people moving here from California or Arizona or even Hawaii like us than leaving Sequim. When you once live here, there are chances you move within Sequim or even build another house in Sequim.

We never thought we'd sell our home in Sun Meadows till this chance came along to build a new 2-storey Sequim home with extra 1Bd/1Ba guest apartment for our families and friends. Now, we can rest and relax till whatever other chance comes along.

Some time ago, we introduced Bill's and Arlyn's Sequim house for sale to our blog visitors. They are in transition to move into an assisted living home where Arlyn can get the right care when needed. They are still looking for the right buyer of their wonderful home. Our website shows all the details of their Sequim house for sale, with lots of photos & contact information (second property).

Today, we show you Margaret's and John's Sun Meadow Home for Sale. They were nor ready to retire and built their new house with big RV garage and workshop on 2 acres. Now it's time to sell their very unique house which you can easily fall in love with...light and bright and open, inside and out! Lots of privacy behind the house with nice BBQ area in garden setting.

This beautifully landscaped 1788 sq ft Sequim home with 2 Bd/2.5 Ba plus Office is located in the gated community of Sun Meadows with CC&R's, just minutes from John Wayne Marina, (voted the "Best Small Marina on the West Coast"), 7 Cedars Casino, all major shopping and entertainment, Carrie Blake Park, and all the amenities of "Sunny Sequim". See for more photos and detailed Sequim house description.

If you need help contacting the owners, please, let us know with subject 'Sequim Home for Sale Sun Meadows'. Hope our Sequim Town blog helps you find your perfect home in Sequim. Greetings from the Sequimers

Tags: Best retirement town Sequim, Sequim Home for Sale, Sequim, Retirement town

Sequim Town Blog About

Dear Sequim Town Blog visitors,
Welcome to our Sequim Town Blog 'About' page. We decided to tell you a bit more about us and this blog than the short blogger profile glimpse on the side bar. We changed recently our old blog title and description, as we wanted to focus more on our personal aspects of our life in Sequim as retirees who moved to Sequim from Hawaii.

Let's put it in a few more humble words. This is not another corporate website but a blog, a weblog about all aspects and facets about us 'Moving to Sequim' and our 'life in Sequim'. If you plan to relocate to Sequim, spend a monthly vacation in Sequim and see for yourselves before buying a new home in Sequim.

Who are 'The Sequimmers'?

We received several emails in the past asking us whether we are realtors in 'disguise'. To tell you the truth, we are not! We, the Sequimmers Heidi & Keoki, are regular folks like all of you. Yes, we supported and support efforts of friends to sell their Sequim Home. Nothing wrong with helping some friends.

In addition, we mention Sequim real estate issues frequently because they play a major rule in this retirement town on the Olympic Peninsula, and we all know it. It never hurts to know more, especially for people who move from California or Arizona or Hawaii, as we did, to Sequim.

What is the goal of Sequim Town Blog

When we decided to leave Hawaii at the end of 2005 and start our retirement life somewhere else around the globe, we started the biggest Internet research campaign we ever did but to be honest, that did not get us anywhere. In our first Sequim blog post we mentioned our consideration to choose Thailand, Costa Rica or New Zealand as retirement places.

The real input came from real people, friends and even guests at our Hawaii vacation cottages. First time when we heard 'Sequim', we did not pay much attention but when we repeatedly heard people raving about Sequim, we started the second phase of our research about Sequim.

We searched all kinds of search terms for Sequim: Sequim weather, Sequim homes for sale, Sequim real estate, Sequim vacation rentals and homes, Sequim life, Sequim town and more. Each time we learned more about this magical 'Sequim' what it means, how the word is pronounced, that there is little rain, that it has a blue hole and more. We got excited when we found blogs or sites from real people, not businesses which wanted to sell us something, but we appreciated people's ideas and experiences what it took to move to Sequim.

This is what this Sequim Town blog is about...our ideas and experiences in Sequim! We are pretty enthusiastic and optimistic in our Sequim articles (most of the time!) because we fell in love with Sequim. We like living here! Well, if you contemplate moving to Sequim, sign up by email for reading the next post. You may also sign up to our feed which is for the savvy Internet people. See both options on the sidebar above our Sequm weather logo.

Don't worry there won't be too many emails in your inbox. We like to do other things too. We love to go to SARC where Keoki is teaching his Easy Stretch Class (Mo + Wed 10:30am), bike the Olympic Discovery Trail, hike the Olympic Mountains, go on trips and more. Taking care of our Hawaii sites HawaiiAffordable and Kohala CoastWeb + our Hawaii Blog does not leave much time to 'retired' life, which keeps us mentally and physically in shape.

