walla walla anyone` (Seattle, Spokane, Bellingham: relocating, work, home)

[deem]

Hello Is Walla Walla close to the tricities area? what's it like? small town?
green? vineyards? Any information appreciated - we are moving out of the phoneix area - soon as school is out... how is work there? any trendy areas, cafes, shoppes, movies,
any information much appreciated

[wythors]

Walla Walla is a smallish, conservative, eastern Washington town about an hour south of the Tri-Cities. Vineyards, yes. Trendy stuff? Umm... no. It has the Washington State Penitentiary. Is that trendy enough? Not familiar with the economy there.

[deem]

no i don't think that does it - Penitentiary's trendy - i guess it depends what your in for
How about the tri cities area - looking for some small town atmosphere - greenery, good schools, cafes, neat restaurants.outdoor parks, water, and shoppes with uniqueness in a country setting - tired of the metroplitan areas.

[wythors]

Somehow, none of those traits bring anything in eastern Washington quickly to mind, especially the greenery part. Fitting those criteria, the following would make my list in no particular order:

La Conner
Anacortes
Bellingham
Snohomish
North Whidbey Island (to an extent)
Friday Harbor
Gig Harbor
Port Townsend

Bear in mind, I don't have children so I can't speak about the schools, unlike some on this board that feel to comment on what they don't know.

[magrack]

Originally Posted by wythors

Walla Walla is a smallish, conservative, eastern Washington town about an hour south of the Tri-Cities. Vineyards, yes. Trendy stuff? Umm... no. It has the Washington State Penitentiary. Is that trendy enough? Not familiar with the economy there.

There is trendy stuff there.

In addition to the state pen, Walla Walla is also home to Whitman College, rated in the top 100 of the nation's most liberal 4 year universities.

Though the area depends a great deal on agri-business it is certainly much more diverse than "farm town."

About 50 miles to the Tri-Cities.

Plus if the OP moves there, they would get to say Walla Walla, Washington quite often; how cool is that?

Oh, I know; it's not Seattle, so it can't be any good.

[scirocco22]

As usual, good summary, magrack! I was just going to mention Whitman but you beat me to it.

deem, I think you'll get more of a small town atmosphere in Walla Walla than in the Tri-cities. With that said, IMO, there are probably better choices. From your post in another thread, it sounds as if there's a reason you're choosing the Tri-cities area. If that's so, I'd be more inclined to choose Walla Walla.

As magrack said, it IS cool to say Walla Walla. As a college buddy of mine who's from Walla Walla (actually Touchet ...ask how to pronounce that one) told me, just be sure to put the accent on the first walla. It's a dead give away that you're an outsider if you pronounce it walla WALLA and not WALLA walla. *laughs*

And wythors, if it's me you're referring to pertaining to posting about schools and not knowing anything about them, even though I don't have kids in school anymore doesn't necessarily mean that I don't know about them. I'm a former school district employee and still have a lot of friends in the teaching profession in the Seattle area so I'm hearing all the time from them on what districts are highly rated. Lake Washington in particular is good ...not just in my opinion but also of others.

--'rocco

[wythors]

Originally Posted by magrack

Oh, I know; it's not Seattle, so it can't be any good.

Unneccessarily harsh, don't you think? Personally, I can't wait to retire and move away from the hell-hole that this city is becoming. Having grown up in eastern WA and visiting frequently, I feel very qualified to say that there is very little in the way of "trendy areas, cafes, shoppes" anywhere east of the mountains.

Originally Posted by scirocco22

And wythors, if it's me you're referring to pertaining to posting about schools and not knowing anything about them, even though I don't have kids in school anymore doesn't necessarily mean that I don't know about them. I'm a former school district employee and still have a lot of friends in the teaching profession in the Seattle area so I'm hearing all the time from them on what districts are highly rated. Lake Washington in particular is good ...not just in my opinion but also of others.

--'rocco

Don't know you from Adam. I've only seen one post of yours prior to this. As I've said, I don't have kids and know nothing about schools, so I wouldn't begin to pass judgement on a post about schools. There are certain members here that seem to have an opinion on everything about Seattle and Washington in general, yet don't even live in the state and haven't even been here in recent years. That was directed at them.

[magrack]

Originally Posted by wythors

Unneccessarily harsh, don't you think? Personally, I can't wait to retire and move away from the hell-hole that this city is becoming. Having grown up in eastern WA and visiting frequently, I feel very qualified to say that there is very little in the way of "trendy areas, cafes, shoppes" anywhere east of the mountains.

No, I don't think it was unnecessarily harsh. If anything, it wasn't blunt enough, but thank you for asking.

The poster wanted info about Walla Walla, instead you gave them places in the Puget Sound area giving me the impression that you're one of those who consider anything but the greater Seattle area as being somehow lesser.

There are people who don't want to live in a major metro area.

There are people who like places like Walla Walla, and your post was anything but helpful.

