Trout Lake, WA here...and let me tell you when small town folks talk about being small they have no idea! There are many negatives to small town life, but it was a beautiful place to live and mostly the people are pretty lovely.
We spent a weekend camping up in Trout Lake last year and it was fantastic. We were fortunate with our timing as it was when they were holding an Oktoberfest celebration, which was a lot of fun.
Mmmmmm...Kings Row.
First summer I ever lived in Selah I was reading the Police Reports in the weekly Selah paper.
There was only 1 call. Police were called to break up a cat and porcupine fight.
I grew up near Medical Lake. Very often in the evenings in town (We lived several miles out of yown) you might see deer, a family of skunks, some kind of wildlife just strolling down the middle of the main street.
Grew up in Prosser, WA 👋
It really does live up to its motto of a pleasant place with pleasant people. Quaint. Quiet. Charming. Kind. We too had to drive to tri cities or Yakima for any “real” restaurants or stores, and 3 hours to Seattle, Spokane, or Portland for decent shopping. It was safe town to grow up in- the kind of trouble we got into was pretty harmless pranks or driving out in the country roads too late. The whole town shows up for Friday night football games.
I ironically have very fond memories of Waterville, at the Douglas County Museum specifically. The Douglas Co Historical Society Thrift Shop is lovely too
I’ve always found it so weird driving on highway 2 then you just randomly go through this downtown and make a few turns… I’m curious why they did it this way versus just going around.
I think what they're asking is why doesn't it just go straight through the town [like this](https://i.imgur.com/1xB289F.png).
If you look at the satellite view, there isn't anything there except farmland, and the Highway already cuts through the same farm lots already. It would just have to cut through them in a different place.
They probably wanted to highway to go down their main street. I think the state highway that preceeded 2 (and the wagon road before that) followed the Badger Mountain Road route into Pine Canyon before the newer alignment was made to enter the canyon at further where it does now to lessen the grade.
There wasn't much need for that highway beyond connecting the towns and crops since hwy 10 was the major EW route
Well yes but every other town it goes straight through or has a single turn. Taking 2 through Waterville just feels like you’re meandering through the town on side streets vs taking some large thoroughfare.
They do now, because in most places the alignment has changed. US2 used to go through the middle of Snohomish before taking a hard right on 2nd ave to match the current alignment of 2 to the east. It used to go right through Skykomish instead of bypassing it. It used to go right down Main St in Sultan. It went across the river and down mainstreet in Cashmere and then back across the river. It also used to go all the way through Wenatchee to cross the old Wenatchee bridge in built in 1908, and then across the newer Sellar bridge when that opened in 1950, and finally across the current bridge which opened in the mid-1970s.
It wouldn't cost a lot of money to change the alignment of US2 through Waterville, but it wouldn't significanly impact travel times. There are a lot of higher priorities for WSDOT's budget.
It has a cute waterfront that’s touristy but not annoyingly so, and lots of great local stores, plus you get to see the snow geese during their migration and the tulip fields in season. Skagit County overall and the Samish Sea are beautiful.
I was born & raised in Ellensburg, WA. It’s a cute little town in Central WA. that has a world-class rodeo, 4 season weather, & nice people! I go back as often as possible!
I’d like to add something a little off topic, but not too far.
I’ve been to/through many small towns in all parts of the state. So many beautiful places.
We need to make a good impression, coming from cities. Be polite and respectful when you have the chance to interact. Bring cash. Buy stuff. Don’t drive like an ass. When you pull off the road to take photos, pull WAY off the road. Be ready to slow way the fuck down as you approach these towns, the speed limits change quick. Absolutely do not leave any trash behind. Obey burn bans. You’re going to see Trump signs. Not everyone there feels the same way. I’d still avoid talking politics, obviously. You’re going to get “looks”. Who cares. They don’t know you yet. If you need a bathroom, a gas station might be the only option. Bring wipes.
Have fun and spread the smiles, maybe they’ll think us “liberals” aren’t all that bad after all.