We intend to tell people as much as we can about this town and life in Sequim. However, our blog visitors would like to hear from other people too, not just us. Please, join the discussions by commenting. Click 'leave a comment', sign in 'Name/URL' (if you have one, add it with htttp://, if you don't, leave URL blank) or 'anonymous' and write what you think. Let's make this a virtual meeting place for residents and Sequim visitors. We'd love to hear from you soon. Greetings from sunny Sequim.

p.s.

Last but not least, a recommendation for those who intend to move to Sequim. Do what we did! Come for a Sequim vacation and get a feel for the town, the area and the people. We promise you you want to come back for good!!!

Tags: Moving to Sequim, Life on the Olympic Peninsula, Retire in Sequim

Our new Sequim Home

Dear old and new friends,
Hooray, we finally moved into our upstairs quarters two days ago! Hard to describe how good that feels, even though the house walls are full of little blue stickers where the painter needs to patch up some blemishes and electric sockets need to be aligned. But who cares.

We are in after six months of house construction! As said before we enjoy the most beautiful mountain views of the Olympic Mountains and Bell Hill. Whether we sit at our breakfast table in the kitchen or on the couch in the living room or TV-room, we cannot say enough 'Aaah the views'! Hopefully, we will never get tired of enjoying the views.

We are wasted from all the moving but could not resist to already install flower boxes are on both balconies., always with the anticipation of taking inside and outside photos soon. Here is a first photo to awaken your interest for more. So stay tuned. More photos coming soon. Greetings to all Sequim friends from the Sequimers
p.s.
Sorry but we could not make it to the Sequim Walk and Bike . Just too much to do with moving into the new home. Now, comes the fun part...decorating and picture hanging. Landscaping will be a project for coming months.

Tags: retire in sequim, moving to sequim on the olympic peninsula

Bus service from Sequim to Seattle, and SeaTac Airport

Guess what you don't always need to take your own car when going to Seattle, SeaTac Airport, hospitals or doctors visits. Especially when going on a trip from Sequim, it saves you the extra costs for daily parking fees in Seattle.

The daily bus service serving Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend, Discovery Bay, Kingston, Edmonds, Seatac Airport, Seattle Hospitals, Greyhound and Amtrak is convenient, comfortable and affordable.

We had told our friend about this great service who had to drop his moving van in Kingston and after that he was supposed to drop his son at Seattle Airport for his flight back to California. We gave him all the information about Olympic bus lines and things worked out perfect...the son got on the bus to Seattle and our friend took his car back home to Sequim. It saved him a lot of additional driving plus the expenses for the extra gas.

Advance reservations are recommended. Passengers may board without reservations if space is available. For reservations or information, including fares, luggage restrictions and connection, you may call Olympic Bus Lines 8am - 6pm at 360-417-0700. If you have a late night or early morning flight, you may even ask for special Seattle hotel rates!

With our next flight from Seattle Airport, we will make use of this great bus service on the Olympic Peninsula. Seems like the perfect way to start a vacation. We will let you know how it went. If you have used the bus service, please, share your experience with our Sequim blog visitors. Have a great extended weekend. The Sequimers
p.s.
Carrie Blake Park photos coming soon. Sorry with the delay but there was a further delay with moving into our new Sequim house as the carpet had some flaws and had to be sent back. Luckily, we enjoy living in our downstairs apartment but who can blame us that we long to move into the upstairs quarters after a house building time of over 6 months now.

Tags: Sequim Bus service, Olympic Peninsula Bus service

Sequim Irrigation Festival

Yes, Spring has arrived in Sequim and with it Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula and even areas in Seattle get ready for the 112th Sequim Irrigation Festival May 5th - May 12th, 2007. Whether you live in Sequim or are just visiting on a Sequim vacation, you don't want to miss it. This is a one of a kind.

To tell you the truth what we loved best at our first visit to the Sequim Irrigation Festival last year a few months after we had moved to Sequim was the Grand Parade in Downtown Sequim. The weather cooperated with beautiful sunshine. Washington Street was lined up with tons of people enjoying the beautiful parade of floats, marching bands, cheer leaders and cars. One has to experience the atmosphere and connection between paraders and their audience. The applause and cheers by the spectators were non stop.

By the way, the Sequim Irrigation Festival celebrates the initiation, development and support of the irrigation ditches which brought water to the once dry prairies of Sequim. The theme for this year’s festival is "112 Years and Still Rockin’", with a 50’s Rock and Roll concept.

