Commuting to Vegas from SLC, PDX, or SEA.... difficulty?

Good info. Honestly, unless I am missing something, I think the availability of flights (#) and type (aircraft) are just about the same for PDX vs SEA vs SLC vs DEN (yes I am considering den too). I have lived in DEN before (2 years) and SLC several times (5 months, then 1 year, then 3 months). Ive never lived in SEA but have visited/explored extensively. I also have family in the area. I've never even visited portland but its my kind of city, so....

Seattle Good: my type of culture/people, tons of greenery! love it, decent skiing, awesome wilderness, decent mountains, ocean to play in, great food, close to great skiing in Canada.
Seattle Bad: Lots of cloudy days, short summer. Difficult to grow own food. I would think after several years there the rain would get to me. The snow is heavy. Expensive. Seattle freeze/making friends hard?. Climbing is 1-1.5hrs + away from town (as is a lot of the good skiing).

Portland Good: my type of culture/people, mediocre skiing(better than no skiing), great food, good public transit.
Portland Bad: Mediocre skiing, lots of rain/clouds.

Salt Lake City Good: AWESOME skiing. GREAT mountains (super close, very steep, awesome looking), shortest commute flight, Nice sumer weather. Very close to Perrine bridge and Moab cliffs for jumping, climbing, and mountain biking, still have some friends that live there.
Salt Lake City Bad: Mormon influence. SMOG ugggh. the smog. its so bad.

Denver Good: my type of culture/people, lots of good climbing super close to town, good food, nice people
Denver Bad: Crappy skiing (<300'', rarely big dumps, on average bad stability for BC travel, far away), deserty/dry landscape, mountains hidden by foothills unless living 2 hrs away from mountains.


And then there is the wildcard... just living in base (LAS). Las vegas is not my idea of a home, but...the QOL and money earning options of living in base might make up for that if I were to live outside of town. There is good mountain biking and climbing near there.... I dunno. I will have to explore the small towns away from the city when I get the chance.

And just to share, I should mention that I am really really trying to find a place to call HOME indefinitely. Maybe this is putting too much pressure on the decision, but I would like to move to a place that eventually I would build my own house (by hand) ...like...the one I would...like die in....and never move again. so...really I am trying to find a place to really make a home, not just set up shop for a few years. Yes yes, I know who knows the future, maybe the mormons will fence off SLC or seattle will fall into the ocean in 10 years but... just to give an idea of where I am coming from...
 
Propilot said:
Good info. Honestly, unless I am missing something, I think the availability of flights (#) and type (aircraft) are just about the same for PDX vs SEA vs SLC vs DEN (yes I am considering den too). I have lived in DEN before (2 years) and SLC several times (5 months, then 1 year, then 3 months). Ive never lived in SEA but have visited/explored extensively. I also have family in the area. I've never even visited portland but its my kind of city, so....

Seattle Good: my type of culture/people, tons of greenery! love it, decent skiing, awesome wilderness, decent mountains, ocean to play in, great food, close to great skiing in Canada.
Seattle Bad: Lots of cloudy days, short summer. Difficult to grow own food. I would think after several years there the rain would get to me. The snow is heavy. Expensive. Seattle freeze/making friends hard?. Climbing is 1-1.5hrs + away from town (as is a lot of the good skiing).

Portland Good: my type of culture/people, mediocre skiing(better than no skiing), great food, good public transit.
Portland Bad: Mediocre skiing, lots of rain/clouds.

Salt Lake City Good: AWESOME skiing. GREAT mountains (super close, very steep, awesome looking), shortest commute flight, Nice sumer weather. Very close to Perrine bridge and Moab cliffs for jumping, climbing, and mountain biking, still have some friends that live there.
Salt Lake City Bad: Mormon influence. SMOG ugggh. the smog. its so bad.

Denver Good: my type of culture/people, lots of good climbing super close to town, good food, nice people
Denver Bad: Crappy skiing (<300'', rarely big dumps, on average bad stability for BC travel, far away), deserty/dry landscape, mountains hidden by foothills unless living 2 hrs away from mountains.


And then there is the wildcard... just living in base (LAS). Las vegas is not my idea of a home, but...the QOL and money earning options of living in base might make up for that if I were to live outside of town. There is good mountain biking and climbing near there.... I dunno. I will have to explore the small towns away from the city when I get the chance.

And just to share, I should mention that I am really really trying to find a place to call HOME indefinitely. Maybe this is putting too much pressure on the decision, but I would like to move to a place that eventually I would build my own house (by hand) ...like...the one I would...like die in....and never move again. so...really I am trying to find a place to really make a home, not just set up shop for a few years. Yes yes, I know who knows the future, maybe the mormons will fence off SLC or seattle will fall into the ocean in 10 years but... just to give an idea of where I am coming from...
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If I were choosing those towns, those are close the the same things I'd come up with. The skiing in Portland isn't that bad. It's really no worse than Seattle, unless you're driving forever to Baker or something. Hood vs Crystal... meh. With Denver, like you said, if you're up for a 2 hour drive to the hill, but there is plenty of rock climbing, and mountain/dirt biking. SLC has all of them beat as far as a outdoors mecca goes. Only problem, and it's a big huge massive one, the "Mormon influence" lol. Beer and culture are important to. Utah has the culture of a 1600's mid-evil dungeon. Living there for 6 months and seeing how intertwined the church is with the local government is beyond ridiculous. If I wanted someone else's religion to influence my life I'd go try living in Saudi Arabia. But... they do have the best outdoor recreation in the country, hands down.
 