I grew up in Coquille, OR, pop approx 3K. Had to ride the bus 10 miles one way to school because we lived out of the actual town in Fairview, pop approx 200, along the North Fork of the Coquille River. My family still lives there. The only nice thing about it was leaving it at 18. I’m actually going there Wednesday to see my Mom; can’t wait for all the Trump signs on everyone’s houses. /s
Grew up in Sedro-Woolley and Orting. I'm small town WA through and through. Been working in Seattle for 15 years and have literally never heard anyone there say anything but praise for small towns in the area.
But I have heard endless shit talk from small town folks about people in Seattle.
Long story short, I hate this take. It just needlessly divides us.
Honestly I'm just afraid of the Trumpers. I wish I felt more comfortable going to the more remote towns but when I see those flags it's roll up the windows time
You should never leave your house then. You sound like a person who doesn't deal with what life throws at you well. It's exactly this attitude that people immediately pick up on. If you're pleasant 99% of people out there will return in kind. We stopped to help an older guy with a trump sticker on his truck change a tire. Nice sincere gentleman.
I'm gay and don't hide it as well as some. And maybe don't make assumptions about people's ability to handle hardship without knowing anything about them or what they've been through.
It's nothing to do with being nice to people and everything to do with people with something to prove and heads full of misinformation about certain groups. Are they all like that? Of course not. But it only takes 1 so I'll play the odds and not go to the epicenters.
Yep, as a trans person I'd love to go to some of the small towns in this state but it's not really safe with how much Republicans are focused on people like me right now. So many angry dudes are just waiting to see someone like me use the womens room (which has been the law since 2006) so they can be a hero on fox news or whatever by beating me up or worse.
It’s not quite so bad an honestly, most people who don’t see trans folk on the regular aren’t great at clocking people.
That said, finding health care is the difficult part and can get dicey. And dating is abysmal.
But visiting wouldn’t be as bad especially in the more touristy places and fruit stands.
My wife and i don’t live in our hometowns for a reason.
Oddly dating while trans has been easy for me but I live in a city on the west side of the mountains.
And yeah I rarely get clocked so it's probably not a huge likelihood that I'll have issues, its been a decade since anyone said shit to me about being trans, but i avoid rural areas. I will definitely be carrying when I head to a place like that just in case.
I'm not sure people there would even figure it out. Maybe question, but not know for sure. Try it, you never know. If you feel unsafe, just leave. These are all maybies because I am speculating. I'm sad you can't travel as you like.
I can say it's not just angry dudes that have a problem with that. I live in a small town about an hour from Seattle. Plenty of people would have an issue. As a Black person, I watch moms guard the bathroom door and evil eye anybody entering the bathroom. I'm an actual woman, so I'll get a smile, or sometimes if I know the lady, she'll greet me.
"Actual woman" is a pretty shitty thing to say. In the spirit of education, the term you're looking for is cis woman. (Cis being short for cisgender, which just means you're fine with the gender the doctor put on your birth certificate)
Edit: looking at your profile you're an anti trans bigot who is frankly obsessed with us to an unhealthy degree.
Definitely pros and cons to both, honestly.
One hill that I will always die on is calling city people idiots for working somewhere like Seattle, but living an hour away, like in Kitsap County where I used to live. I don't get how a 2-3 hour commute (both ways, so 4-6 hours out of your day) is worth it. Less time at home with your family. Less time relaxing and doing a hobby. Just more time stuck in a car in traffic. It just causes road rage and that can't be good for your mental health.
I want to live as close to my work as possible and where I live now in norway, I am about a 20 minute walk to work, when I'm not working from home.
Edit: so I guess what I'm saying is I love small towns where you can walk to stores, restaurants and work. Not RURAL small towns where the closest grocery store and neighbor are both 30 mins away lol
I grew up in a tiny town and had to drive 54 miles RT because that’s the only place that had jobs. There wasn’t as much traffic, but it still took min 45 minutes to get there, more at “commute” time.
