where should we move? Prescott, Twin Falls, or Walla Walla? (Seattle: relocate, job)

[cleanairkids]

We are looking to relocate to a town in the Western US that has clean air. We currently live in central Calif. (the #4 worst rated air quality county in the country). We have 3 children aged 6 and under and are expecting another baby in May. Two of our kids have respiratory problems which we have been told by 2 doctors is directly related to the poor air quality. Both doctors also said, "If you can, move out of this valley!"

Currently, we are seriously considering the Prescott, AZ, Twin Falls, ID, and Walla Walla, WA areas. We would love our choice of towns to not only have great air quality but also have great schools, low crime rates, a family oriented small town atmosphere, quality housing that isn't overpriced and an active Catholic Church.

I know no town is perfect but, any information you could provide on these towns or any other towns would be extremely helpful in our decision making process.

Thank you!!

[coltoncity]

Just about everything i have heard about Prescott has been good. I think they do have much better air quality then where you are now but I would worry about Phoenix being so close. Its only about an hour away. It depends what exactly is the problem, asthma or allergies to certain things etc. The doctor should be able to tell you the best place aor quality wise, especially if you have these towns in mind. Have allergy tests done etc for the differnt regions. Walla Walla is crops and a prison. Idaho is gorgeous and lots of nature as well. Prescott is very expensive but a great family town, very very low crime. There are many half way houses there but most the people go back where they come from afer there time is up of course. (Still kind of bothers me though)

[gentledental4u]

I've visited the Prescott and Phoenix area.. They are far enough that Phoenix shouldn't cause any problems. Also Prescott is at a higher elevation. Prescott is high up in the mountains and it's beautiful..the air is fresh and clean..and when we visited, there was snow. it felt a lot like lake tahoe .. my two centz

[AZ_singlemother]

Lake Havasau AZ is rated as #1 cleanest air in the US. Prescott was not on the top ten. Check that out since you are close.

[libby1387]

WOW - That is really strange. My husband and I also lived in Central California and spent 8 years researching a place to retire to. After researching Prescott and visiting both Twin Falls and Walla Walla, we settled on Walla Walla and moved here just under two years ago. We couldn't be happier!

We decided against Prescott for a number of reason, primarily we weren't sure we were ready to fully retire and we were concerned that the further south we moved the more difficult it would become to find work if we weren't bilingual (Spanish/English). It was already becoming next to impossible to find work in Central California without that particular job skill.

We decided against Twin Falls because 1) it is quite remote and 2) quite cold in the winter. If you don't mind those issues, it really does seem to be a nice small, family-oriented town. It was definitely our second choice and if for some reason WW doesn't work out, we would still consider it.

We ultimately chose WW and we LOVE it! A family-friendly town, four seasons, but not extreme, clean air, very little crime or traffic relative to California, a beautiful downtown, beautiful parks, beautiful scenery. I could not recommend it more highly. I'd be glad to send some pics that we took just recently of the countryside; it is just extraordinary! Let me know if you are interested.

PS We did have some crazy weather here this weekend; lots of wind damage. However, the storm we experienced was not exclusive to this area and ranged from Canada to Mexico. We were told by native Walla Wallans that they had never before experienced this type of weather in their lifetime.

[lrooff]

Originally Posted by coltoncity

Walla Walla is crops and a prison.

Having lived in Walla Walla for the past twenty years, I can assure you that there's a lot more there than just wheat and the penitentiary. We've become a major tourist destination because of the large number of top-rated wineries (87 of them at last count), and have three colleges, many outdoor recreational opportunities, and a low-crime lifestyle. While we don't have all the cultural amenities of a large city, we do have the oldest continuous symphony west of the Mississippi, community band and choral organizations, various theatre groups, as well as rodeos, rock concerts and festivals. It's not big and exciting (I've lived in San Diego and NYC, and can tell the difference...) but if you're looking for a safe place to raise a family, this is it.

[MichaelinWA]

Yep, Walla Walla has become something of a Napa, but without the attitude. Here is an article in the Seattle Times that ran not long ago:

Outdoors | Is Walla Walla "the next Napa"? | Seattle Times Newspaper

Walla Walla is on our retirement radar screen, along with Prescott, oddly enough, but we're still 15-20 years away. One thing that I like about Prescott - the relative proximity to Phoenix. Walla Walla is truly isolated from big city airports, etc. But we really like Walla Walla, for some of the other reasons mentioned in this thread. Tasty onions for your burger, too

[MajorHart]

Originally Posted by libby1387

WOW - That is really strange. My husband and I also lived in Central California and spent 8 years researching a place to retire to. After researching Prescott and visiting both Twin Falls and Walla Walla, we settled on Walla Walla and moved here just under two years ago. We couldn't be happier!

