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Looking for a more layed back outdoor town to relocate. Wanting close access to outdoors; hiking, mountain biking, fishing, skiing, trails thru town, and obviously feel safe is ideal. 4 seasons would be great. Work remotely, but want home purchase to be a good investment in a healthy economy. A bit more conservative but mostly just wanting an friendly community. Population of around 80-200k is kinda the good medium for not too small and not too big. Have teens so good schools and proximity to college is a bonus (does not need to be big University). Foodie town is always a plus!
Love Bend, super friendly, but lacked a few amenities and is a bit pricey and most housing close together for not being sure.
Colorado has everything but wasn’t crazy about any Denver suburbs, and would prefer skiing closer.
Looking at a few central Washington towns; West Richland, East Wenatchee, also around Maple Valley on the other side of Cascades.
Last edited by Activefam; 08-06-2021 at 06:15 AM..
Burlington VT. College town. Chittenden County is the prosperous part of the state. Your outdoors activities are all there plus Lake Champlain is a substantial lake. Montreal is 2 hours once COVID ends. Boston is all highway and 3 hours at speed limit + 9 mph.
Bozeman MT, also a college town. Though real estate is a bit crazy at the moment with all the CA money flowing in. Last winter was mild its likely a few of the more recent transplants want to exit after experiencing a proper MT winter. Bridger Ski Bowl is 25 minutes from downtown.
Thanks for the other suggestions. I have looked at some of these other places and have narrowed it down to these regions for proximity to lots of friends and family( not necessarily the towns they live in though).
The problem with Ft. Collins right now is a lot of their mountain backyard burned last year, moreso than any other area of Colorado in recent history. One fire got the front side, the other fire got the backside behind RMNP. It takes about 20 years before a burn scar returns to scenic IMO, the Hayman fire burned near COS in 2002 and just now there's enough aspens and the dead stuff has blown over to where it's somewhere that's finally scenic to go enjoy again. Before then it was interesting to see, but it was a bit dangerous with the deadwood standing (till wind blows it over) and it was too open, sunny, and bare to enjoy frequently.
That alone would deter me from the Ft. Collins area.
The problem with Ft. Collins right now is a lot of their mountain backyard burned last year, moreso than any other area of Colorado in recent history. One fire got the front side, the other fire got the backside behind RMNP. It takes about 20 years before a burn scar returns to scenic IMO, the Hayman fire burned near COS in 2002 and just now there's enough aspens and the dead stuff has blown over to where it's somewhere that's finally scenic to go enjoy again. Before then it was interesting to see, but it was a bit dangerous with the deadwood standing (till wind blows it over) and it was too open, sunny, and bare to enjoy frequently.
That alone would deter me from the Ft. Collins area.
Your commentary is because of the burn its not as scenic? Or a concern for more fires coming up? Or what?
Fort Collins is currently near the top of my list... but that's primarily because I realized I will need some sort of proximity to a larger city... for no reason other than I/my family just like that. I don't like being so so isolated. Then I also realized I probably wouldn't do well with the PNW endless winters.. the constant overcast.
My list:
Fort Collins
Bend
Reno
Spokane
Flagstaff
Bend kind of isolated. Spokane and Reno also isolated, though they are slightly bigger towns of their own.
Flagstaff is close. Just came back from there actually. Interesting growing little mountain town. Almost a piece of Colorado in Arizona... just something didn't feel "right" there for me.
Wenatchee is more blue-collar than the other places on your list, probably worse schools. Surprisingly high home prices too (median $400k vs. $354 in Kennewick, which is a much bigger and more desirable metro).
Have you looked into Pullman WA/Moscow ID, home to Washington State University and the U of Idaho? They're a pair of college towns --- just a few minutes apart across the state border --- so I assume the public schools are decent. Reasonable home prices ($369 and $325). The population of the two counties combined is 87k, so it's on the smaller side of your range, but you're just an hour and a half from Spokane for urban amenities. Both counties are barely on the blue side, conservative by college town standards, they definitely don't have that countercultural, hippie-ish vibe like Eugene or Olympia. Big agriculture school at WSU.
The scenery in that area is not forested, more rolling hills and farms, but you're fairly close to the Blue Mountains at Washington's southeast corner, the Selkirk Mountains north of Spokane, and the Rockies sub-ranges through the Idaho panhandle. Although the climate is on the arid side, the Snake River is a very quick trip away. Coeur d'Alene is up by Spokane and has a beautiful (and warm!) lake --- I live all the way in Seattle and I try to get out there a couple times each summer.
Your commentary is because of the burn its not as scenic? Or a concern for more fires coming up? Or what?
Absolutely. Once an areas been burned with a crown fire, it's basically unusable. Trails are shut down due to erosion and danger of falling burn trees in addition to it not being scenic. It takes about 10 years to become usable again. And Ft. Collins just had 2 huge wildfires in the mountains close to the city. Not that this disqualifies it from the table, it's just something to be aware of.
A fire isn't going to get Ft. Collins, they are stopped as soon as the forest runs out.
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