I liked Seattle a lot when I was younger, less so after I started winding down, but I would never assume that someone looking for something in the middle of the state needed to be steered to the area.

Washington has something for everyone.

Major metro areas, small towns, isolated towns, rural farm country, desert like region, rugged mountains, ocean living, lake or riverside living, rain forest, transition areas. One of the most geographically diverse states in the country.

The people reflect the same diversity, as does the the places they live.

No single city/town/village in the state is made up of people with the exact same mindset, and trendy is in the eye of the beholder.

Let's take a look at the Walla Walla phone book and events calendar.

Just some of the restaurants:

Backstage Bistro
Bangkok Cafe
Dim Sum Inn
Downtown Juice & Bagel Bar
Cookie Tree Bakery & Cafe
Hua's Mongolian BBQ
Merchants LTD & French Bakery
Stone Soup
Taqueria Yungapeti

Plus the usual assortment of chains. You can tell a lot about a place by looking at the food offerings.

I'm sure one or two of these might be trendy; if nothing else they point to a bit of diversity.

It's a college town; betcha they got coffee bars and book stores too. (Whitman is a small private school, less than 2000 enrollment, but I've never seen a town with a college that didn't have some trendy stuff).


Plus they have the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede (I love Hot air balloon events); can't beat that.

[scirocco22]

Originally Posted by wythors

Don't know you from Adam. I've only seen one post of yours prior to this. As I've said, I don't have kids and know nothing about schools, so I wouldn't begin to pass judgement on a post about schools. There are certain members here that seem to have an opinion on everything about Seattle and Washington in general, yet don't even live in the state and haven't even been here in recent years. That was directed at them.

Ok, fair enough. I've been critcized so much by so many recently here on this forum that I'm getting pretty defensive about anything that's said that could be directed at me.

Originally Posted by magrack

No, I don't think it was unnecessarily harsh. If anything, it wasn't blunt enough, but thank you for asking.

The poster wanted info about Walla Walla, instead you gave them places in the Puget Sound area giving me the impression that you're one of those who consider anything but the greater Seattle area as being somehow lesser.

There are people who don't want to live in a major metro area.

There are people who like places like Walla Walla, and your post was anything but helpful.

I liked Seattle a lot when I was younger, less so after I started winding down, but I would never assume that someone looking for something in the middle of the state needed to be steered to the area.

Washington has something for everyone.

Major metro areas, small towns, isolated towns, rural farm country, desert like region, rugged mountains, ocean living, lake or riverside living, rain forest, transition areas. One of the most geographically diverse states in the country.

The people reflect the same diversity, as does the the places they live.

No single city/town/village in the state is made up of people with the exact same mindset, and trendy is in the eye of the beholder.

Let's take a look at the Walla Walla phone book and events calendar.

Just some of the restaurants:

Backstage Bistro
Bangkok Cafe
Dim Sum Inn
Downtown Juice & Bagel Bar
Cookie Tree Bakery & Cafe
Hua's Mongolian BBQ
Merchants LTD & French Bakery
Stone Soup
Taqueria Yungapeti

Plus the usual assortment of chains. You can tell a lot about a place by looking at the food offerings.

I'm sure one or two of these might be trendy; if nothing else they point to a bit of diversity.

It's a college town; betcha they got coffee bars and book stores too. (Whitman is a small private school, less than 2000 enrollment, but I've never seen a town with a college that didn't have some trendy stuff).


Plus they have the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede (I love Hot air balloon events); can't beat that.

Again, nice concise summary, magrack. We've both decided that the Seattle area wasn't the place we wanted to retire. I believe that we do have insight to shed here.

I have a college-aged relative who is just having a blast at Whitman. I told him that I had a great time at Central in Ellensburg back decades ago and I understand his euphoria about going to college in a small town.

Walla Walla has always been a breath of fresh air to me. It could be one of the places I may consider relocating if I ever want to move back to Washington.

--'rocco

[magrack]

Thanks 'rocco.

I like Walla Walla, but I was thinking about Dayton for a while; my motorcycle broke down there once on the way to WW from Spokane and I was forced to spend a day there. Pretty neat little town, but I don't do cold winters.

I'm pretty much of an explorer. My best friend and I spent most of our time on our bikes just cruising. Once when we were gassing up in Raymond, an older guy asked where we were headed.

We looked at each other and realized we hadn't set the weekend destinaton. My bud turned to the other guy and said "Wherever five gallons of gas will take us."

We ended up in Bickleton.

From that day on, we never called each other to ask if the other wanted to go for a ride. We called and said " I've got five gallons of gas." We did make a rule that we would alternate choosing destinations. Each of us tried to pick places that we hadn't been to and the destination had to have a neat feature.

After 28 years in WA, I think I can safely say that I've been to 70% of the towns in WA, and found something good in all of them.

My son graduated from Central in the early 80's. He loved it. Surprised me, as he had only lived in large cities or towns up to that point. As a parent I was happy with his choice and glad he enjoyed it.