Feels like home...
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7/17/2006
I went to grad school in Spokane (Eastern Wash. U.)and had previously worked and lived in Pullman, and in locales around North Idaho (I was a Forest Service nomad). My wife, son, and I are now in southern Indiana. Spokane has mild winters for its latitude and sunny, dry, short, hot summers. Very nice autumn and spring, though they seem short. Urban planners have had some success making the city pop - the downtown core has some vibrant areas. Access to trails and bike routes is good. Winter sports are right at hand. It's a beautiful area and close to many more beautiful landscapes. Poverty is high and widespread in many parts of the inner city, so property crime is a bit high. Homelessness is an in-your-face issue in this area too. Spokane is a provincial town, the capital city for a huge area, extending into southern British Columbia, Central Idaho, and western Montana. Lots of health care specialists. Entertainment is pretty good, including a symphony orchestra and good theatre. There are three amateur hockey teams of different levels, and lots of recreational hockey leagues, plus minor baseball and arena football teams. And EWU football and Gonzaga basketball. Housing has been getting pricey around Spokane in the past few years, but it is still not that bad, although it is probably approaching incongruity with the overall low-wage economy of the area. Spokane is a working-class town that is more upscale than your typical midwest city, there is some Seattle-Portland shiek, but not too much yet. I hope to move back there, its the place that most felt like home to me in all the many places I have lived (including N. Carolina, Florida, Utah, Upper Michigan, Northern Idaho).
David | Evansville, IN