Propilot said:
So you see my dilemma... ;)
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You don't have to build your house tomorrow. Rent for a bit, if it bugs the crap out of you again, move. If I were commuting anyways there's no way I'd live in SLC, try park city. No smog that way to.
Portland is a really cool town though, I'd live there over Seattle any day.(and have)

Or you could try Alaska for a bit like me. Very hands off govt, lots of good outdoor recreation. The commute would probably be 2 legs though.
 
Yea, Alaska has no skydiving and very little BASE ...also seems devoid of women. Plus the 2 leg commute.... yea. Definitely will visit.

I'll have to check out Portland for sure. Why do you like it over Seattle?
 
I can deal with almost any culture as long as it provides me with this about 10 minutes from my house.

alta-snowcam-jan3.jpg


Also consider that the Salt Lake valley has one hell of a great outdoors community. You're going to find like minded people in SLC and Park City, where all you'll find in Portland are retired 20 somethings :)
 
jtrain609 said:
I can deal with almost any culture as long as it provides me with this about 10 minutes from my house.

alta-snowcam-jan3.jpg


Also consider that the Salt Lake valley has one hell of a great outdoors community. You're going to find like minded people in SLC and Park City, where all you'll find in Portland are retired 20 somethings :)
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Even this liberal beer-drinking hipster could see himself living in or around the SL, UT.
 
Propilot said:
Yea, Alaska has no skydiving and very little BASE ...also seems devoid of women. Plus the 2 leg commute.... yea. Definitely will visit.

I'll have to check out Portland for sure. Why do you like it over Seattle?
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Actually there's 2 DZ's in the greater Anchorage area. I'm sure they don't run in the winter though, while there are a LOT of DZ's around SLC, with turbine equipment to. I think the one out of Ogden is relatively year round with their van. Then there's the guys with the King Air out in Tooele valley.
But ya, Jtrain is right. As far as portland over seattle, seattle is just too big. Traffic sucks bad in both, but in seattle it's worse than LA(IMO). At least in LA you can lane split, and in LA they at least try to design the highways to alleviate traffic rather than purposely make it worse. See upcoming toll bridges and only 1 northbound I-5 lane(not construction). Portland also seems more community oriented. It's got more small town feel, while not really being one.
But then there are the hipsters, and no one likes hipsters.
 
What do you guys think about the length of the flight/commute? A friend told me last night that anything close to 2 hours is over the limit for him, it just sucks at that point. Portland is 1:55 to LAS and seattle is 2.15. Salt Lake city is only 1:15.

Jtrain, I know man I know...powder.... But those Mormons! The smog! Uggh. Park city solves those issues but it is damn expensive. Right now I think Park City is winning out over everything else but jebus...its going to hurt $$$$.
 
Propilot said:
What do you guys think about the length of the flight/commute? A friend told me last night that anything close to 2 hours is over the limit for him, it just sucks at that point. Portland is 1:55 to LAS and seattle is 2.15. Salt Lake city is only 1:15.

Jtrain, I know man I know...powder.... But those Mormons! The smog! Uggh. Park city solves those issues but it is damn expensive. Right now I think Park City is winning out over everything else but jebus...its going to hurt $$$$.
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You get used to long commutes eventually. You find books to read or movies to watch on the tablet.
 
Propilot said:
What do you guys think about the length of the flight/commute? A friend told me last night that anything close to 2 hours is over the limit for him, it just sucks at that point. Portland is 1:55 to LAS and seattle is 2.15. Salt Lake city is only 1:15.

Jtrain, I know man I know...powder.... But those Mormons! The smog! Uggh. Park city solves those issues but it is damn expensive. Right now I think Park City is winning out over everything else but jebus...its going to hurt $$$$.
Click to expand...
Come live in Sna and pay $700,000 for a 1,100 sq ft condo or $1,800/mo for a 550 sq ft studio!

But everyone drives a rented Beemer!
 
Slc, maybe because I was raised there the whole mormon thing wasn't noticable. The skiing is amazing and I lived in suncrest there was no smog issue.
 
I know I'm late to the party on this, but just wanted to share my perspective. Life in Las Vegas is not so bad. The big positive here is the cheap housing. That leaves lots of money for quick trips to Park City in the winter. As you mentioned, there is a bit to do outdoors around Las Vegas as well. I know it isn't UT, WA, or OR but we do have a few mountains and a nice lake. The big issue for me would be the commute though. I commuted out of Vegas for a little over a year. It was a longer commute (EWR and IAH), which may have been part of the reason I didn't like it. I sat up front a lot. It really wasn't terrible, but I hated that nervous feeling when I tried to make it home. It was always iffy up to the moment that the door was closed. With that being said, I usually made it. Either way, congrats on the job! If I can ever be any help in Vegas, just shoot me a message.
 
If you really have no home I'd suggest Las Vegas while on reserve. Then once you have a more commutable schedule and off 1st year pay consider where to buy.
 
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