[iron]

[sarbar]

Why run from your country when you could give back to it and make it better? What makes one think Canada is any better? Or freer? The other side of the fence is rarely as green as it appears. Our country and way of life might be slipping but there is still plenty good about it - especially in smaller towns. One has to be a good citizen to make their country work!

[sarbar]

Do you think Canada is any better? Nothing in our world is any better for first world countries. We are all mired in corruption, politics, debt - we are all floundering - be it the US, Europe or Canada. IMO the first thing to do is QUIT WATCHING THE NEWS!! Live life the way you want and don't worry about the big picture. Simply put: our country is only as good as the people in it. Yeah, all my relatives came from other countries - because they were oppressed (Russian Jews for example) or had no future (My Dad's family came from Norway and had no land to farm). They didn't live any better necessarily in the US for the first couple of generations but they had freedom to move. The cattle ranch my Dad's family owned is still running on the Eastern crest of the Rockies in MT. Out there even in this day life goes on - and the big picture isn't so big - it is just day to day life. Hell, they lost the ranch THREE times in the Great Depression and kept going! They didn't pack it up and say their country sucked. Life isn't as sucky as the news says it is. It really isn't. We are NOT living through the Great Depression!

[Stefan]

Invermere

[Malachai Constant]

Well up here people believe in science. With Global Warming it is better situated than the US. Down south a mind set has developed which seems downright mean. It was not like that in the US when I was younger. It is not perfect here by any means we still export asbestos to India and the tar sands are hardly ecologic. There is more a set of community here and considerably more diverse than Seattle. We have nice churches, mosques, temples etc.in town and nobody gets bent out of shape. I read some of the blogs from the states and just shake my head. Our families came from Europe in the 19th century to the US. Beware though it can get really cold here .

[509]

[iron]

the US might have been founded by a revolution, but last i checked, it sure seems to operate like a big corporation. if people tried for a revolution in 2011, they're going to be arrested, shot, pepper sprayed, etc (see Occupy. those guns we get from the constitution, don't do much good against a police force and a military. but let's not turn this into a gun thread...

[treeswarper]

I like logging and lots of alcoholism!

[Malachai Constant]

Actually 509 you are a bit off about Canadian History. It was founded pretty much by the french and was called New France, The french were subdued by the English with the help of their American colony's in what we call the French and Indian wars in the 1760's. The debt from that war was imposed on the colony's and was one of the main factors in the US war of independence. The Boston Tea Party was a reaction to the British East India Company's tea monopoly. The brits kicked the french out of the maritimes and sent them to Louisiana remember Evangeline? Ontario was mostly settled by Torys (conservatives) kicked out of the US by the revolution. US tried to invade again in the war of 1812. Hudsons Bay company was mostly active around Hudsons bay and the pacific northwest (Vancouver WA) now thy are kind of like the Bon A rival to the HBC was the Northwest Company which settled BC. The wester ns was settled mostly by the railroad companies, not too different. Luckily now you can be a dual citizen of the US and Canada.

[onemoremile]

I'd say figure out which issue is most important to you and then find the best place in the world for it. Example: If I lived for skiing, then I'd probably be in Canada or Europe, surfing-Hawaii or Australia, etc. If 'they' take the things I like most about the US, then I would leave if there was a place left to still take part. Citizen of the world.

[iron]

reviving this thread. slightly different question. i have a list of places we're looking at. i've created a spreadsheet to do a weighted average analysis of our top 46 priorities (random number, not something predetermined). in doing the research, i am looking at cost of living numbers. some of these numbers just seem off to me (example: bellingham seems way low). thoughts? all #s came from the same website. Anacortes, WA 101.3 Arlington, WA 111.3 Bellingham, WA 99.3 Carnation, WA 111.8 Colville, WA 86.3 Mt Vernon, WA 100.2 Omak, WA 86 Sandpoint, ID 90 Snohomish, WA 111.5 Twisp, WA 88.4 Leavenworth, WA 96.6 Wenatchee, WA 95.1 Boulder, CO 117.4 Durango, CO 96 Fort Collins, CO 99.6 Boise, ID 92.2 Hood River, OR 91.7 Bend, OR 98.4

[mike]

[iron]

here are our criteria. each is weighted differently. we have not spent time in many of them, yet - at least not long enough to become familiar. obviously the trump card will be the job, but for now we're hoping to narrow down job search locations. access - beach access - lake access - ocean/sound activities in town activities in summer activities in winter airport biking & commuting church city size - <20k city size - 20-50k city size - 50-100k city size - >100k cost of living crime culture diversity family friendly family nearby friends gardening green lushness green spaces house prices jobs like minded citizens local beauty local shopping medical facilities natural disasters parks property size proximity to mountains public transit quiet renewable energy options schools ski resorts stars at night sunshine sustainable longterm taxes traffic trick or treatability walkable warmth

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I grew up in White Salmon, right across the Columbia from Hood River, and have spent some time there recently. It's definitely small, but growing and trendy. Lots of good restaurants. Not very diverse. Definitely family friendly, plenty of churches. Lots of outdoor recreational options, wind surfing/kite boarding is the huge one down there that you don't see much of up here around the Puget Sound area. You've got Mt. Hood real close to the south and Mt. Adams a little further to the north. Lots of good hiking in the Gorge to the west. Central Oregon/Bend area is cool, maybe around a 4 hour drive south? Definitely some good mountainous terrain to hike in, and ridiculously short drives to Hood and Multnomah Falls vicinity. But nothing around there is even remotely like the North Cascades. There isn't as much diversity or nearly as many miles of trails in the mountains as you 2 are used to.

[Z]