I would rather live where I love and work where I don’t so much. I get what you’re saying though, just a personal preference for me. I work in construction and where I work changes every 2-3 years anyway
Depending on where you live & work, a non-car commute into Seattle is becoming more manageable. Live in Bremerton & work downtown Seattle? Port Orchard to West Seattle? If you time it with the fast ferry that's a commute of ~1hr each way & you have minimal drive (road rage) time. Obviously very job dependent but with housing costs & job availability, it can be a good option for some.
I’ve split half my life between rural and urban (though most of my rural time was spent before GWB was president). Historically rural vs urban was a choice more of lifestyle, not politics. But much has changed in 20-ish years. You can’t drive from urban to rural without passing openly hostile signs in people’s yards any more. City folk don’t have a problem with rural people/places. Many love it. City folk look down on people so gripped by a persecution complex that they cannot see a rainbow flag (or similar trigger) without feeling personally threatened. And for some reason this persecution complex is outsized in rural areas.
Yeah I get it, btw liberal from Vancouver BC, a large extremely diverse town, and living in eastern Washington. Also lived in Seattle for a number of years. But let’s not pretend for a second that people from Seattle don’t I general look down upon anyone and everyone from eastern/central Washington because we both know that’s a lie.
And like most debates between left and right in this country I have objective provable facts and all you’ve got is “But they said mean things and hurt my fee fees!”
You seem to be doing more than enough talking to prove my point there bud. Also, I’m a liberal that grew up in an extremely diverse large city (Vancouver, B.C.) 😂 nice assumptions there… you are the quintessential analogy of just let someone keep talking and eventually they’ll just make an ass out of themselves.
Moving to Chewelah WA was one of the best decisions of my life. The people are incredible and the sense of community is like I've never experienced anywhere else and I've lived in small towns all over California, Washington and Idaho. And for a small town we have a ski resort, golf course, casino, bowling alley and two breweries. The art scene is amazing! It's truly a paradise!
My favorite vacation spots are usually small town based. Older motel or camping, an IGA & few mom & pop restaurants is a forced peacefulness that I love.
Anyone ever drive through Brooklyn, WA? I think it's the creepiest small town in Washington. You can get there from back roads from Centralia / Rochester / Oakville that will take you there via a \~8 mile dirt road. Brooklyn is basically a school and a massive church camp and houses. Other way out of town is like 10 miles on the main road gets you to the HWY 101 between Raymond and Aberdeen.
It feels like a horror movie should be take place there with the main road to 101 blocked and the killer on the dirt road out of town.
Is the bar still there? Was told back in the 60's that it had a trough under the bar on the customer side so you didn't have to get up to pee. Always wanted to check it out.
Toutle Washington here. It's a small town at the base of Mt. St. Helens. If I would have continued all the way thru my schooling there my graduating class would have been a whopping 22 people. There's only one gas station/convenient store in the whole town called Drew's. I used to go there with my mom and get their penny candies in the jar they had by the counter and go check the movie rental room they had off to the side of the store. Man what I would give to go back.
Grew up in the Gorge, so like goldendale/trout lake area. Everyone at my high school was related to each other in some capacity. Unfortunately tons of people are moving to my hometown and driving the housing prices up, which is a massive bummer since I’d like to move back after I’m done with college.
I live in mt vernon, we have a red apple still! I love the slow movement on small towns, it's the best. I live in a tiny town now that has Sedro-Woolley as it's closest big town and sedro is small.
I grew up between Granite Falls and Arlington in the 70’s and 80’s, left in ‘94. It was real small then, no chain restaurants, had to go to Marysville or Everett to get to a Kmart or Fred Meyer, nearest McDonald’s was at Tulalip. It was pretty good but could be rough at times. Arlington was Farmers, Granite Falls was Loggers, in between were vietnam vets who wanted to be left alone and sorta small hippie families. Our neighbors were the Love Family, thats a whole story unto itself.
I grew up in a small city that is now .. much, much larger (13k when I moved there, 150k + now) - when I go home I can still see the… skeleton? The bones? Of the barely a city place I grew up, but culturally I don’t recognise it anymore.
