Fair Weather and Charm
Bring Retirees to Sequim

Andy Loehr wasn't the first man to see the mysterious "blue hole" over the remote town of Sequim, Wash. Nor was he the first to understand its significance. But according to him, no one has enjoyed its benefits more thoroughly.

Mr. Loehr, a robust and bushy-browed man of 83, was in his early 30s when he first glimpsed the strange twist of nature in the air over Sequim. Flying for the U.S. Air Force past the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, where clouds clump together in masses of gray cotton, Mr. Loehr spotted a small puncture in the covering. No more than 10 square miles or so, the hole made it possible for him to see the tiny community of Sequim -- and more significantly, for the residents of Sequim to see blue sky.   The result: In a region best known for its soggy cloud cover, Sequim (pronounced skwim) offers an oasis of light.

Years later, when searching for a spot to retire, Mr. Loehr remembered sunny Sequim, and he and his wife settled there for good. Curiously situated in a dry spot created by the cloud-catching Olympic mountain range, the blue hole over Sequim has helped lure thousands of people just like the Loehrs in recent years. In fact, an estimated 40% of the Sequim area's 24,000 residents are retirees.  "I've lived all over the world," says Mr. Loehr, "and nothing matches this place."

Only 40 miles away, the Hoh Rain Forest gathers more than 150 inches of precipitation a year, among the most anywhere in the U.S.; Sequim gets 16 inches, or about one-third of the rainfall seen by a typical East Coast city. Situated in a valley carved by the torrential Dungeness River, the scenic community lies between the jagged Olympic Mountains and the salmon-filled waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca that leads to the Pacific Ocean.

The sun, the mountains, the water, a plethora of services and programs for older adults -- together they have turned unlikely Sequim into a serious force among U.S. retirement areas.  "I go to trade shows all around the country, and it constantly amazes me how many people recognize this area" as a retirement haven, says Barton A. Phillips, executive director of the Clallam County Economic Development Council based in Port Angeles.

Restrictions
Not that Sequim is about to replace Arizona as a retirement Mecca. After all, it's remote -- a two-hour trip from Seattle by car and ferry through sparsely populated forest. And it's small -- with a population that, in effect, is capped by restrictive land-use covenants and dinky roads. Sequim mostly keeps its attractions to itself. Residents sporting self-satisfied smirks don't discourage new settlers; but neither do they go far out of their way to recruit them.

The low-key approach has served the area well. Relatively tight state land-use regulations have helped stave off over development of local wetlands and have prevented big swaths of farmland from being overrun by subdivisions. On the inland side, meanwhile, the vast and well-protected Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest form natural barriers to builders.

The result: population growth of only 2% to 3% a year, says Mike McAleer, a real-estate broker who insists that overbuilding won't threaten the Sequim area anytime soon. "That's a very manageable rate of growth," he says, "so our infrastructure has been able to keep up with that."

Indeed, just this year one of the only threats to quality of life in Sequim -- clogged downtown traffic during tourist season -- was addressed. A narrow highway that snakes along the edge of the Olympic Peninsula now bypasses downtown Sequim, where traffic in recent years had slowed to a crawl during summer.

To be sure, Sequim isn't without its problems. Longtime residents, for instance, bemoan the decline of wildlife in the area. Years ago, Fred Hertzog, an 83-year-old retired Methodist minister, recalls routinely catching four or five fish in the Strait of Juan de Fuca before breakfast. It's not so easy now, as the Northwest waterways have been hit hard by over fishing.

Other drawbacks include a nondescript town center. Filled with parking lots and retail strips, central Sequim doesn't overwhelm in the quaint-and-charming category. Meanwhile, there's a relatively high unemployment rate of more than 6%, owing mainly to the location's remoteness.

But as modern communities go, Sequim isn't terribly spoiled. And it is a vibrant place that certainly doesn't suffer from the type of quality-of-life decay that plagues many larger, or more poorly planned communities.

Blue Skies
Exactly how the retirement trend gained momentum is the subject of some debate. Pat McCauley, a marketing consultant for the city, has researched the topic a bit and arrived at two leading possibilities.

One theory has it that when area farmers found it too tough to compete head-on with Washington's Skagit Valley in the milk market, they turned to marketing the sun. More likely, she says, the retirement trend was triggered by a long-ago feature article that appeared in a Chicago newspaper. Sparked by a pitch letter written to an editor by a Chicagoan who had relocated to Sequim in the early 1960s, the article helped spawn other stories, which forever associated the town with retirement.

Whatever the case, sun-starved Northwesterners latched onto the place first. Then, in the 1970s and 1980s, came the Californians, mainly retirees looking to cash in on the high value of their California homes and to trade up to larger, more affordable homes in Sequim.  "I call them 'equity travelers,'" says Mr. Phillips of the economic development council.

