Considering moving - do you get used to the lack of trees? (Seattle: house)

[pnwboehm]

Husband and I are PNW born and raised but considering moving to the Tri Cities area for raising a family (Seattle has pushed us to the burbs and can't take it much longer). We love pretty much everything about Tri Cities but wondering if anyone else who has relocated can touch on two issues:

1) Do you get used to the desert foliage/ lack of large green trees?

2) Do you feel confined by not having much surrounding the tri-city area?

Thanks!

[pnwguy2]

There are plenty of large green trees in the Tri Cities. Portland is three hours away and Seattle about three and a half.

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by pnwboehm

Husband and I are PNW born and raised but considering moving to the Tri Cities area for raising a family (Seattle has pushed us to the burbs and can't take it much longer). We love pretty much everything about Tri Cities but wondering if anyone else who has relocated can touch on two issues:

1) Do you get used to the desert foliage/ lack of large green trees?

2) Do you feel confined by not having much surrounding the tri-city area?

Thanks!

I miss trees but I can say that we appreciate them more when we travel to the west side which we do about every months to see family. I would say yes to feeling a bit confined by not having too much around the area. However, now that I'm retired, I just don't think I would want to be anywhere in the Seattle metro due to the high cost, traffic craziness and just too many people everywhere. We have thought about possibly moving back to the west side but perhaps on the Olympic peninsula or Whidbey Island. I would say most of the Seattle people that retire in Tri Cities love it and younger people want to go back to Seattle.

[Toni30]

So I lived 12 years in the Seattle area and 12 years in the tricities. Here’s what I can say, the air is a lot fresher in Seattle area than tricities. Because of the trees and water. And if you like trees you will always miss them compared to tricities . So I do wish we had way more trees. On the good side I do like how you can drive around and you can see very far . I like open country . Another thing there is barely any traffic here compared to Seattle area. And if there is it’s quick. And within 10-15 minutes pretty much anywhere in tricities you can get to Costco , Walmart, winco etc. so driving is very little . Overall I don’t think I would ever move back to the Seattle area. But I do want to move out of tricities eventually for fresher air as the air can be bad at night from factories or Hanford or wherever they are coming from.

Question 1: yes the desert foliage sucks , you get tumbleweeds flying everywhere in the early spring because in the spring Time from March to June we get a lot of wind so it does get very windy compared to the Seattle area

2: no I do not feel confined at all. Never felt it . ( Im 30 years old btw)

[pnwguy2]

As I posted in June the Tri Cities has a lot of trees in the city areas. No Evergreens, they don’t do well in the dry climate. But others do nicely. I will admit when you get out of the actual cities there are not many, especially when viewing the nearby hills. But there is certainly not a dearth of green trees in Richland, Pasco, Kennewick.

[dav51lin]

wind sucks

[Hawaii900]

I'm from western WA, but I have always loved going over the mountains, into the desert of eastern side of the state. So, for me, moving to the tri cities (and leaving behind the trees) was not an issue. I love desert foliage (except tumbleweeds and tackweed), as well as open spaces.. There are plenty of trees within the cities, though. I lived in Tucson for a while and it's definitely a lot greener here than there.
I don't feel confined. In fact, it has been the opposite. I hated going outside, when I lived in Everett. There were people (crappy ones) everywhere and it was often overwhelming.. Here there is far less traffic and pedestrians. Also, there are a lot of trails around, which I have really been enjoying.
Driving in the (practically hurricane force) wind hasn't been my favorite thing to do, but I've managed so far.

I went over the mountains for a visit in early November and it sucked. The cold humidity, the traffic, packed grocery stores, pedestrians everywhere (including a woman that stripped on the sidewalk on Hwy 99).. I was so glad to be back in the tri-cities, when I got home.

[M3 Mitch]

And it's not like there are *no* trees here, live out past Prosser, have 3 big old Cottonwood trees around the house that really "make" it as far as I am concerned. And in Richland, anyway, there are trees in town.

I like the desert, or more exactly, steppe here. If you want lush green vegetation all around, you won't like it here. But I grew up with that around Atlanta and have had enough of it.

[dav51lin]

the thing i miss living in western washington other than the sun is
seeing off in the distance for miles with all the trees u cannot for the most part