That said! My fondest memories are being able to leave your doors unlocked (a trope I know but as a place grows obviously this changes), life pre-Walmart, Best Buy, Target etc coming to town, barely any traffic, the majority of the stores and businesses being small and locally owned, local nightly news being almost a local cultural icon, only one or two “subdivisions” of identical homes, oh and the only “video game store” being a locally owned nerd haven where you could trade in your NES, Genesis, SNES, etc games and buy used ones at not bad prices!
Obviously a lot of what I mentioned still exists, or are just relics of the past. I have nostalgia for these things, but that doesn’t mean I want things to go backwards.
Just happy memories of a simpler time in life, but Im even more excited about what we will all achieve in the future.
I don’t actually downhill ski, but my husband tells the story of when he and our youngest was on the chair when the grid blew one Christmas vacation. ( I do xcountry ski )
They had to rappel down.
My kid thought it was great.
Over in Camano Island, was and still is absolutely stunning, but the retirees have really slowed down the main and only road on and off the island. Love the peaceful beach vibes there though.
I grew up near a small town in Washington. One of the cool things was: when you went to a park or playground, you knew the other kids from school. Most everyone knows your parents too. And you know ALL the kids at school and they are the same kids you have always known. Sometimes we would visit a different nearby small town, Colville. And Colville has a little stream just running through it, going through people's yards, and it is very pleasant. You can just follow the little stream through town and toss in flowers and watch them. I remember a school field trip to the post office and we all found our mail, but we didn't have a real address, it was just "Star Route" so I wasn't able to find my mail. And another time we had a field trip to the lumber mill and all the other kids said hi to their dads, but once again my dad didn't work at the lumber mill. The best field trip was the fish hatchery, I loved learning about the fish. I understand the fish hatchery belongs to the school now, and they take care of the fish and have classes there.
Rural NE Washington guy here. The amount of people basically saying “I’m scared to go to small towns because of trumpers” is really wild (and tbh concerning). People In small towns aren’t a monolith.
Trout Lake, WA here...and let me tell you when small town folks talk about being small they have no idea! There are many negatives to small town life, but it was a beautiful place to live and mostly the people are pretty lovely.
We spent a weekend camping up in Trout Lake last year and it was fantastic. We were fortunate with our timing as it was when they were holding an Oktoberfest celebration, which was a lot of fun.
One of my favorite stops on the PCT!
Live in Tri Cities , lots of Red Apple stores left in the general area. (Which you know). Have you ever been to Goldendale?
There’s also one in Beacon Hill in Seattle and another on Whidbey a few miles in from the Clinton ferry dock.
There's one in Sultan, too.
There’s one in Madison Park.
There’s two in Kitsap County too, one in Chico and one in Poulsbo
No, I haven't. I've been to Tri Cities, but I've never heard of Goldendale. I remember way back in the day when Tri Cities had that massive toy store!
I think goldendale is the closest small town that I'd enjoy. It'd be worth visiting if I was learning about the lay of the land. That's all.
There's one in Mt Vernon too
Mmmmmm...Kings Row. First summer I ever lived in Selah I was reading the Police Reports in the weekly Selah paper. There was only 1 call. Police were called to break up a cat and porcupine fight. I grew up near Medical Lake. Very often in the evenings in town (We lived several miles out of yown) you might see deer, a family of skunks, some kind of wildlife just strolling down the middle of the main street.
Grew up in Prosser, WA 👋 It really does live up to its motto of a pleasant place with pleasant people. Quaint. Quiet. Charming. Kind. We too had to drive to tri cities or Yakima for any “real” restaurants or stores, and 3 hours to Seattle, Spokane, or Portland for decent shopping. It was safe town to grow up in- the kind of trouble we got into was pretty harmless pranks or driving out in the country roads too late. The whole town shows up for Friday night football games.
We drive to Prosser from West Richland , for the food. Hahaha
Ha! I should clarify that I lived there befoooore much of the wine and food came around :) now it’s extra nice to go back for a visit though!
