Battle of the Inland Northwest Cities (live, state, places, America)
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Hey everyone, I am interested in hearing what is your favorite Inland Northwest city, and why?
For the record, Inland Northwest includes Eastern Washington and Oregon (east of the Cascades), Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. I am not including the coast in this thread mainly because of weather differences and differences in lifestyles.
Please use the following criteria:
1. Affordability / COL (income to housing)
2. Economy / Jobs
3. Weather and Climate Patterns (precipitation, wind, etc.)
4. Outdoor Recreation
5. Environmental Issues (sustainability, air quality, hazardous waste, etc.)
6. Politics
7. Public Spending / Debt
8. Walkability / Urban design / Transportation
9. Public education
10. Potential Growth / City's Future
11. Other criteria you deem important
I grew up in Spokane/Coeur d' Alene so I'm partial to those cities, but the natural setting with huge alpine lakes and mountains close by along with Spokane's interesting downtown make for a great combo.
I recently went to visit my parents in Boise and I'm very impressed with the direction that city is heading too. The bike culture there almost seemed to surpass what I've seen in Portland.
I really need to explore more of the West, lol. I've been inside every Western state at least once, but I'm still missing all these cities except Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Wenatchee, and Jackson Hole.
I guess Coeur d'Alene was nicer than I was expecting, although the hotels were crazy expensive (like, absolute minimum $230). On the other hand I found Spokane kind of ugly and run-down for the most part, although the area on the south side around the Northwest Museum was nice. Downtown Wenatchee was historic and had cool natural surroundings but it's way too small and isolated for me to want to live there. Jackson Hole I only have vague memories of from going to Yellowstone when I was like 13.
Bend looks pleasant from what I've seen Street-Viewing, but I'm not seeing what's so special about it to make it boom so fast.
I really need to explore more of the West, lol. I've been inside every Western state at least once, but I'm still missing all these cities except Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Wenatchee, and Jackson Hole.
I guess Coeur d'Alene was nicer than I was expecting, although the hotels were crazy expensive (like, absolute minimum $230). On the other hand I found Spokane kind of ugly and run-down for the most part, although the area on the south side around the Northwest Museum was nice. Downtown Wenatchee was historic and had cool natural surroundings but it's way too small and isolated for me to want to live there. Jackson Hole I only have vague memories of from going to Yellowstone when I was like 13.
Bend looks pleasant from what I've seen Street-Viewing, but I'm not seeing what's so special about it to make it boom so fast.
That’s more than me I’ve never been up there. I picked cities that I’ve heard of, and seen “large enough” and important for their immediate region. Hence why I included a couple in Wyoming when really, I’m not entirely sure they qualify as cities, they may be too small population wise.
Street view of Bend looks a lot like Flagstaff to me. I love Flagstaff so that’s a good thing.
Maybe Boise is harder to get to for most Americans? Spokane is 4 hours east of Seattle along one of the US' most major Interstates. I don't know how I'll ever get to Boise, if I do - it's too far to drive for a weekend trip but not really alluring enough for me to want to fly there or take vacation days to drive there.
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