Walla Walla (Seattle, College Place: how much, homes, neighborhoods)

[redrider]

I'm interested in hearing from someone with firsthand experience and info about the Walla Walla area. I'm may be offered a teaching position at Whitman University and have never been to eastern Washington. My family and I have been living in Northern New England for the last ten years so Moving to Washington would be a big change. With a posted population of 30,000, Walla Walla seems like the ideal compromise between our currently "Too rural" life here and that of the "big city". My wife and I are both professionals. We have two children ages 9 and 2. Any comments on the public schools? Are they well funded or is private school the best option?
Housing seems reasonable, any better parts of town? You get the idea.
Thanks for any replies.

[509]

Originally Posted by redrider

I'm interested in hearing from someone with firsthand experience and info about the Walla Walla area. I'm may be offered a teaching position at Whitman University and have never been to eastern Washington. My family and I have been living in Northern New England for the last ten years so Moving to Washington would be a big change. With a posted population of 30,000, Walla Walla seems like the ideal compromise between our currently "Too rural" life here and that of the "big city". My wife and I are both professionals. We have two children ages 9 and 2. Any comments on the public schools? Are they well funded or is private school the best option?
Housing seems reasonable, any better parts of town? You get the idea.
Thanks for any replies.

I am sorry that nobody has posted a reply to your question. I have been to Walla Walla on business trips only. And it did make my final cut for an community to I would be willing to retire. It was my first choice, and my wife's second choice.

Nice community. Lots of neat stuff going on. Wealthy for a small town. New York Times (not a reputable news source, but nevertheless) called it the new Napa Valley.

I would fly out and check out the town. It could be the best move of your life. Whitman has a very good reputation in higher education in the northwest.

Not sure where you are living now and what you would be giving up. But I would take a very close look at Walla Walla.

[valleyblue]

Originally Posted by redrider

I'm interested in hearing from someone with firsthand experience and info about the Walla Walla area. I'm may be offered a teaching position at Whitman University and have never been to eastern Washington. My family and I have been living in Northern New England for the last ten years so Moving to Washington would be a big change. With a posted population of 30,000, Walla Walla seems like the ideal compromise between our currently "Too rural" life here and that of the "big city". My wife and I are both professionals. We have two children ages 9 and 2. Any comments on the public schools? Are they well funded or is private school the best option?
Housing seems reasonable, any better parts of town? You get the idea.
Thanks for any replies.

I think that you will like Walla Walla. My family and I moved back about 8 years ago. We like it here but with any place there is always pros and cons. Whitman has a very nice campus, lot's of cool old buildings, streams, creeks, ducks, art etc. It's a good thing you have a position lined up at Whitman good jobs are not easy to find around here.

We home-school our four youngest kids so I could not give you much advise on public schools. I would however stay away from College Place school district and Blue Ridge they seem to have more problems than most of the other schools. Homes prices have softened a little over the last year or so. Just depends on what you want and how much you want to spend. If you and your wife are both professionals you should have no problem finding a nice home and neighborhood that suits your family.

This was my first post on this forum, hope this was helpfull. If you have any speccific questions about Walla Walla just post them and I will try my best to answer them.

[Home Loan Center]

Public schools have great community support and are kept up nicely. The area around whitman while older is pretty nice in general. Other than that the south end of town near prospect point elementary is usually the most desirable. The area around blue ridge elementary is probably less desirable as it is lower income and more rundown neighborhoods. everything else really isn't too bad and all of WW is pretty safe.

[lady_jet]

My husband and I moved to Walla Walla almost 7 years ago and love it here. I grew up in WI/my husband in S. CA. I moved to Seattle after college and lived there until I married my second husband and moved to CA with my daughter. I didn't like CA much at all, until we moved to N. CA near Sacramento. We bought 16 acres near Nevada City, then sold it to move to Walla Walla.

There are problems in Walla Walla. School issues usually get voted down (repairs, upgrades, etc.) as Walla Walla has a lot of retirees here now, but new families are moving here as the housing is affordable. Not that the schools don't have good reputations. Rogers Adventist Elementary in College Place is a good private school and there is a Christian private school in Walla Walla that is good as well. You've heard which public schools are good and not so good.

Tons of fun things happen in the spring/summer/autumn almost every weekend, and if not in Walla Walla, in the surrounding areas. The Balloon Stampede, Car rallies, bike rallies, motorcycle rallies, the Duckie Derby, etc. There's the Walla Walla Farmers' Market that is very nice and it has grown every year since it was first organized. There's produce, crafts, music, and events (check out Kid's Day when they have lots of stuff for the children).

If you are here already, I'm sure you're enjoying it already. If you're not, you will enjoy it once you're here.

Take care,
Jet in Walla Walla, WA

[we5beckers]

I have a good friend who moved there and loves it! We were there last summer and I have to say I was pleasently suprised. It is a gorgous little town and they are quite a wine city I had no Idea there were so many winery's there! The great thing is it is not to far from Seattle 2-3 hour drive is not bad. The cost of housing is very good also!

[MichaelinWA]

There is a lot to like about Walla Walla, but I think you're probably looking at more like 4 hours, in terms of driving time. It's pretty isolated from big city life, which is good and bad.

Originally Posted by we5beckers

The great thing is it is not to far from Seattle 2-3 hour drive is not bad.

[Sonoma818]

Hey 509, I'll take the word of the New York Times over the looney-tunes at Faux News...

[skinem]

Originally Posted by Sonoma818

Hey 509, I'll take the word of the New York Times over the looney-tunes at Faux News...

[509]

Originally Posted by Sonoma818

Hey 509, I'll take the word of the New York Times over the looney-tunes at Faux News...

Sorry, but when the New York Times apologizes for not reporting the murder of 10 million Ukrainians in the 1930's I will consider them a reputable news source.

They will not even return the Pulitzer Prize for that reporting.