I've been thinking about moving up to the Spokane area and I've been doing lots of research about it but there's nothing like actually hearing people's real opinions about the place. If anyone's willing to give up some info I'd really appreciate it!

Some of my questions include: What areas are the nicer areas? Where should I try to stay away from? What's the crime like up there? What are commutes like? What areas that are outside of Spokane are still commutable? What are the people (generally) like? And are the winters honestly as bad as I've heard some people make them sound to be? What's the pay like compared to the rest of the country (that answer can be pm'ed if necessary)?

One more - in respect to trying to come and visit before I make a decision I was wondering what kind of transportation options are available? I'm not old enough to rent a car yet, not from big rental companies anyway, so I'm trying to find a way to make this possibly happen! lol

Any answers or input about any of my questions or anything else that may be helpful would, again, be really appreciated.

Thank you!!

 

stay in cali you will miss the weather and the fun stuff there

 

^^^x2 lol jk.well i dont live there but do go over there from time to time with work.you will defintly have summer and winter. as far as the winter goes i have seen a 1/2 inch of snow mess someones whole day up. if you dont mind driving in snow and ice winters arent no big deal.commutes?? lol whats that? nothing even close to so.cal. pay is prolly a little lower but then so is the cost of living too. anyways hope that helps a little bit. i would sure like chula vista rv and resort more though lol... i stayed there for a week while we ran back and forth accross the errr uhhh while we visited mexico...

 

you can rent a car from big rental companies, they'll just charge you an extra $20-25 per day fee for being under 25 yrs old

 

haha.. don't you mean lack of weather?

dibbz- thanks for the info, I love that you laugh at the word commute. I can handle snow and ice since I am actually from Jersey but some people made me think the winters were like the North Pole there.

I'll also look more into the age restrictions now that you mentioned that Infamous.

Thanks!

 

Personally i love san diego way better then Spokane could ever be..... I wouldn't want to leave san diego if i were there

 

I just moved to Portland from LA area - but I havent been here long enough to form an opinion either way. I do love SD, though! My boyfriend went to college at Gonzaga Univeresity, though, and he says "STAY IN SD!!!" LoL.

All i know about Spokane is its sometimes called Spotucky?? LoL.

 

haha uh ohh.. maybe I'll look around for other areas in Washington or Oregon

 

heard it called Spokompton before too, lol. The east side of WA has its seasons, its hot in the summer time and cold in the winter but have never personally experenced them. This weekend will be my first trip thru Spokane. It is right next to Idaho and have heard that Couer d'Alene is very nice.

 

forest grove forest grove forest grove...lol its so nice out here and like 1/2 hour you can be downtown portland or down on the wilson river hookin into a nice salmon, steelhead or just a kewl dip on days like yesterday and today when it is over 100* lol spokompton and we have a awsome college here pacific university. and lots of hightech jobs close by too..

 

I've never lived in Spokane, I'm a Western Washington/Oregon sort, but my wife was from Spokane. First thing she did when old enough was to move out of there.

She's the type who was bored stiff by the fairly slow paced, semi-rural, pick-up truck enthralled small city environment, and wanted a busier, more active, more variable, closer to theater, clubs, shopping, more metropolitan bigger city/metro area feel.

If you enjoy SD, you may not enjoy Spokane, even though Spokane is actually a very nice small city.

Thing is, your SoCal and NJ experience dosn't quite give you the feel for living 300 miles from anything... In SoCal and NJ (I'm familiar with both) even a "small town" is often just a short hop from something big. For example when I lived in a tiny town on the Jersey Shore, NYC was a short drive or train ride away (about 40 miles).

In Spokane there isn't really a MetroArea - outside the city itself is, uh, rural, and the closest larger city is Seattle, 300 miles west, over the mountains.

Being used to SD or NJ, you might prefer something a bit more urban. (Though if urban is what you are getting AWAY from, Spokane might be just the ticket! Nice town, and fairly isolated.)

It just depends on your 'style' and the environment you're looking for.

Good luck!
Tom

 

North Western Washington is good too, Marysville for instance: 1300sq. ft house, 2 car garage newer, looking @ around $280K, 30 miles from Seattle, no crime/pollution and out just far enough...

 

Spokane does suck very much bad.I am having a hard time trying to get the Scion comunity goin here. What do you do for a living? What are you interested in? Pm me and I might be able to help

 

I moved up to Washington (Seattle area) form Cali a little over 6 years ago (wow has it been that long) anyway some of the reasons I moved up here were:

(My observations are of the Seattle area but some apply to the entire state.)

Lower cost of living As Erick said you can actually afford to buy a house
Rent is cheaper
Just living here is cheaper even getting your car serviced costs less compared to Cali.
Cleaner areas because it rains a lot so it cleans the air
Lots of trees
Friendly people
There is no state income tax, that will save you 10% of your paycheck compared to CA

Some of the drawbacks

Even being in Seattle not many places are open late so if you want to go get something to eat at 10 or 11pm you are going to have to find some fast food.

There is just not that much to do compared to Cali
In the winters everyone just stays at home and disappears

It can be hard to get to know people, a lot of people have their clicks from growing up in the same area all their life they know everyone in town and don’t always accept outsiders easily don’t get me wrong they will still talk to you and get to know you but it takes time a lot of people have friends that they have known from elementary school. Lucy for you, you own a scion and I am sure you won’t have that problem with all the community members we have.

I miss the sun!

 

sorry for the threadjack... I'm heading over there in a few weeks to go to a wedding... i'll be in chawela (sp?) is there anything to do out that way? i'll be there for the weekend.

 

I'm from the Spokane area. Chewelah is north of Spokane on it's way up to Colville. About the only thing in Chewelah is the casino. If it was winter you could ski or snowboard at 49 Degrees North which is minutes from Chewelah.

 

Yeah, this time of year it seems to be the casino or chasing jack rabbits as the options right around Chewelah. :D

Tom