Tell me about your home (Seattle, Tacoma: fit in, salons, 2014)

[alliecatw]

Where do you live? How many of the following things does it have?

1. within an hour or two of saltwater
2. has good hiking
3. has a nice downtown (doesn't have to be anything too crazy, just a few good coffee shops you can walk between)
4. has good schools
5. feels safe (relatively low homeless/violent crime)
6. near a farmer's market
7. potentially allows residents to keep a chicken coop for personal use
8. has good shopping within an hour's drive
9. lots of trees

Feel free to add anything else you love about your hometown!

[west seattle gal]

You will find this all over the place!

[prosin]

OK, I'll bite.

Kingston:

Questions 1-9.

1. We're on a peninsula in a cove; surrounded by salt water.
   
2. Although closed temporarily right now due to fire danger, we have three trail systems: Port Gamble trails, Kitsap PUD trails, and North Kitsap Heritage Park trail. Farther north (closer to Hansville), Buck Lake has a few trails.
   
3. Downtown is small compared to other locales, but has a creperie, two-screen movie house, restaurants, coffee stands, brewery, wine tasting room, ice cream, pubs, hardware store with nursery, tailor, grocery, candy store, Chinese food, two pizza places, cupcake store, quilt store, kayak and SUP rental place, beauty salons, and various boating/auto repair.
   
4. KHS earned a Silver for the last three years on US News & World Report's Best High School rankings for the last three years in a row (top 6% of schools nationwide) Kingston High School in KINGSTON, WA | Best High Schools | US News). Great Schools ranks Kingston's elementary schools at an 8. YMMV
   
5. No community is perfect, and we sometimes have a couple of panhandlers (of course, these are not necessarily homeless). However, these are the exception, not the norm. We do have two local programs that serve the needy: ShareNet and Kingston Food Bank. I have not seen a tent-city type operation in the 10 years I've lived here. Crime here is petty crime. Shoplifting, car prowls, and the like. Please don't misunderstand--drug use and transiency do occur here--it is a ferry town and people pass through all the time. But it's not obvious.
   
6. Farmer's market is Saturday mornings from April to October at the marina, and a few others take place in surrounding communities on differing days.
   
7. In Kingston "proper" hen houses are unlikely; but if you are considered "county/rural", you will most likely be able to have chickens.
   
8. Depends on your definition of "good shopping," but big box stores (e.g. Costco, Target, Lowes) and the mall (Macys, JC Penneys, Sears, H & M, Victoria's Secret, etc.) are located in Silverdale, 30 minutes south. Other shopping can be found in Seattle or Tacoma about an hour away, but that entails either a ferry ride ($40 drive-on toll round trip) or bridge toll (around $6).
   
9. No problem with trees. This used to be a mill town.

We also have community events such as Kites over Kingston in the spring, summer Concerts on the Cove, an amazing 4th of July event (Tiny Town, parade, etc.), an art festival the last weekend of July, a fun (IMO) community Homecoming event for the high school in the fall, and the annual lighted Christmas display at the Marina and boat parade at the cove (http://threesheetsnw.com/blog/2014/1...s-celebration/). Minature golf and also a standard golf course two miles south (White Horse). And we have two Native casinos with resort hotels nearby (one under construction, will open Fall 2016).

[Hemlock140]

Where do you live? Sammamish

1. within an hour or two of saltwater 1/2 hour
2. has good hiking Many trails within the city
3. has a nice downtown (doesn't have to be anything too crazy, just a few good coffee shops you can walk between) Oops, you have me there. No downtown at all, just two strip malls and only Starbucks for coffee.
4. has good schools Great Schools
5. feels safe (relatively low homeless/violent crime) Very safe, almost crime-free
6. near a farmer's market Have a pitiful one, but 6 miles from the great one in Issaquah
7. potentially allows residents to keep a chicken coop for personal use Yes
8. has good shopping within an hour's drive Yes, 20 minutes
9. lots of trees Still very forested

3 lakes with recreational opportunities, many homes with mountain, water and/or Snoqualmie Valley views. At 400-600' elevation, may get a few snowflakes when most cities in the area don't. Forbes ranked Sammamish #1 in its 2012 list of Friendliest Towns in the U.S.

[Jumpindogs]

Originally Posted by alliecatw

Where do you live? How many of the following things does it have?

1. within an hour or two of saltwater
2. has good hiking
3. has a nice downtown (doesn't have to be anything too crazy, just a few good coffee shops you can walk between)
4. has good schools
5. feels safe (relatively low homeless/violent crime)
6. near a farmer's market
7. potentially allows residents to keep a chicken coop for personal use
8. has good shopping within an hour's drive
9. lots of trees

Feel free to add anything else you love about your hometown!

Sequim. Not our hometown and don't live there yet but bought land to build for our retirement in five years. After much research here on C-D and elsewhere and two recent rips to Sequim.

1. 5-15 minutes away from the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Sequim Bay
2. on the Discovery Trail and 10-45 minutes from numerous fabulous hiking trails...too many to list
3. small downtown (nice for a few blocks) with three good coffee shops; three other good coffee shops in Sequim including a Starbucks; based on reviews and input from locals..we don't drink coffee
4. good schools but building improvements not supported enough by the retired voting community IMO
5. very safe with mostly just the drug-driven property crime you find everywhere in WA (and the rest of the country)
6. one in downtown Sequim May 2 to October 31 and two very good permanent markets...Nash's Organic and Sunny Farms
7. yes depending on location
8. Silverdale an hour away
9. yes

Like another poster said, I think you can find your list of nine desirables in many PNW cities/towns.

[Ruth4Truth]

"chicken coop"?

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

"chicken coop"?

Fresh eggs are big here.

[hml1976]

Camas, WA

All of the above but it is 90min to the ocean. Great schools, cute downtown, 15min to PDX and 20-30min to shopping in Portland. Oh and chickens are allowed.

[Jumpindogs]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
"chicken coop"?

Originally Posted by Seacove

Fresh eggs are big here.

And chickens eat ticks. Maybe not a big draw in the PNW but a huge benefit in most other areas of the country.

[mistyriver]

We are in Anacortes and have all of those things. Well, the nearest big mall is in Lynwood, about 1.5 hours away but everything we need on a daily basis is close by between Anacortes, Burlington, and Mt. Vernon.
Puget Sound is about 300 feet from my house, and chickens are allowed. I doubt we will have any here but have had them in the past.