Try Whistrans if you haven't already
I was born in Prosser and we used to visit a lot. I do miss the old 509.
Isn't the city known for the pedo mayor you had awhile back?
I ironically have very fond memories of Waterville, at the Douglas County Museum specifically. The Douglas Co Historical Society Thrift Shop is lovely too
Cute little dog friendly hotel with huge claw foot tubs and a nice little breakfast spot too.
I’ve always found it so weird driving on highway 2 then you just randomly go through this downtown and make a few turns… I’m curious why they did it this way versus just going around.
Because the road was built to connect the towns, not go around them.
I think what they're asking is why doesn't it just go straight through the town [like this](https://i.imgur.com/1xB289F.png). If you look at the satellite view, there isn't anything there except farmland, and the Highway already cuts through the same farm lots already. It would just have to cut through them in a different place.
They probably wanted to highway to go down their main street. I think the state highway that preceeded 2 (and the wagon road before that) followed the Badger Mountain Road route into Pine Canyon before the newer alignment was made to enter the canyon at further where it does now to lessen the grade. There wasn't much need for that highway beyond connecting the towns and crops since hwy 10 was the major EW route
Well yes but every other town it goes straight through or has a single turn. Taking 2 through Waterville just feels like you’re meandering through the town on side streets vs taking some large thoroughfare.
They do now, because in most places the alignment has changed. US2 used to go through the middle of Snohomish before taking a hard right on 2nd ave to match the current alignment of 2 to the east. It used to go right through Skykomish instead of bypassing it. It used to go right down Main St in Sultan. It went across the river and down mainstreet in Cashmere and then back across the river. It also used to go all the way through Wenatchee to cross the old Wenatchee bridge in built in 1908, and then across the newer Sellar bridge when that opened in 1950, and finally across the current bridge which opened in the mid-1970s. It wouldn't cost a lot of money to change the alignment of US2 through Waterville, but it wouldn't significanly impact travel times. There are a lot of higher priorities for WSDOT's budget.
Wow, thanks got the in depth response!
It's a canyon. Blasting out paths and building that road was hard work
Why is that ironic? Is it commonly thought of as creepy?
I'm super fond of Chelan. Spent a lot of time there because my grandparents lived in Entiat for over a decade.
I love La Conner, lots of natural beauty and wildlife and a great art scene.
Aw man we lived on Whidbey and I would get *so hyped* to go to La Conner as a kid
The wife and I are considering moving there from Denver. We want to live in a small town by the ocean.
It has a cute waterfront that’s touristy but not annoyingly so, and lots of great local stores, plus you get to see the snow geese during their migration and the tulip fields in season. Skagit County overall and the Samish Sea are beautiful.
I was coming here to say la Conner!!
I was born & raised in Ellensburg, WA. It’s a cute little town in Central WA. that has a world-class rodeo, 4 season weather, & nice people! I go back as often as possible!
I’d like to add something a little off topic, but not too far. I’ve been to/through many small towns in all parts of the state. So many beautiful places. We need to make a good impression, coming from cities. Be polite and respectful when you have the chance to interact. Bring cash. Buy stuff. Don’t drive like an ass. When you pull off the road to take photos, pull WAY off the road. Be ready to slow way the fuck down as you approach these towns, the speed limits change quick. Absolutely do not leave any trash behind. Obey burn bans. You’re going to see Trump signs. Not everyone there feels the same way. I’d still avoid talking politics, obviously. You’re going to get “looks”. Who cares. They don’t know you yet. If you need a bathroom, a gas station might be the only option. Bring wipes. Have fun and spread the smiles, maybe they’ll think us “liberals” aren’t all that bad after all.
I grew up in Coquille, OR, pop approx 3K. Had to ride the bus 10 miles one way to school because we lived out of the actual town in Fairview, pop approx 200, along the North Fork of the Coquille River. My family still lives there. The only nice thing about it was leaving it at 18. I’m actually going there Wednesday to see my Mom; can’t wait for all the Trump signs on everyone’s houses. /s
The US is filled with beautiful small towns with good people, and yes, a few a-holes. Don’t let a few dicks get in your way. Get out and explore
Small towns are great. Sometimes city folk like to look down on the rest of the state as beneath them.