We are looking forward to another great Sequim Irrigation festival with Arts and Crafts Fair, Kids Parade, Strongman Competition, Logging Show and last but not least the Grand Parade through Sequim. We see you there! Greetings from the Sequimers

Tags: Sequim Irrigation Festival, Moving to Sequim

Moving to Sequim

Dear friends of Sequim and the Sequimers,
This is a short update about happenings in our our Sequim life, personal happenings that is. As most of you know, we had moved to sunny Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula in January 2006 after selling our Hawaii property and vacation rental cottages. Weeks of Internet research and many talks to Mainland friends helped us to define Sequim as the best town to retire at. Our 2-week vacation in fall of 2006 confirmed our decision to move to Sequim. Never regretted it one bit. On the opposite, we are loving it in Sequim.

Well, here comes the big news for some of you. We always kept a close eye on Sequim real estate homes and lots for sale. When Keoki found this perfect lot on a gentle hill with oak trees overlooking Sequim and 180 degrees of the Olympic Mountains - a few yards from Carrie Blake Park and walking distance to shopping- he made his move and bought it at a great discount price. The odd shape of the lot had probably turned many buyers off. After Keoki had spent a few weeks designing a house with daylight basement guest apartment matching the lot shape, he came up with a version which would work with our main quarters upstairs and 1Bd/1Ba guest apartment downstairs for family (our kids from Alaska, Hawaii and Germany) and friends coming to visit us.

We sold our Sequim house in Sun Meadows to Bill from California who owns a boat in Sequim Bay John Wayne Marina. He likes to live on his boat but would also like to have a home base when coming back from his boat trips in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Bill will move into 'our' house at the end of this week. Unfortunately, our new Sequim house is not ready yet for moving in. Moving into new house is supposed to happen middle of May. So far, we are still on schedule with the construction. We hope it will stay that way. Sequim weather is cooperating so far.

For the transition time, we will stay at one of the 2Bd/2Ba cottages at the Sequim West Inn where we stayed on our Sequim vacation in fall 2006 when looking for a house to buy in Sequim. We liked the affordable rates and the full kitchen and cleaning service. Better than any hotel room.

Sorry guys but there are no new photos of the new house yet. The above photo (two balconies for sliding glass doors are missing) was taken a couple of weeks ago. It will probably take some time till we get new house photos taken and downloaded. This makes it more exciting and interesting for you and us! Greetings from the Sequimers

Tags: Moving to Sequim, Sequim house construction, Sequim Real Estate

Retire in Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula

Why we retired in Sequim on Olympic Peninsula in Washington state?

We are living in a blogger world now. I guess that's the best way these days to get the word out to family, friends and strangers about what's happening in people's lives. Here we go about our life. Ever heard of the town Sequim? Most people have not. Well, we moved here in January of 2006 in order to retire. Retire from where, you ask. From Hawaii we answer. How can somebody move from Hawaii to Washington state? We had lived there for 30 (husband) and myself for 15 years. We decided it's time for a change. We were able to sell our property and vacation rental business and move on with our lives. Feeling happy and free!

Best places to retire?

However, before we moved to Sequim, the biggest question was where to retire to? We boggled our minds with Thailand (too hot and tropical diseases), New Zealand (wonderful but they don't welcome the older folks, want to have 2 million NZ $ from immigrants, which we didn't have, plus still does not allow you to stay their all the time), Costa Rica was in the talks with all the American retirees (stories about safety and security issues were not really encouraging), San Diego was too expensive and so on and so forth. At that point, friends, who had moved from Hawaii to Portland, told us about the lovely small town of Sequim (means peaceful waters in Indian) surrounded by the the great panorama of the Olympic mountains and offering the splendid views of our so much loved Pacific Ocean!!! So, we we started our biggest research...about Sequim.

Sequim research over the Internet

Naturally, the Internet was our biggest resource. Luckily, one can find anything there from rainfall to real estate, from fitness center to health food stores. So, when we visited Sequim in fall 2005, we came prepared. We found a lot of information in the local publication Sequim Gazette. Had a list of houses for sale, knew all the things we wanted to check in Sequim town. And fell head over heels in love with this unbelievable retirement city. Bought a wonderful home 1 mile from Sequim town and 1 mile from John Wayne Marina, sold our Hawaii property and business and moved to Sequim beginning of 2006. Whether you believe it or not but we never regreted it one minute over the last 8 months.

Stay tuned for further news and gossip on our wonderful life in Sequim One last thing...Sequim is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and has an average annual rainfall of only 12" with a very moderate climate all year around. More about that later.

Tags: Moving to Sequim, Retire in Sequim