20 m to border. 5 m crossings.
35 m to YXX and in and out in a flash
0 - 30 m to Amazing fishing, no crowds if you know your stuff.
Real houses, with land, under 500k
4 Great skiing areas in around 45 m to an hour.
Fantastic staging if you tour motorcycles or hunt.
20 m to Costco.
Fresh fruit and vegetables and dairy, right off the farm often on the honour system.
No traffic.
No bridges.
No tolls.
Just don't live north of Hwy 1 in the town. (then again, every city has places that are less desirable.)
I live just outside of the City.
And when I need my fill of the arts, in an hour I am strolling Vancouver. Most everyone else needs in GVA needs at least 30 m to get to the Vancouver Art Gallery as an example. The offset of a 30 m added commute is well worth what I would give up, to live a little closer.
Quality of life boys.
Gold.
The truth about the wack, from a 3rd generation ex-wacker who now lives on the North Shore.
20 minutes to Sumas? Sure if there's no accident on the freeway or whiteout in the winter. And then, no fictional 5-minute wait to shopping at Bromley's for discount cheeze. Wow. 1 hour past that to Bellingham. Whoop-de-do!
35 minutes to Abbostford airport? Awesome, I can fly to such exotic desitinations as Grande Prairie Alberta, for $800 round trip in no time!
0-30 seconds to get to your favorite "secret" fishing bar at 4 am before 0-300 people show up and combat fish, throw rocks, drink, smoke dope, smoke, snag, cut lines, leave trash and start fist fights during any big run.
Identical, carboard cutout houses with no trees, slammed next to each other, with postage stamp yards, for 500-700 grand. Sorry chum, but I'd rather pay the $1.2 M for my well-treed digs on the North Shore. I don't know about you, but I am happy to pay a premium to live in a place with the ocean, mountains, fresh air, easy access to the island, the best traffic in the LM, easy access to Squamish, Whistle, etc. I drive 10 mins max to the rivers I fish, and launch my boat in the OCEAN at the drop of a hat. As for the Cap, there's probably more combat fishers on one bank on the Chedder than all anglers combined on the entire Cap on any given day. You just got to be able to hike and work it, it's not a river that suits lazy fishers well.
4 great skiing areas in 45 minutes? Ok, if you gun your F150 at 130 KMPH in the whiteout, through treacherous mountain roads, you might reach the entirely forgettable Manning Park area in 1.5 hours. If you live in the "real world" and are governed by the laws of time and space, you might make it Baker in about the same time.
Fantastic staging for your dirt bike or hunting? Sure I guess, but its no better than heading north on the 99. No opportunities for "good" hiking trails, quality, built-up mountain biking trails, etc. The roads are soft and lend well to bloated guys on Harleys who can't corner, if that's your thing. Lame.
20 minutes to Costco? Wow, I just can't make it through my day without a 100 lot pack of frozen cinnamon buns. Vancouver...umm...it "has" Costco, and everything else for that matter, if selection is your thing.
I dunno about you but I tend to eat fruit and vegetables year round and the gourmet and organic grocery stores in the city have 'em all the time, not just the few weeks when they're in season. I suppose I can drive 5 minutes to buy all the Wack produce from the Squamish FN sellers who retrieve it from as far away as the Okanagan, at a fraction of the price I paid on the farm in the Wack.
The worst traffic jams I've ever seen in the lower mainland are around Abbotsford / Wack. Sometimes stuck on the highway for hours before you can even make it to a dead end turn off.
Bridges everywhere crossing small rivers, which are everywhere, which cause shoke points that can make whole areas impasable if there's an accident. Large bridges to anywhere civilized. There's a reason why we only know folks from the Wack on the internet. They don't dare attempt the day-long approach to civilization often.
Tolls to get to the north side of the Valley on the GE bridge...no one in Vancouver pays those. Hell, they don't even know where it is!
Yes, I made it to Vancouver in 1 hour, one time. At 3:15 am on a wednesday, 25 degrees in August, 5 years ago, gunning the truck the whole way. I made it from my house to Boundary Road (what a victory!) in an hour. Anything other than that is pure fantasy.
Let's not forget the ever-pervasive stench of manure and compost associted with all the agriculture, and of course, the WORST air quality index in the province, so bad that seniors and those with respiratory problems are forced to stay indoors when a dome of hot, stifling brown air sets up over the Valley. Ahhh! The beautful Wack outdoors!
Quality of live boys, some people are willing to pay for it, others are willing to waste their time living in in discount locales like the Wack becuase they can't afford anything else.
AA
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Topic: Lower Fraser Let Down.....Glad I live in Chilliwack (Read 23765 times)