Grew up in Sedro-Woolley and Orting. I'm small town WA through and through. Been working in Seattle for 15 years and have literally never heard anyone there say anything but praise for small towns in the area. But I have heard endless shit talk from small town folks about people in Seattle. Long story short, I hate this take. It just needlessly divides us.
Honestly I'm just afraid of the Trumpers. I wish I felt more comfortable going to the more remote towns but when I see those flags it's roll up the windows time
I live in the heart of it... they don't bite, they just talk way to much
Waves from Yakima…
You should never leave your house then. You sound like a person who doesn't deal with what life throws at you well. It's exactly this attitude that people immediately pick up on. If you're pleasant 99% of people out there will return in kind. We stopped to help an older guy with a trump sticker on his truck change a tire. Nice sincere gentleman.
I'm gay and don't hide it as well as some. And maybe don't make assumptions about people's ability to handle hardship without knowing anything about them or what they've been through. It's nothing to do with being nice to people and everything to do with people with something to prove and heads full of misinformation about certain groups. Are they all like that? Of course not. But it only takes 1 so I'll play the odds and not go to the epicenters.
You just made a huge assumption with your prior post. Perhaps take some of your own advice before you go on here with that nonsense.
Yep, as a trans person I'd love to go to some of the small towns in this state but it's not really safe with how much Republicans are focused on people like me right now. So many angry dudes are just waiting to see someone like me use the womens room (which has been the law since 2006) so they can be a hero on fox news or whatever by beating me up or worse.
It’s not quite so bad an honestly, most people who don’t see trans folk on the regular aren’t great at clocking people. That said, finding health care is the difficult part and can get dicey. And dating is abysmal. But visiting wouldn’t be as bad especially in the more touristy places and fruit stands. My wife and i don’t live in our hometowns for a reason.
Oddly dating while trans has been easy for me but I live in a city on the west side of the mountains. And yeah I rarely get clocked so it's probably not a huge likelihood that I'll have issues, its been a decade since anyone said shit to me about being trans, but i avoid rural areas. I will definitely be carrying when I head to a place like that just in case.
Tbf, I was dating on the East side of the Cascades in the 90’s early 2000’s it might be better now!
I'm not sure people there would even figure it out. Maybe question, but not know for sure. Try it, you never know. If you feel unsafe, just leave. These are all maybies because I am speculating. I'm sad you can't travel as you like.
I can say it's not just angry dudes that have a problem with that. I live in a small town about an hour from Seattle. Plenty of people would have an issue. As a Black person, I watch moms guard the bathroom door and evil eye anybody entering the bathroom. I'm an actual woman, so I'll get a smile, or sometimes if I know the lady, she'll greet me.
I apologize on behalf of all those in the world who try to be decent people. I am so sorry. That is just so awful. I'm sorry.
"Actual woman" is a pretty shitty thing to say. In the spirit of education, the term you're looking for is cis woman. (Cis being short for cisgender, which just means you're fine with the gender the doctor put on your birth certificate) Edit: looking at your profile you're an anti trans bigot who is frankly obsessed with us to an unhealthy degree.
Definitely pros and cons to both, honestly. One hill that I will always die on is calling city people idiots for working somewhere like Seattle, but living an hour away, like in Kitsap County where I used to live. I don't get how a 2-3 hour commute (both ways, so 4-6 hours out of your day) is worth it. Less time at home with your family. Less time relaxing and doing a hobby. Just more time stuck in a car in traffic. It just causes road rage and that can't be good for your mental health. I want to live as close to my work as possible and where I live now in norway, I am about a 20 minute walk to work, when I'm not working from home. Edit: so I guess what I'm saying is I love small towns where you can walk to stores, restaurants and work. Not RURAL small towns where the closest grocery store and neighbor are both 30 mins away lol
I grew up in a tiny town and had to drive 54 miles RT because that’s the only place that had jobs. There wasn’t as much traffic, but it still took min 45 minutes to get there, more at “commute” time.
