Which city in Washington is best for me? (Seattle, Tacoma: showing, for sale)

[halen]

Please help. I am looking for the best city in Washington that suits my needs. Schools, jobs, and housing prices are of no concern. I am looking for great beauty in scenery, charming houses, and acreage. I want to be able to garden and have horses or at least riding stables near by. I am through with the Southern California lifestyle, McMansions, and urban sprawl. A rural city that is not likely to experience a boom in growth would be perfect. I prefer a wetter climate that a dry one. Thank you for your time.

[mthomson]

Eatonville, Orting, Graham would be my choices.

[halen]

Great, thank you for your time.

[allforcats]

Well, you don't want Orting as it's in the projected direct path of pyroclastic flows from Mt. Rainier, whenever that will occur. You might want to read this thread:
Mt Rainier: Concerned it will erupt in the future.
Besides opinions, there's quite a bit of scientific data in that.

This is the link you'll be most interested in in this regard:
Geotimes — April 2004 — Paths of Destruction: The Hidden Threat at Mount Rainier
Has the map --scroll down a bit -- showing the RED and ORANGE projected paths of flows.

Also:
KING5 Seattle News | KING 5 News - Mount St. Helens Anniversary
In terms of "timing", they state, "A major lahar on Mt. Rainier happens about once every 500 to 1000 years. And it's been about 550 years since the last one."
They say the evidence for mud flows is in "Ashford, Elbe, Orting, Puyallup, Auburn, Commencement Bay, Kent and even Renton."
They state that the towns "in direct danger" in the case of a volcanic eruption would be "Orting, Sumner, Ashford, Elbe, Packwood, Randle, Greenwater and parts of Puyallup. The flow could also affect parts of Tacoma, Buckley and Enumclaw."

[chris]

Eatonville, Orting, Graham are all part of Tacoma urban sprall (Eatonville to a lesser extent). Traffic traffic traffic Californication everywhere.

Wet and plenty of land, you might want to check out southern Grays Harbor County. You're likely to not see much growth in that area. And most of Lewis county too.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by halen

Please help. I am looking for the best city in Washington that suits my needs. Schools, jobs, and housing prices are of no concern. I am looking for great beauty in scenery, charming houses, and acreage. I want to be able to garden and have horses or at least riding stables near by. I am through with the Southern California lifestyle, McMansions, and urban sprawl. A rural city that is not likely to experience a boom in growth would be perfect. I prefer a wetter climate that a dry one. Thank you for your time.

Chris has a great point about Tacoma sprawl and traffic.

You'd want to start in western Washington, as eastern Washington is quite a bit drier. That also handles the scenery beauty, as you can have any one, or any combination of, forests, mountains and water (salt or fresh).

Acreage, and zoning to allow some serious veggies, and zoning to allow horses/riding stables + that scenery = north of Seattle or south of Seattle, and away from I-5.

If I were looking, I would put "charming houses" a bit lower on the list of priorities. However, I'm thinking that maybe someplace like Chehalis or Centralia, or around that area, might have all of the above. In fact, it's possible that all your criteria might be met south of Olympia, or perhaps on the south side of the Olympic Peninsula (west of Olympia to perhaps McCleary-Elma-Brady-Montesano).

A town not likely to have a boom in growth might not be easy to find. But in the smaller towns in the areas I've mentioned you might find the kind of quiet and very slow growth you seem to be looking for, because they are far from the density of employment in the big cities.

I wish you a happy search!

[LMB]

Consider Langley or Coupeville on Whidbey Island. Lots of charm, trees and rural spaces. Or maybe Camano Island--no real town, but beautiful and quiet with room to roam. Camano is accessible by bridge, and Whidbey is drivable at the north end and has two ferry docks, one at the south end of the island at Clinton with service to Mukilteo (Langley isn't far from Clinton), and one near Coupeville with service to Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula. So many choices! Happy hunting!

Lynn

[Sobefobik]

You should try the San Juan islands. It is VERY unlikely that these islands will see any growth, and they are beautiful. They are also secluded, and many houses have acreage.

[KidBlue]

I think the little town of Elma would meet your needs also. I checked out the towns east of Olympia last summer and liked Eatonville, but was worried about the growth rate since most stores were in Yelm. Elma seemed pretty rural with a low growth rate and seemed like a good place for horses (and people!).

I've been keeping an eye on homes for sale in Elma and Shelton and Elma seems to have homes for sale on acreage on a regular basis. I'd be glad to share my impressions on the parts of western WA I visited in a P/M. Good luck with your search.

[halen]

Thank you all for you responses and useful information.