How is Spokane really? (Pacific, Colville: real estate, high crime, home)

[bigaries]

I am trying to find a place to live, we love Oregon specifically Eugene. Did further research on Eugene yesterday and found their Meth problem and they are listed at #7 for worst short term air partical quality. We will have family in Spokane soon and wanted to now the good the bad and the ugly on it. We are coming from Cheyenne, Wy. Already have a meth problem here and i know you can't out run it but its boring here and the wind blows way too much. So please tell me there are more things to entertain a family there and how the wind is personally and any thoughts on if its a great or ot great place to live. Thank you

[WendyK]

Bigaries - You should read through the MANY posts on here under "Questions about Spokane" and you'll find out lots about Spokane. There are lots of family activities to do here, wind varies but this is generally a protected area from major winds, and in my opinion it is a great place to live, especially if you'll have family here. If they are new in town, you can discover things to do together. There are plenty of free and/or low cost activities to do year round here.

[photogoddess]

I am from Casper Wyoming and trust me, the wind here is NOTHING compared to Wyoming! I haven't spent alot of time in Cheyenne, but it might be a bit of a culture shock from there if you have never lived anywhere else.
We will be moving to Spokane soon as well, but we are close enough to be able to visit weekly. Email me if you have any other questions that i might be able to answer!

[StealthRabbit]

I came to SW WA (near Portland, OR) from near Ft Collins, so... I think you'ld be happier in Spokane than the west side (eugene). I had an offer in Both Spokane and Vanc the same day, but chose Vanc, as job was better. Spokane was my choice for living. It has a variety of choices of areas and types of terrain, so you will have to check it out, and determine distance to commute. I'm looking for SE of town (Fairfield / Rockford) or far NW (Colville). Post Falls and the valley (east) are getting a major case of 'suburbia'. Will remind you of the Loveland I-25 exit, factory stores + more...

If you want to fell at home (wyoming 'moonscape') you can look to Medical Lakes (west of Spokane)

Eastern WA wind (breeze) is mild in comparison (I spent 7 yrs 'trucking' in WYO) The winters are kinda gray, but not wet and gray like on the 'west side' of Cascades. The wind in the Columbia Gorge 'Vortex' (Stevenson to Corbett) will challenge the Wyo winds.... You know it's blowing when the neighbors 'Cast Iron' lawn furniture flies by...

Unfortunatley the Meth issue is not good anywhere. I think WA state is being pretty aggressive at locking them up, I hope that curtails some of it, Spokane has a high crime stat, but I feel it is 'urban' based, so look to the 'decent' burbs and small towns within commute distance. (there are some crummy small towns too, keep your eyes open)

[bigaries]

Thanks everyone for the info. I think that i would really like Spokane but our move is still about 7mth to a year away and the family we thought was moving is now going to Redding. So we may be back looking at the WV again so my husband can be closer to family. I have no family here in Cheyenne, but some in Ft. Collins/Loveland area. I would love to live there but it is still dry there. We visited for a while in The Dalles, OR and liked it, but its too small for us. We are just tired of being dry and windblown, and want to find better school systems, we are a young family, i like to think, 29 and 35, our kids are 10 and 2. So we need kind of a range of activity and also a place where i can go back to school (real estate or Dental hygiene). I do not think that the rain would bother me so much but the bitter cold does and that is what we have been dealing with here more than i remember in recent years but i could be wrong.

But thank you all and i think my search will continue, we are planning a trip up through wy to montana and into washington to Oregon and then down to northern Ca and back home in June or so. Hoping we get to see all these places first hand and make a decision soon.
Thanks

[sourdough]

Meth is everywhere in the U.S.. Spokane is just another typical american city. If you dwell in the meth level of society, it will be the same here. Tweekers are like shooting stars. Problem is the darker things get, the more there are popping up. The economy and standard of living is changing also too, rich and poor. Spokane is not an oasis.

[KidBlue]

Bigaries,

You mentioned you will be looking in NoCA on the Pacific NoW coast. If you need info about that area, the Sacramento, CA forum is very helpful.