3 14 - City Of Anacortes: Fill & Download for Free

There are so many Japanese sister cities in the US it is hard to list them all.In my state of Washington alone there are at least 35 that I know of.They are:The state of Washington has sister state relationships with Hyogo PrefectureSeattle: KobeBellevue: YaoBremerton : KureFederal Way: HachinoheSpokane: NishinomiyaWalla Walla: Tamba-Sasayama,Anacortes: KisakataAuburn: TambaCamas: HamamatsuBellingham: TateyamaChehalis: InasaChelan KatoCovington TatsunoEdmonds: HekinanEverett: IwakuniFerndale: MinamibosoKelso: MakinoharaKittitas County: SandaKent: Tamba, (shared with Auburn)Lakewood: Okinawa CityLongview: Wako CityMoses Lake: YonezawaOkanogan: KagoshimaOlympia: KatoPort Angeles: Mutsu ShiPort Townsend: Ichikawa,Pullman: KasaiRenton: NishiwakiSequim: ShisoTacoma: KitakyushuTukwila: MiyoshiVancouver: JoyoWenatchee: KuroishiYakima: Itayanagi

Finally a question that I can answer with surety. I am a Canadian. I lived and worked in Boston for 14 years so am very familiar with the USA. By the way, I am probably in the minority of Canadians but I LOVE the USA. That being said I have lived in the Victoria area for 37 years. I think that it is the BEST place in the world to live. I live in the small town of Sidney which is surrounded by ocean on 3 sides, It has 12,000 people. It is about 20 miles from downtown Victoria about 25 minutes on the highway. It has by far the best climate in Canada. In the winter we get a lot of rain but rarely any snow. This winter I am told is an exception as I write this from the foothills of the Himalayas in India. We have had it snow twice but it snows an average of once in 2 years with usually an inch or two for a day or two. That is the norm. Temperature is generally from 35 to 45 F all winter. A few days of frost at night. Light jacket weather almost all winter. Flowers start to come out in January and last till November. Spring is mild but lots of light rain. WE rarely get a thunderstorm. Fall starts in September with temperatures generally in the 50s and 60s till November. Rainy but often in October many sunny days. Now to summer. It warms up in April with some rain. By June it is warm and sunny most of the time. We can have 3 months with only a few days of rain. Temperatures all summer range from the high 60s at night to the mid 70s in the daytime. It RARELY gets to 80 F and we complain about the heat. In 37 years I have seenit get to 100 2 times. I have a window air conditioner. Some summers i put it in and use it a couple weeks. Some summers I don’t bother. Flowers bloom in abundance 7 months of the year. Grass is green all year except might get brown in July and August if not watered. Victoria is right on the ocean on the southern tip of Vancouver island so it has beautiful coastline and a number of beaches that are not sandy but very nice. Up Island in Parksville less than 2 hours are magnificent sandy beaches that stretch out nearly a mile beforethe water getting over your head. magnificent in summer with massive sand castle contests. World Class. The whole Island is beautiful. It is bigger than Massachusettes, There are woods, ocean, mountains, skiing in winter. Oh did I mention, boating?? There are DOZENS of magnificent marinas all around the area. A boaters paradise. I am told that FISHING is awesome.A Plug for my little town Sidney. It is only 7 blocks long. But it has 3 large grocery stores, a large Canadian Tire, all 5 charterred banks and a Credit Union. It has all kinds of ethnic restaurants as well as the famous Tim Hortons and McDonalds. Clothing stores, boutique shops, Real eatate offices, Financial advisors, Dollar Stores, Hardware store, large Lumber supply cpmpany. at least 5 or more bookstores and 5 awesome thrift stores and much more. Great beautiful waterfront walk about a mile. New walkway all around the Airport, about 10 Km. Regional library, local Police and Fire and Ambulance forces. Hospital less than 10 minute drive. Virtually everything one would need. Oh, and the whole country is very clean.We also have the Victoria International Airport and flying club 3 minutes away and the Ferry to the mainland is 5 minutes away and boats leave every 2 hours in winter and every hour in the summer. Ferries hold about 1000 passengers and 400 cars, (estimate). FAULOUS Buffet with BC Salmon and chocalate dessert buffet among the delicacies.It has a small town atmosphere with bigger town amenities. Also Victoria has virtually everything else. You are 4 hours from Vancouver by ferry and 15 minutes by air. Fetrry to Anacortes Washington also located in Sidney and ferry to Seattle from downtown Victoria.For your US dollar you get about $1.30 in Canadian. Things are more expensive here but perhaps not with the exchange.Victoria has a world class museum and of course Butchart Gardens and magnificent Legistature Buildings over 100 years old.I have been in over 50 countries and have not seen any better overall.So, people out there, Tell me what you think or ask questions. I may not be able to give quick response as internet is real spotty here in India. I am really surprised, we have been in quite hot weather and last night arrived in a hill town and nearly froze. Warmed up pleasantly in the daytime. Beautiful places and wonderful culture. It is quite a cool thing to see many people including young men and women asking to take pictures and selfies with my dear 72 year old wife, and me also. Doesn’t happen a lot in Canada or USA - THAT WOULD BE NEVER!PS:: I can’t resist, but here in Canada even if there are some people who don’t like our prime minister, he represents Canada well Internationally, has the best interests of the country at heart, (not his own interests) listens to his advisors and he is a GENTLEMAN, oh and is sane! Cheers . See you in Victoria!! AT least come to visit.