help find a good location, work from home, family oriented community (Seattle: rent, house)

[mrbeardman]

Hello all ive spent several days reading through the forum and now would like to post my question. We are looking to move and are really able to move anywhere. right now we are looking at washington because we have family in edmunds. We dont have to live close to them, but maybe less than 5 hours would be good.

we are...
family of 5 (6month and 3yr old girls and 12 yr old boy)
schools are important
we are outdoorsy hiking, mountain biking, kayaking
I work from home so commuting is not a factor, but we may want to open a small desert shop/bakery eventually
looking for house between 150-250k
preferably enough land for a small hobby farm (goats, horses, other kid friendly animals) I assume 5-10 acres would be enough. but we dont want to be away from everyone. We just want a little space.
We live near nashville tn currently, but are from san diego. We arent the biggest fans of rain, so more sunny days so we can get outside would be preferred. nashville gets around 50 inches of rain but it has about 200 sunny days per year.
we love the big full green trees, mountain and water views.
We are both 30 yrs old, not into partying, clubs, bars or anything like that, we are more family oriented and are looking for a good community for our family.
not religious at all.

Ive never been to washington but my SO has been to seattle, and orcas island and she says its beautiful. we were told ot check out the olympic rain shadow PA, PT, and Sequium. Out of all those PT seems closest to our needs. But wondering if there are other areas that would be more fitting to younger, outdoor, family activities. We will probably take a trip to visit, then rent for several months before we buy. But we want to get out of here within a couple of months. So any help you can provide us would be greatly appreciated.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by mrbeardman

Hello all ive spent several days reading through the forum and now would like to post my question. We are looking to move and are really able to move anywhere. right now we are looking at washington because we have family in edmunds. We dont have to live close to them, but maybe less than 5 hours would be good.

we are...
family of 5 (6month and 3yr old girls and 12 yr old boy)
schools are important
we are outdoorsy hiking, mountain biking, kayaking
I work from home so commuting is not a factor, but we may want to open a small desert shop/bakery eventually
looking for house between 150-250k
preferably enough land for a small hobby farm (goats, horses, other kid friendly animals) I assume 5-10 acres would be enough. but we dont want to be away from everyone. We just want a little space.
We live near nashville tn currently, but are from san diego. We arent the biggest fans of rain, so more sunny days so we can get outside would be preferred
We are both 30 yrs old, not into partying, clubs, bars or anything like that, we are more family oriented and are looking for a good community for our family.
not religious at all.

Ive never been to washington but my SO has been to seattle, and orcas island and she says its beautiful. We will probably take a trip to visit, then rent for several months before we buy. But we want to get out of here within a couple of months. So any help you can provide us would be greatly appreciated.

If you're wanting more sunny days, Eastern WA would be a better fit. Start looking around the Spokane area and Tri-Cities (Pasco, Kennewick, Richland) area-- its more arid on that side, especially in Tri-Cities. Both areas are around 4 hrs from Seattle. Housing with land gets affordable as you move away from Seattle.

[lady fern]

I would second what Inkpoe wrote about looking at Eastern WA. Seattle is beautiful but the entire winter is spent in a constant drizzle. If you are into the big trees, I would look at the westernmost side of Eastern WA. Try the Ellensburg area. I'm not as familiar with the eastside, but from your questions and statements about rain, I doubt that the wet side is for you.