[touron]

[Magellan]

I can't tell from the Yelp reviews if Suncadia is an overpriced POS or if it's just whiny rich people staying there. Perhaps a bit of both?

[meandering Wa]

probably both I am not sure what the allure is. I stayed once,it was a nice hotel as far as I could see. I imagine for people who enjoy golf and like to lounge near the pool it is fine, but there is not much else around abouts. Cle is someplace I drive through to get to hiking I enjoy. I ran on the property when it was wild. Amazing wildflowers and butterflies. I guess I remember its wild beauty rather than all the paved and ordered nature. Has the horsepark ever got off the ground?

[Toni]

[ree]

After a grueling day hiking up Salmon Nut Sac, be home, in the hot tub, in 15 min.

[DIYSteve]

Suncadia was the victim of terrible timing and it never took off. The development was originally called MountainStar and inspired by the central OR resort communities (e.g., Black Butte). Some people were hoping -- and betting on -- Cle Elum becoming the next Bend OR. Well, as some you know, Bend OR became a poster boy of busted boom resort towns, and the Suncadia lots come on line just before the peak of the Bend OR boom. Suncadia also had a few other things going against it, e.g., short golf season (frost delays), Snoq Pass ski conditions, but most people in the know think it would have taken off had it been developed 10 years earlier.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I know Bend. And Cle Elum is no Bend.

[Randito]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

There just isn't much to Cle Elum. Bend just seems more like somewhere you'd find a resort community. Sunriver is pretty cool, my family used to stay there semi-regularly when I was growing up. I'm not a skiier but I would think Bachelor is more appealing than Snoq. Pass. Cle Elum does have some great hiking nearby, what w/ the Teanaway, Cooper Lake area and Salmon la Sac and beyond. Bend has plenty of good hiking as well. Cle Elum is passing thru territory for me, no reason to hang around for long. If I want to hang out in a small community a little east of the Cascade Crest, I'd take Leavenworth any day over Cle Elum.

[coldrain108]

The way I see it, if I'm going to live "in the country" I'm going all the way. Montana, Idaho etc. Just over Snoq pass is basically in the crack head suburbs, not much different than the MLH, North Bend etc. If I can get there in less than 3 hours then it is not "in the country" as a whole bunch of other people can also get there in under 3 hours. At least Bend is a little ways out there, not right on the main east-west interstate. Convenience is not one of the things I look for in a country escape, if its convenient for me its also convenient for everybody else. I love to see the copy-cats go down in flames.

[touron]

$75k does not seem like a terrible price. One could forgo the down payment on their Escalade and buy a condo instead.

[Randito]

IDK what the thinking of the Suncadia developers was, perhaps the thinking was to attract wealthy tech workers as a weekend place. But Suncadia is almost as far from Alpental as Redmond and most coders only play golf as a joke. The are a new set of $500,000+ houses/townhouses going in at the base of Summit West, those might do better with geeks that have managed to breed.

[cascadeclimber]

The Bend I first saw in 1994 or 95 was perhaps a lot more like the Cle Elum of today than the Bend of today. I never really understood the Mountain Star/Suncadia thing myself, especially the early prices. It felt crazed/bubblish, like Bitcoin was late last year, and housing around Seattle in 2006. An early climbing buddy of mine moved down to Bend in 1997 or so and took to calling it "Poverty with a View". It was then, and I think largely still is a place where jobs, outside the service industry for wealthy retirees and vacationers, are scarce. Still, as a place to live for an outdoorsy person, it's hard to beat: World class rock climbing, volcanoes, mountain biking, paddling, fishing, all three varieties of skiing, etc. And if you're into such things, real seasons.

[zephyr]

[DigitalJanitor]

HA... my parents grew up in Coos Bay, and my dad always said of the place: "It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there." Living and working in the Ros/CE community for years I'm partial to the area. Suncadia... even if I could afford it, meh. We're far too dirtbag for that scene.