umsami Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 If you're from this area, can you tell me a little bit about it? Is it a nice area to raise a family? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 You want honesty, right? I do not know much about Tri-Cities personally except that it has kind of an industrial and flat/deserty "feel." Oh, It's kind of far from any metropolitan type city, if that matters. Spokane would be the closest. Whenever I've seen that someone here is from there, I'll message them and say hi -- usually (and I don't think I'm exaggerating), they'll say something about not liking it there too very much. That said, I'm *sure* there are nice parts and good reasons to live there I just personally wouldn't want to live any further east than where we are because I want the proximity to Seattle and the Puget Sound. Plus it's just lovely here with four distinct seasons and lots to do in the area. Any chance you can come another 90 minutes toward the center of the state? That's where I live (Ellensburg) and this is a *wonderful* place to live and raise a family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosyne Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 You want honesty, right? I do not know much about Tri-Cities personally except that it has kind of an industrial and flat/deserty "feel." Oh, It's kind of far from any metropolitan type city, if that matters. Spokane would be the closest. Whenever I've seen that someone here is from there, I'll message them and say hi -- usually (and I don't think I'm exaggerating), they'll say something about not liking it there too very much. That said, I'm *sure* there are nice parts and good reasons to live there I just personally wouldn't want to live any further east than where we are because I want the proximity to Seattle and the Puget Sound. Plus it's just lovely here with four distinct seasons and lots to do in the area. Any chance you can come another 90 minutes toward the center of the state? That's where I live (Ellensburg) and this is a *wonderful* place to live and raise a family. I went to CWU, and yeah - great little town. Not much in Kennewick, from what I can tell.. then again, a lot of the east side of the state is like that. It's not terrible... but I wouldn't want to live there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 It's very dry and the summers are hot. I don't do hot well so we'd never live there. That said, when I have visited Kennewick I noticed some nice areas and it seems there is a lot more going on there than people might assume. The combined population of the TriCities now outstrips Spokane, but it is much more spread out of course. I like the Walla Walla area more, it is about an hour away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Unfortunately, I don't have much choice in where we are. DH may go for a year to see if he likes it, before we all move. THanks for the honesty. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 How's the nuclear waste situation in Richland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Wow, lots of negative opinions. I have a different opinion. We moved here from the east coast seven years ago. Yes, it is semi-arid, with sage and tumbleweeds, but they have been irrigating here for over 50 years. We do have trees, green grass, etc. The Columbia and the Snake Rivers are beautiful and help cheer the area up a lot, I think. (I think Tri-Cities is prettier than Walla-Walla because of the rivers.) Yes, we have beautiful clear blue skies about 8-9 months out of the year, and it can get pretty hot in late July and early August, sometimes breaking triple digits, but because the heat is dry you get instant and real relief in the shade. And, of course, everything is air-conditioned anyway. There are lots of nature and active things to do here, and we think it is a terrific place to raise a family. The overall population of Tri-Cities is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state. Because things are spread out a little, we don't have huge traffic jams. We do have four distinct seasons; the one downer is that we still have windstorms sometimes, but they are way better than they used to be because of the irrigation in the area. We do have a quantity of migrant workers in our area because there is a lot of agriculture here. We have plenty of shopping here, although we do lack Trader Joe's and Ikea. We like it because it is sunnier than the west side of the state. We do have 3-4 months of gray days, but they are sometimes alleviated by sunny days even then. It is not the same as the heavily-wooded area of Virginia I moved from, BUT I came here determined to appreciate this new area of the country for its own self. Being able to see for miles is very, very cool. We like it here a lot. Oh, and yes, at Hanford they are still cleaning up some nuclear waste. The waste is in underground tanks that they are hugely heavily monitoring to make sure the waste does not migrate into groundwater. Hanford is 20-30 miles up from the actual towns and very remote. People definitely do not go around worrying about contamination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 We are praying right now we can return there.Good place to raise a family? Yes. Gorgeous country. Two hours in any direction you can have any climate you wish. Food? Very inexpensive. Excellent healthcare. Park system is wonderful. Diversity, both ethnic and religious is present. Man, I miss that place. Library system is good. Housing is what you'd expect on a nuke area. Weather is fabulous. Lots of different foods, restaurants, roadways are smooth. Tons of history to study there.The wind storms, ya, they can be a little weird...there is city transportation, very nice, fast, clean system. Shopping is diverse.Spiders - ah, you learn to live with them. Or not. Wildfires can be an issue, you have to stay alert. Those are the worst two things I could say. But the fires kill the spiders, so it all sort of balances out. :)Nice place to homeschool as well, it's extraordinarily common there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 OK, this is the first I've heard about spiders and windstorms. :) Is a windstorm just very super windy (I live in a hurricane area), or do you have dust storms too? Are we talking a mass influx of poisonous spiders or nonpoisonous ones? Where I used to live we had scorpions, but they were not the kind whose sting would kill you…more like a bee sting. I am hoping to appreciate it for what it is. I've been to Southern Utah and Arizona and like that climate as well. In general, I tend to be happy wherever I find myself…just want to know what to expect. I was surprised when I looked up the YMCA that it's a YMCA without walls (or whatever they called it.) Is there a good place for swimming, swim lessons and the like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Yes, we do have dust storms, although they are not as bad as they used to be (because a lot of land is irrigated). The bad part is that they often come during spring or fall planting, when the big circle fields are just dirt. Then we can see a lot of dust. Almost all of the spiders I have seen are non-poisonous. Annoying, but not dangerous. I have not seen scorpions at all. We do have rattlesnakes now and then, in remote areas. There are lots of pools, and there is a small waterpark at the Court Club (a popular YMCA-like business). And there are plans to build a bigger waterpark, I believe. There is also a waterpark in Hermiston, OR, which is 30-45 minutes away. Many of the parks have beaches on the Columbia River as well. Yes, there are multiple places to get swimming lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 "Annoying" spider...laughing...hahahhahahha...no such thing! :)My first visit there, I was picking up the newspaper to see what was going on, you can find it at: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/The Richland library, which I love (so much I got married in it) is here: http://www.richland.lib.wa.us/ The general population there is well educated because of the Nuclear Industry- you'll find people from all over the world there.The mall: http://www.simon.com/mall/columbia-center (very nice, and very, very big)The boat races there are a VERY big deal: The wine industry is the number one tourist attraction, they call it wine country. It's hard to imagine orchards and vineyards in the middle of the desert, but yet, it is.Food prices are dirt cheap.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-Cities,_Washington Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Oh ya, before I forget it, the Tri City airport there is pretty cool. They have a leg for http://www.allegiantair.com air there- and very good prices to scoot out of town for the weekend. Lots of folks dash down to Vegas for example. It's very inexpensive to get yourself over to Seattle or Portland to fly out of their hubs too if you want.It's not a bad drive either to get to them, like two hours. There's also the train which you can take out of there, it's quite entertaining. The drive along the Columbia Gorge is absolutely epic. If you go to visit, that is one of the first things I'd do. I miss that weekend getaway drive. You will fall in love with the area in two seconds flat.Here, go look at some pictures: http://tinyurl.com/ljy4zl8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Oh, and one MORE thing.Check out the tax situation in WA state. It's pretty nice..... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Oh, and one MORE thing. Check out the tax situation in WA state. It's pretty nice..... :) Yes, that we already did. :) We're coming from Florida which also has no state income tax. Yippee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Ya, this is one of the secondary reasons we want to come back. $$$ cha ching! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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