Married lesbian couple looking for a new home in Eastern Washington (Seattle: real estate, transferring to)

[EssenceofAshley]

Hello all My wife and I live in small town Michigan and we are more than ready to leave the state. I have it pretty much narrowed down to the east side of the state (just feels like it would be more up our alley). We both love to go fishing and take walks in the woods, just being outdoors in general. We've contemplated moving to Washington before, but same sex marriage hadn't passed yet and we really want to live somewhere we could be legally recognized. Also, we are ready to try to start a family, and second parent adoption isn't legal in our state. This is very important to me, as I need to be able to have parental rights for our child. We don't really care if people share our views on things as we generally stick to ourselves, but not being stared at while we walk in a store, or at work, would be great. The community that we live in right now is very hicktown, cuss you out for holding hands, and just generally be ignorant jerks. All we want is to be able to have our family and be able to give them a great childhood, which I've been hearing is what we should be able to find in Washington.
Things we are looking for:
-Within about 40 miles to colleges, as my wife will be going to school; i'll be attending when she is done
-If at all possible, some land available. Nothing extreme just a couple acres (we love the woods.
-Within a reasonable commute to a Walmart as that will be where we will both be transferring to until we find anything different.
-A rural area is fine with us as long as we are within an hour or so of a smaller city
-We aren't into the night life scene, so that isn't a priority
-Childrens schools also aren't as important either due to us planning on homeschooling
-I'm planning on pursuing my CPA degree and Real Estate License so if there are any specific places that that might be more applicable that would be great too
I realize that we may not be able to find all of these things at once, but any more info or suggestions would be very much appreciated!! Also if there are any other things that you think I may be overlooking or naive about I would love to be enlightened Thanks!

[Seacove]

Welcome ladies but you might be happier in Western Washington where the law will be more "embraced".

[Ira500]

Most of the counties in Eastern Washington voted heavily against same sex marriage....But if you really want to live in Eastern Washington, Walla Walla might be a good choice. There's land, cool old houses, there's a good college, lots of wineries, and the place is generally thought of as more tolerant than other parts of Eastern Washington.

[EssenceofAshley]

The main motivating factors that we had for moving to the eastern side was for the mountains, less rain and overcast, less earthquake/flood likeliness, and a better opportunity for more affordable housing.. Are these logical questions or has my research so far been a little dramatized? We're trying to learn as much as possible so we can prepare and make the best decision possible. Do you have any suggestions that might go along with these factors on the western side? My main concern was the cloud cover and rain that I've been hearing so much about. Do some people build it up worse than it really is?

[Seacove]

No the overcast and drizzle are real and well, yes, the earthquake risk is real too. So if that is the concern, you should go with Ira's recommendations. If you think you will experience SAD, you probably won't be happy joining us on the Western side but our side overwhelmingly supported marriage equality. Either way, you're good to go and welcome!

[Luv2byte]

Eastern wa is VERY conservative. I know, I am from there & much family is there. Did I mention VERY conservative? See if you can find voting results by county for our state, might be helpful.

We have lakes, ocean, mountains, colleges here in western WA, keep up your research.

[Fat Freddy]

Originally Posted by EssenceofAshley

...The community that we live in right now is very hicktown, cuss you out for holding hands, and just generally be ignorant jerks...

Much of Eastern Washington also fits that that description.

[PS90]

Although the Western WA crowd would have you believe that we in Eastern WA are just a bunch of inbred-redneck-Bible-thumpers, I know of quite a few gay couples in areas throughout Eastern WA that seem to live perfectly normal lives.

I am not closely associated with any of them personally, but I do have some gay people as clients, and none of them have ever expressed any sort of fear or condemnation toward anyone treating them unfairly.

It is true that we are much more conservative than Western WA, and you would possibly be the subject of some amount of "water-cooler gossip" (more so than you would in Seattle, for example). But, from what I've seen in my second-hand views of the subject, that doesn't necessarily equate to prejudice or result in a poor quality of life.

Anyway, to address your other concerns - IMO you are right to NOT want to live in the gloom and drizzle of Western WA. I am an Eastern WA native, and moved over there after med school to an excellent job in a decent area. Eventually, however, I gave it all up to take a lower-paying job back in Eastern WA just to get away from the horrible, depressing weather and the traffic.

As for colleges - you won't really find any little private schools in Eastern WA unless you want to live in or near Spokane (a mid-sized to large city), but Ellensburg is an extremely nice agricultural community that houses Central Washington University's campus (although Ellensburg still doesn't have a WalMart), then of course, there is Pullman, home of Washington State University, a small town but within 90 miles of Spokane. Other nice areas (with branch campuses or community colleges) include Wenatchee, Walla Walla, or possibly the Lewiston/Clarkston area.

[Ira500]

I also like Ellensburg a lot, home of Central WA University. A real funny mix of artists, left wing students, right wing ranchers, etc. It's awfully pretty, and has a great old downtown.

[cjg5]

If weather is your concern, go to Eastern Washington for sure. Better overall weather, a real change of season, better traffic, and that more country / rural feel are the main reasons I can't wait to relocate to that side! I don't think you will have a whole lot of trouble with your lifestyle over there, although it is a lot more conservative than the wet side. That being said, you will be much more welcomed in Eastern Washington than say, the Idaho pan handle.

Ellensburg is a good choice. College town, close to mountains, close to forest, etc, but I think the nearest Walmart would be in Yakima, a 30 to 45 minute drive one way.

Walla Walla is good, although I don't exactly remember there being a forest or even a ton of trees at that around there.

Wentachee lies just east of where forest starts to turn into desert (very easy to access forest from there, also close to mountains, and to Lake Chelan), has a walmart, but no college.

Spokane has Walmart, a college, a waterfall right in the town itself, and is close to forest. It also has more population than other places in Eastern Washington, and while it is far far drier than anywhere on the wet side, it does feature slightly more precipitation that most of Eastern Washington as well.

(speaking of Spokane, just came across this neat article: http://www.downtoearthnw.com/7-wonders-spokane/)