Now, with word about tiny Sequim seeping out across the country, new arrivals are coming steadily from virtually every state. Word in town has it that no fewer than six different retired school superintendents now live here (though no one interviewed can name all six).

A robust infrastructure of services and facilities has risen to serve the retiree crowd. A dial-a-ride service offers custom transportation to those in need of a lift. Well-tended health-care facilities -- ranging from oncology centers to fitness clubs -- dot the downtown area. Chief among exercise outlets is the publicly funded Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, where a huge pool and extensive exercise facilities provide a fitness venue and key social outlet.  "It's a great place to meet people," says center volunteer Bonnie Spiva, 59, an ex-Californian who refers to Sequim as "our little piece of paradise."

And yet, no indoor facility in these parts can rival the prime attraction: nature. Views of water and mountains are ubiquitous, but many locals make a habit of getting a closer look. Sailing, bird-watching, cycling and golf are top activities.

But probably nothing matches the local enthusiasm for hiking, as a visit to the home of Harriet Hertzog can attest. At 86 years old, the spry and wiry Mrs. Hertzog (wife of Fred) eagerly pulls out the latest itinerary she has planned for a group called the Over the Hill walkers. She drops the typed itinerary on the dining-room table amid stacks of scrapbooks that picture 15 years of hikes through stunning scenery.

Every Friday for the next several months, a morning excursion is planned. Hikes along the Peninsula Discovery Trail beside the coast figure prominently. Beach walks are frequent. But so are hikes into the upper reaches of the dramatic Olympic Mountains, where views abound of snow-capped peaks and wildflower-filled pastures.

The Over the Hill gang typically draws dozens of hikers a week, ranging in age from 50s to 80s. Some 80 people attended the group's annual party at a local church meeting hall, and the new octogenarians among them were specially honored.

The Over the Hill walkers have gotten so popular that a couple of groups have split off to hit the hills with fewer feet at a time. First, Mrs. Hertzog says, a Wednesday group emerged. And she has just recently gotten word that a Thursday group is now active.  "I encourage that," says Mrs. Hertzog. "We have too many people in our group."

While retirees tend to steer the direction of local society, they are beginning to get some more company -- or companies, rather. Outdoor outfitters in particular have begun to see this part of the Olympic Peninsula as attractive for locating facilities that tend to be staffed by sports-minded types.

Seattle-based snowboard maker Mervin Manufacturing Inc., for instance, set up a new manufacturing operation in the area a few years ago. And Pacific Bay International Inc., a maker of fishing-rod components, relocated its headquarters to the Sequim region in 1998, moving from Orange County, Calif.

Why Sequim?
"There's a good, high-quality, stable labor force here," explains Mr. Phillips, the economic-development official. "And you've got to understand," he says of Pacific Bay's case, "They're in the fishing business, and they tend to fish."

Price Break
Moving to Sequim from virtually anywhere urban could provide a price break on real estate, as there are available homes at many different price levels. A new, three-bedroom home located in the valley just outside of town tends to cost $175,000 to $200,000, local real-estate agents say. And there is plenty of housing stock available for far less, under $100,000 in many cases.

Moving up the cost ladder, and up in elevation, a neighborhood called Bell Hill is attracting much of the newest construction. With jaw-dropping views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and picturesque Victoria, Canada, just 14 miles across it, homes on Bell Hill above downtown Sequim tend to be very elaborate, sporting extensive decks and huge picture windows. For-sale signs sprout from the steep hillside like so many wildflowers. One single-acre lot with a view of water and mountains, cleared and just waiting for the builders' trucks, is on the block for $149,000. Homes in the neighborhood start in the $300,000 range, and a couple climb all the way up to $700,000 or so.

Until recently, when it became the hottest upscale neighborhood in these parts, Bell Hill was best known for a herd of 50 to 60 elk that lives on it. The elk are so familiar to locals that the chamber of commerce made them honorary members. Many times, drivers on adjacent roads have to stop to wait for the herd to cross.  And yet, most folks around here figure that's the kind of traffic congestion they can live with.

A Place in the Sun
Area Population: 24,000
Travel time from Seattle by car and ferry: Two hours
Average annual rainfall: 16 inches
Elevation: 142 feet above sea level
Sunny days per year: 306
Miles of hiking trails in nearby Olympic National Park: 600
Proportion of Sequim residents that are retirees: Nearly half
Average cost of three-bedroom house: $140,000
State income tax: None
State estate/inheritance tax: None
Number of fraternal and special-interest groups: 160
Number of glaciers in the Olympic mountains: 266
Number of bird species in Dungeness Wildlife Refuge: 250
Number of elk roaming the Bell Hill area: 50-60
Number of salmon species in the Dungeness River: 4
Height of tallest trees in Olympic rain forests: Over 300 feet

Source: Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce; Clallam County Economic Development Council; National Park Service

-- Mr. Thomas is a writer in Seattle.