Walla Walla, WA?

What's up fellas. Contemplating possibly taking a job that would base me in Walla Walla, WA. I've been trying to move up to the Pacific NW for a while now, places like Portland, Vancouver and Seattle areas, but just haven't landed a comparable job op. There's a great op. in the Walla Walla, WA area and I would do quite a bit of commuting as a field service guy between Portland and there. Was wanting to know if you guys could spread some knowledge based on the area. Looking for info like housing costs, crime, diversity, quality of life stuff. Any thoughts and info appreciated.

 

Though I travel to Eastern Washington quite a bit, I have never lived on that side of the mountains so I don't have personal experience to offer regarding crime/diversity/quality of life. What I can tell you though is that Walla Walla, though technically NW, is drastically different than Seattle/Portland/Vancouver. I love that area, jobs are just much less available than the major metro areas obviously. The upside to that is cost of living is significantly less. For example, median home price in Walla Walla is $153k, compared to $330k for Seattle.

Hopefully someone more familiar will chime in, I know there are quite a few members from that area.

Just ran across another thread that would be a good read. Though it is about Oregon, a lot of the comments apply the same for Washington: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/north-west/187692-moving-oregon.html

 

All I know about Walla-Walla-Wa is that every cartoon made before 1960 thought it was funny as hell to say they were from here or heading here.

 

I have only been to walla walla a few times, what I remeber it was a nice area. The largest drawback would be that Walla Walla is the home of the Washington State Penitentiary.

 

Very nice area, centrally located, alot dryer than the other side of the mountains (Seattle) summer & winter, sportsmans paradise, alot cheaper housing. In my opinion a no brainer unless your a big city type.

 

I live just down the road in Pendleton and often work at the airport there. It's Mayberry for the most part, and if you can afford to get out of the trailer parks and on the hill by the vineyards it would be a nice place to live. Diversity is representative of the rest of the U.S. give or take, with the stereotypical Indian (I think he is Sikh) running the quickie mart, hispanic laborers, and middle class fat white guys owning most of the businesses in town. Crime is pretty low, but there are a lot of tweekers and migrant workers so don't leave your laptop in plain view and your door unlocked. I like it there, and the downtown area has a very European feel to it with lots of little shops and crap the wifey likes. Plus you're just down the road from the largest rodeo in the world, surrounded by the Blue Mountains and tons of outdoor recreation. I'd give it 8 out of 10 stars, but like I said I live just down the road so I'm partial.

 

I went to BMCC!

 

Eastern Washington is not what you picture of the pacific northwest. It is very desert like.

Housing costs- In my opinion the cost of living here is cheap. Especially compared to places like Seattle and Portland.

Crime- I hear there have been gang related issues there in the last year. I don't think it is anything too bad or anything to be overly concerned about though.

Are you into wine? There are about a billion wineries there!

That's all I can think of currently. Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Walla Walla is a good town. I was born here. The climate is nice. Not too hot in the summer, and not too cold in the winter. The Blue Mountains are close by for driving, hunting, camping etc. To be honest, there are a few gang problems and every once in a while we will read about an issue in the paper.

kbp68 sums up Walla Walla very well in saying it is a nice area, centrally located, and dryer than the other side of the mountain.

I think it's a great place to live. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the responses fellas. Been doing a lot of scouting online, and if the job works out, I think I'd like to live in/around the Tri-Cities area. I'd commute to Walla Walla which would be an hours drive depending. Not too bad considering I'd be field service anyways. Any other thoughts on Kennewick/Richland/Pasco? It's a bigger city with more things to do and is rated pretty well for family life. I'm originally from Guam, lived a long time in Hawaii, moved to Chico, CA and now in Denver, CO. Gotta say that the BIG city life of Denver is just not for me. CO is nice and all but I've grown quite tired of the urban sprawl where a lot of peeps are in too much of a hurry to say hi or find it odd when people are nice. So, I'm thinking/hoping that the SE part of WA would be a good fit.

 

If you don't like big cities and the unfriendly attitude of people who live in those big cities, you will love the tri cities!