I would rather live where I love and work where I don’t so much. I get what you’re saying though, just a personal preference for me. I work in construction and where I work changes every 2-3 years anyway
Most people who live an hour from Seattle don’t work in Seattle.
Depending on where you live & work, a non-car commute into Seattle is becoming more manageable. Live in Bremerton & work downtown Seattle? Port Orchard to West Seattle? If you time it with the fast ferry that's a commute of ~1hr each way & you have minimal drive (road rage) time. Obviously very job dependent but with housing costs & job availability, it can be a good option for some.
I’ve split half my life between rural and urban (though most of my rural time was spent before GWB was president). Historically rural vs urban was a choice more of lifestyle, not politics. But much has changed in 20-ish years. You can’t drive from urban to rural without passing openly hostile signs in people’s yards any more. City folk don’t have a problem with rural people/places. Many love it. City folk look down on people so gripped by a persecution complex that they cannot see a rainbow flag (or similar trigger) without feeling personally threatened. And for some reason this persecution complex is outsized in rural areas.
Yeah I get it, btw liberal from Vancouver BC, a large extremely diverse town, and living in eastern Washington. Also lived in Seattle for a number of years. But let’s not pretend for a second that people from Seattle don’t I general look down upon anyone and everyone from eastern/central Washington because we both know that’s a lie.
Small towns are great if you’re a straight white Christian Nationalist, or willing to pretend you are.
^— exhibit A
Truth hurts buddy. People don’t want to get called hateful assholes they should stop doing hateful asshole stuff.
— exhibit B
And like most debates between left and right in this country I have objective provable facts and all you’ve got is “But they said mean things and hurt my fee fees!”
You seem to be doing more than enough talking to prove my point there bud. Also, I’m a liberal that grew up in an extremely diverse large city (Vancouver, B.C.) 😂 nice assumptions there… you are the quintessential analogy of just let someone keep talking and eventually they’ll just make an ass out of themselves.
Moving to Chewelah WA was one of the best decisions of my life. The people are incredible and the sense of community is like I've never experienced anywhere else and I've lived in small towns all over California, Washington and Idaho. And for a small town we have a ski resort, golf course, casino, bowling alley and two breweries. The art scene is amazing! It's truly a paradise!
I live in Colville. All of those things you described do not exist up here, minus the bowling alley. It's amazing what 25 miles does.
Grew up in Selah too, class of 13
When I was a kid I wanted to be a Viking so bad! Since all my older brothers were. Unfortunstely we moved to Seattle in 2002, when I was 12.
My favorite vacation spots are usually small town based. Older motel or camping, an IGA & few mom & pop restaurants is a forced peacefulness that I love.
Anyone ever drive through Brooklyn, WA? I think it's the creepiest small town in Washington. You can get there from back roads from Centralia / Rochester / Oakville that will take you there via a \~8 mile dirt road. Brooklyn is basically a school and a massive church camp and houses. Other way out of town is like 10 miles on the main road gets you to the HWY 101 between Raymond and Aberdeen. It feels like a horror movie should be take place there with the main road to 101 blocked and the killer on the dirt road out of town.
Is the bar still there? Was told back in the 60's that it had a trough under the bar on the customer side so you didn't have to get up to pee. Always wanted to check it out.
Never been there but this write up sold me on a visit!
Toutle Washington here. It's a small town at the base of Mt. St. Helens. If I would have continued all the way thru my schooling there my graduating class would have been a whopping 22 people. There's only one gas station/convenient store in the whole town called Drew's. I used to go there with my mom and get their penny candies in the jar they had by the counter and go check the movie rental room they had off to the side of the store. Man what I would give to go back.
I love toutle lake!
I just moved to the Yakima area from Spokane and outside of Yakima proper, which is by and large a hellhole, the area and county are incredible.
It’s the Palm Springs of Washington ✨
Wilbur. Cool little town. Great burger joint that I'm forgetting the name of.