We decided against Prescott for a number of reason, primarily we weren't sure we were ready to fully retire and we were concerned that the further south we moved the more difficult it would become to find work if we weren't bilingual (Spanish/English). It was already becoming next to impossible to find work in Central California without that particular job skill.

We decided against Twin Falls because 1) it is quite remote and 2) quite cold in the winter. If you don't mind those issues, it really does seem to be a nice small, family-oriented town. It was definitely our second choice and if for some reason WW doesn't work out, we would still consider it.

We ultimately chose WW and we LOVE it! A family-friendly town, four seasons, but not extreme, clean air, very little crime or traffic relative to California, a beautiful downtown, beautiful parks, beautiful scenery. I could not recommend it more highly. I'd be glad to send some pics that we took just recently of the countryside; it is just extraordinary! Let me know if you are interested.

PS We did have some crazy weather here this weekend; lots of wind damage. However, the storm we experienced was not exclusive to this area and ranged from Canada to Mexico. We were told by native Walla Wallans that they had never before experienced this type of weather in their lifetime.

I've not been to WallaWalla but lived in Clarkston for a short while and visited Yakima too. All are pretty hot in the summer but I understand anywhere on the Snake River is good as far as winter temps go.

I've always thought that if a person would do some videos (or photo albums) of the various cities and towns they would find a very interested bunch of customers.

We read of a very strong interest in Oklahoma (my home state) and we plan to spend 5 days filming it this spring.

Many people do this for fun but it could be very valuable where people are trying to decide or doing the preliminary research. I live in Missouri now but we're going to Oklahoma as soon as we can sell our older house - that might not be quick in this housing climate.

Oklahoma has far lower home prices than most of the rest of the USA.

MajorHart. [Mod cut]

[Okhotneek]

I used to live in Prescott. It was absolutely gorgeous. If you're outdoorsy and like biking, you'll love it. The streets are extremely wide and they give bikers a car lane, not to mention they have tons of sidewalks in most neighborhoods. The mountains are just beautiful...coupled with the fact that it rarely rains....you're always looking at clear skies and gorgeous days. You never want to go inside. My grandmother has really bad alergies and asthma....she has no problems since she moved there. I'm guessing the reason for that is nothing really grows there....most people decorate their lawns with rocks. The temp in the summer is pretty mild, I usually had to keep a jacket handy all year round (I am from Louisiana though and moved to Prescott from rainforest). I the winter you get a little snow, just enough to be pleasant. They're really quick about clearing the streets too. I never had to drive on ice or snow while I was there, it was always scraped (and I had to go to work at 5 am). The temps got down in the teens sometimes, but the cold wasn't extreme at all and it didn't drag on like it does in some places. There were tons of places for hiking. Near Prescott is a State Park that is wonderful to hike on when you want to be alone, not hear people, cars, helicopters. It has rocks to climb, a river flowing through it and get this...I don't know how to get back to it but during my wanderings, I came across an area in the mountains that had tons of really green grass and trees. They have a dog park with a nice trail around a manmade lake. My dog loved that. Ok....enough rambling about what I loved there...which was TONS....
Downside. It's a place that most people go to die. There aren't many young people. The ones I found were really in to drugs. Meth is very big around there....the older people don't really know about it. And I found this within a week of being there....so it's everywhere. The kids just seem to be bored and unmotivated. I could see how that was cause everything there was kind of done with the retirement community in mind. It's a very uptight area, very conservative. You have to be careful that the church you are invited to isn't a cult. There's only 1 small mall there, 1 new super walmart that the locals say is going to ruin the town. The downtown is tiny, but cute with interesting places to eat. Oh....when I lived there, there wasn't even a donut shop...if that tells you how small it is. The college that is there really sucks. It's a two year college, so if your kids go to college, then they will have to move to Phoenix.....I'm not fond of Phoenix. I ended up quiting the college cause I didn't think it was worth my time. In my english class, our teacher had us read out loud (why, I don't know) and most of the kids could barely read. I got so tired of hearing 18 year olds stumbling over words like approximate. There's another college, but I think it's like, flight school or something.. So I'm not sure what the schools are like for the younger kids, but I wouldn't bother with the college.
Sorry for the really long rambling post... Prescott is gorgeous and a wonderful place, but I didn't find anything there for younger kids except boredom and drugs.

[noniemonie]

wenatchee washington is a really great town. clean air lots of stuff to do. it is the apple capital of the world and has four seasons