Colville, WA (Pullman, Clarkston, Kettle Falls: mortgage, find a job, university)

[breathe&relax]

I would say for the most part people are very friendly. I have made a couple of good friends and many others I am friendly with but a lot of women have pretty tight groups and I have never been invited to a social event by anyone other than my one close friend that grew up here and the other friends that were new to the area too. I think it tends to be like that everywhere though, difficult to get into existing circles. Although, I must say if you are a churchgoer, it may be easier for you. I am not, so didn't have that type of common link with such a large majority here.

I'm not sure about the community pride thing, it is such a different community than I am used to. The town is clean and cute but what kind of info are you looking for? As you can see from my posts, I try to be honest from my perspective about this town and what I am learning from it so please feel free to ask any ?s.

[Small and solar]

Thanks for all of the detail. We are a young couple with our first child on the way. I like the idea of Colville (we have an offer on land south of town). My Realtor said the education system was good (we are researching). The tough question is work. I am 1/2 way through my MBA and would like to have a profession in the area. I may have to explore the hospital (I have 10 years in health care sales). It is a tough decision to consider a massive change. I think that a child would be better served in a smaller area with access to larger metropolitan areas. We are in AZ and our education system ranks lowest of low. Your details help.

Starting to look at Spokane as the possible home base and keep the land in Colville.

We shall see.

[Small and solar]

Originally Posted by Outback Annie

Greetings all,

Hello,

We moved to the Colville area over 2 years ago. My husband and I traveled around the country in a motorhome including through Canada and up to Alaska looking for a new area to settle in. We left The Mojave Desert in California as my husband retired from working at NASA there.

We tripped over Colville by sheer chance when we were staying in Bayview Idaho. Colville was the nearest town which had our bank so we had to drive 120 miles to get to our bank one day. When we saw the place we fell in love with it right away.

There are rivers, lakes, creeks, streams, mountains, abundant wildlife, rolling green pastures, beautiful scenery and we pop over the border into Canada for additional sightseeing.

We live about 30 miles north of Colville on 2 acres with Deep Creek in our backyard. My husband catches trout and salmon from the creek right in our yard. I like to quilt and there are many quilters in this area. There is a great fabric store in Colville which are big in quilting. They are Bernina suppliers and have quilting classes and many quilters work there. There is also another quilting store about 15 minutes drive outside of Colville as well as another in Metaline Falls. There are also independent quilters who will do quilting for you if you want to just do the actual piecework.

There are 4 very distinct seasons here so you will see snow in winter, beautiful colors in the fall, lovely wildflowers in the spring and plenty of lakes, rivers & creeks to fish boat and splash around the water in. The summers can be hot but short so a portable air conditioner or 2 in windows suffice for the short heat times. Winters can get to -10 or lower so it's prudent to have at least 2 heat sources such as electric and firewood/propane/oil.

Real estate prices are reasonable and affordable. You need to drive around and just look for For Sale signs as agents don't carry all the listings. Best bet is to drive around and if you see a house for sale that interests you have the listing agent make an appointment to show you through.

I could tell you much more but this is getting long winded so will leave it this for now.


Good luck to all who are considering this area. It's lovely here.

Thanks for all the details! As you will see from my post above. We are a late 30's couple with a child on the way. We are in Phoenix (now) but I am not sure I want to raise a child in this city. I have lived in NJ,WV,MD, SC, FL, VA, and NV so I have a pretty good idea of what the US has to offer, and I think that a big city is nice (I was raised outside of NYC) but I am leaning toward selling off and downsizing in order to be able to travel with a youngster and show them the US with out it being a series of long weekends at spots we can fly to.

Thanks again for your detailed point of view.

[Small and solar]

Outback. I would love to see pics. We do not own the parcel we have an offer on, but I have some wonderful shots as well.

[Outback Annie]

Can either post pics here for you or email them. Take your pick. Have aerial shots as well. Spokane would probably have more job opportunities. It's 100 miles from home as we are 30 miles north of Colville but we wanted to live further out in the country. We love going over the border into Canada often too as we find different things shopping up there to what we can find in the states. We got to Spokane probably once a month or so to go to Costco and other stores. There is an airport here at Colville but the nearest commuter airport is Spokane - a 3 hour drive from our house to Spokane Airport keeping in mind we are one hour north of Colville.