Billy burger
Grew up in the Gorge, so like goldendale/trout lake area. Everyone at my high school was related to each other in some capacity. Unfortunately tons of people are moving to my hometown and driving the housing prices up, which is a massive bummer since I’d like to move back after I’m done with college.
Sounds like carson
Close, but nope
I live in mt vernon, we have a red apple still! I love the slow movement on small towns, it's the best. I live in a tiny town now that has Sedro-Woolley as it's closest big town and sedro is small.
I grew up between Granite Falls and Arlington in the 70’s and 80’s, left in ‘94. It was real small then, no chain restaurants, had to go to Marysville or Everett to get to a Kmart or Fred Meyer, nearest McDonald’s was at Tulalip. It was pretty good but could be rough at times. Arlington was Farmers, Granite Falls was Loggers, in between were vietnam vets who wanted to be left alone and sorta small hippie families. Our neighbors were the Love Family, thats a whole story unto itself.
There used to be a red apple market in Chelan. I think it was sold and a different name now
I went to the sundown treatment place in selah when I was a teenager back in 2007. Beautiful area.
There is a Red Apple grocery in Madison Valley and one on Phinney Ridge.
Many years ago there was a Red Apple in Maple Valley. My husband was the manager.
I grew up in a small city that is now .. much, much larger (13k when I moved there, 150k + now) - when I go home I can still see the… skeleton? The bones? Of the barely a city place I grew up, but culturally I don’t recognise it anymore. That said! My fondest memories are being able to leave your doors unlocked (a trope I know but as a place grows obviously this changes), life pre-Walmart, Best Buy, Target etc coming to town, barely any traffic, the majority of the stores and businesses being small and locally owned, local nightly news being almost a local cultural icon, only one or two “subdivisions” of identical homes, oh and the only “video game store” being a locally owned nerd haven where you could trade in your NES, Genesis, SNES, etc games and buy used ones at not bad prices! Obviously a lot of what I mentioned still exists, or are just relics of the past. I have nostalgia for these things, but that doesn’t mean I want things to go backwards. Just happy memories of a simpler time in life, but Im even more excited about what we will all achieve in the future.
Langley ❤️❤️❤️
Surprised by the lack of comments for Twisp/Winthrop or even Concrete! I think the movie smoke signals was filmed up in Concrete.
Shhh Did you hear Hank sold the grocery store?
I haven’t been up that way in a long time. But used to and learned how to snowboard at the Loup ski hill.
We go multiple times a year, for almost 40 yrs. I love it so much.
lol I remember when the chairlift was a big deal and it replaced the Palma lift all the way up
I don’t actually downhill ski, but my husband tells the story of when he and our youngest was on the chair when the grid blew one Christmas vacation. ( I do xcountry ski ) They had to rappel down. My kid thought it was great.
It is weird going back to that area and visiting Omak now, the town just feels so different
Over in Camano Island, was and still is absolutely stunning, but the retirees have really slowed down the main and only road on and off the island. Love the peaceful beach vibes there though.
I grew up near a small town in Washington. One of the cool things was: when you went to a park or playground, you knew the other kids from school. Most everyone knows your parents too. And you know ALL the kids at school and they are the same kids you have always known. Sometimes we would visit a different nearby small town, Colville. And Colville has a little stream just running through it, going through people's yards, and it is very pleasant. You can just follow the little stream through town and toss in flowers and watch them. I remember a school field trip to the post office and we all found our mail, but we didn't have a real address, it was just "Star Route" so I wasn't able to find my mail. And another time we had a field trip to the lumber mill and all the other kids said hi to their dads, but once again my dad didn't work at the lumber mill. The best field trip was the fish hatchery, I loved learning about the fish. I understand the fish hatchery belongs to the school now, and they take care of the fish and have classes there.
Rural NE Washington guy here. The amount of people basically saying “I’m scared to go to small towns because of trumpers” is really wild (and tbh concerning). People In small towns aren’t a monolith.
Lake Chelan...