Liberty Lake? (Spokane, South Hill, Pullman: condos, new home, elementary school)

[teacherdad]

So my wife just returned from visiting her cousin. We are in the Santa Barbara area where we just fled due to the poor air from the fires.

I have lived here all my life, but my favorite place is Cleveland (I went there with my son while she was in LL).

Anyway, she LOVED it and spoke about a river, mountains, winter recreation, Spokane has an old downtown area, etc.

This is ONE reason I love CLE. I prefer older cities where you can walk. I enjoy seasons. I do not surf or sit at the beach- I did that as a teen.

I am 48 with 25 years teaching elementary school (Masters Deg in Ed).

Basically, I am getting tired of 95 deg. in November, lack of rain, cost of living increasing, etc.

My wife's cousin is obviously biased so I'm here to ask for pros and cons.

I see there is no professional hockey in the entire state, bummer.

There is no direct flight to CLE from Spokane at the moment, bummer #2.

My youngest starts high school, my two older are working and in college.

Thanks for any advice on Liberty Lake or an older area in which to live and enjoy community!

R

[Count David]

Originally Posted by teacherdad

So my wife just returned from visiting her cousin. We are in the Santa Barbara area where we just fled due to the poor air from the fires.

I have lived here all my life, but my favorite place is Cleveland (I went there with my son while she was in LL).

Anyway, she LOVED it and spoke about a river, mountains, winter recreation, Spokane has an old downtown area, etc.

This is ONE reason I love CLE. I prefer older cities where you can walk. I enjoy seasons. I do not surf or sit at the beach- I did that as a teen.

I am 48 with 25 years teaching elementary school (Masters Deg in Ed).

Basically, I am getting tired of 95 deg. in November, lack of rain, cost of living increasing, etc.

My wife's cousin is obviously biased so I'm here to ask for pros and cons.

I see there is no professional hockey in the entire state, bummer.

There is no direct flight to CLE from Spokane at the moment, bummer #2.

My youngest starts high school, my two older are working and in college.

Thanks for any advice on Liberty Lake or an older area in which to live and enjoy community!

R

You would probably like the South Hill of Spokane better. I think you would find Liberty Lake to be too suburban/new for your liking.

Spokane is much smaller than Cleveland.

Beautiful river, mountains, trees, lakes nearby, etc.

Yes, old downtown, that seems to be undergoing a very slow revival. It is not nearly as dead as it was 8 years ago.

Spokane Chiefs junior hockey is a blast, I attended a game this past winter and had a great time, even though they lost.

You can probably connect to CLE through MSP, ORD, or DEN.

[teacherdad]

Thank you! Older homes are my favorite and I can't see myself in a new home outside of downtown. CLE is currently reversing years of "white flight" with a massive "back to CLE" movement. The warehouses are being converted to apts and condos rapidly with most having a waiting list.

I'll check out the area, South Hill. Thanks!

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by teacherdad

Thank you! Older homes are my favorite and I can't see myself in a new home outside of downtown. CLE is currently reversing years of "white flight" with a massive "back to CLE" movement. The warehouses are being converted to apts and condos rapidly with most having a waiting list.

I'll check out the area, South Hill. Thanks!

I moved to the South Hill two years ago. I love it here.

[rumi79]

I love Spokane and the surrounding areas, but I don't think you can call it a city. Otherwise, everything else in the short commercial given by your wife's cousin is correct - nature is beautiful and you have tons of opportunities for outdoors rec (winter and summer).

I don't do sports but the men of the house go to the Chiefs games and love it.

Cleveland's properties still look pretty affordable especially compared to the lack of available housing in Spokane.

Spokane has air quality problem, too due to the wild fires but it usually lasts about a week-two. We moved from NJ and my sons' allergies disappeared here because of the dry air, low humidity -> no mold. My younger one's asthma is almost non existent here, too.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by rumi79

I love Spokane and the surrounding areas, but I don't think you can call it a city. Otherwise, everything else in the short commercial given by your wife's cousin is correct - nature is beautiful and you have tons of opportunities for outdoors rec (winter and summer).

I don't do sports but the men of the house go to the Chiefs games and love it.

Cleveland's properties still look pretty affordable especially compared to the lack of available housing in Spokane.

Spokane has air quality problem, too due to the wild fires but it usually lasts about a week-two. We moved from NJ and my sons' allergies disappeared here because of the dry air, low humidity -> no mold. My younger one's asthma is almost non existent here, too.

Of course you can call it a city. It’s a medium sized one. It’s not a city as part of a large metropolitan area, but it’s certainly a city.

I used to live in downtown Boston and in Phoenix, Philly, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Atlanta. Is Spokane as large a city as they are? Of course not. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a city.

[teacherdad]

The reason I like CLE (one of many), is that you can walk from one end to the other in 15 min. It's not an LA deal. I can be at a Browns game and walk to The Q in 15 min. Sounds like Spokane may be somewhat similar.

I LOVE the idea of dryer air. My wife was born premature and is always first to a cold..We live in Santa Barbara now. I'm into polite and real people like in CLE. I like public transportation, real food (grown in the actual earth), and those seasons. I just walked CLE this week and it was 22 and it was awesome.

It was 95 here in SB a few weeks ago and I HATED it. With the recent fire (now the largest of all time in CA), it's just getting worse here. Plus, it seems everything costs more from taxes to gas for the car.

I'll have to get up there ($209 rt from LAX) in the next few months to investigate further.

Thanks all!

[PS90]

Originally Posted by rumi79

I love Spokane and the surrounding areas, but I don't think you can call it a city. Otherwise, everything else in the short commercial given by your wife's cousin is correct - nature is beautiful and you have tons of opportunities for outdoors rec (winter and summer).

I don't do sports but the men of the house go to the Chiefs games and love it.

Cleveland's properties still look pretty affordable especially compared to the lack of available housing in Spokane.

Spokane has air quality problem, too due to the wild fires but it usually lasts about a week-two. We moved from NJ and my sons' allergies disappeared here because of the dry air, low humidity -> no mold. My younger one's asthma is almost non existent here, too.

Huh? I live in a town of 4000 people, and grew up in a town of 800 people. To me, Spokane is a BIG city. Hell, to me Pullman is a small city.

It's all relative, I guess.

[rumi79]

I am not planning to get into arguments with you folks. As I said in my post, and as you PS90 cited me, I don't think you can call it a city. It is my perception and experience.

For me, Spokane does not have a city feel, even though it is big and has 215,973 people living in it.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by rumi79

I am not planning to get into arguments with you folks. As I said in my post, and as you PS90 cited me, I don't think you can call it a city. It is my perception and experience.

For me, Spokane does not have a city feel, even though it is big and has 215,973 people living in it.

I don’t think anyone is trying to get into an argument with you. I simply was saying that Spokane IS a city by all definitions of the word, and you hadn’t clarified your post at that point by saying that it doesn’t have a city feel to you, which is opinion. No arguments from me on that point, everyone has an opinion.