[Outback Annie]

3~Shepherds,

The people here are quite friendly but I have found there are some community clicks. There is a real bag of mixed nuts when it comes to people and you can have cowboys living next door to city folk and all get long fine. I haven't found any problems with anyone but we live outside of town quite isolated with our nearest neighbours a quarter mile away. No suburbia in our area 30 miles north of Colville. Like any town there are good and bad areas but I haven't found anything dark or sinister about Colville. Have found the people here to be friendlier than other areas of the states I've lived in. Can post pics later. Will have to upload to Photobucket first.

[Outback Annie]

Here are some photos of my area. They are scenic photos so don't show the township of Colville but I'll try to remember to take my camera with me the next time I go to town and shoot some town photos.

This is my house in winter.



A fall scene just down the road from my place.



Fall in the small town of Ione north of Colville. Another nice little town but a bit far from Colville for shopping in the winter.



My backyard in winter. I have Deep Creek on 3 sides of my house. It flows all year around even under the ice in winter.


Small cabin in my yard where we keep garden tools, guy junk etc.



A house in Colville in the fall. There are many quaint houses like this in the town.



Northport Bridge. Northport is a small town about 36 miles from Colville.



Aerial shot of Northport. It's the last town on the US side before going over the border to Canada.



Lake Roosevelt. Fall scene



Northport again. I'm about 6 miles south of the small town of Northport. It's my nearest general store.



Deep Lake is about a 10 minute drive from home and about 40 minutes from Colville. We kayak there in summer.



An aerial shot of Aladdin Valley right above my house.



Highway 25 north from Kettle Falls. A beautiful scenic drive.



Crystal Falls is around 10 miles (at a guess) towards Ione from Colville.



My husband fishing from the creek in our yard. He catches trout and salmon.



Meadow Lake is about a 20 to 25 minute drive from my house. Around 35 to 40 minutes from Colville. Very scenic there and great for spotting wildlife although the area is full of it everywhere you look.



Douglas Falls about 5 minutes out of Colville. A popular place for people to picnic and swim in summer.



All these places are easily accessible from Colville by car. All you have to do is drive around and find the places of interest. These are the places that interest me.

If you need more services than 3 supermarkets, a 24 hour Super Wal Mart, schools, hospital, dentists, Doctors, alternative health care and assorted quaint shops, banks and services in the main street then maybe Spokane might be a better fit as it has more shopping malls and all the city trimmings but Colville has enough services for my husband and I and we go to Spokane for anything we might need such as Costco, Home Depot etc every month or 2. Wouldn't know about night life as we are day people (up by 5 or 6am and sleep early) but don't expect there would be too much to do for teens in the area. Again not a problem for me although I could see it would be for people who had kids that need things to do. Different strokes for different folks.

[wildflower82]

Originally Posted by Small and solar

Thanks for all of the detail. We are a young couple with our first child on the way. I like the idea of Colville (we have an offer on land south of town). My Realtor said the education system was good (we are researching). The tough question is work. I am 1/2 way through my MBA and would like to have a profession in the area. I may have to explore the hospital (I have 10 years in health care sales). It is a tough decision to consider a massive change. I think that a child would be better served in a smaller area with access to larger metropolitan areas. We are in AZ and our education system ranks lowest of low. Your details help.

Starting to look at Spokane as the possible home base and keep the land in Colville.

We shall see.

Not to change your mind out of Washington, have you looked around Lewiston, Idaho or Clarkston,WA? The weather can be hot in the summer and the winters are mild.
There's also surrounding towns if the cities are too big. Moscow, Idaho is a nice University Town.

[wildflower82]

Thanks Outback Annie, The pictures are beautiful. This looks a lot like where I live now. Idaho has the same fall a colors and old houses.

[breathe&relax]

Outback Annie, gorgeous pics! I love your land, beautiful. I do love the abundant beauty here but like you said not much for the kids to do. Think we may end up heading to Spokane eventually.