Stringcheese

Tell me about your town and area please. There's a promotional opportunity for me in your area and I'm considering it but I wanted to hear from people who live there. What's your likes/dislikes about the place? Would you make the choice to live there again knowing what you know now? Weather, things to do for a family? How's the school district? Good/bad areas? How intrusive is CWU into daily life? Good roads i'm sure and I'm guessing lightly traveled. Tell me about eburg!

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the chemist

I grew up in Kittitas county (basically, Ellensburg or the country side around Ellensburg) since I was 3, moved when I was 20.

Likes: Its a small town. Its easy to get to know people. Most people are friendly. None of the hussle and bussle of the big city. Minimal traffic, except at rodeo time (Labor day weekend). Its a GREAT place to raise kids, it really is. Dislikes: 30 miles to wal-mart, best buy, or any other GOOD places to shop, though there is a fred meyer and 30 miles aint that bad of a drive to make every other week or so. The wind. Dear god the wind is bad. Especially in early spring. Its something you get used to though. It rarely rains, and the last few years there has been minimal snow. Its usually melted by mid/late feb. And riding (at least for some of us) commences soon thereafter (my first year riding started in mid JANUARY!!!). The high school was built in 05 and is amazing, although I liked the old california style high school more. They dropped from a 3A to a 2A in 07. My graduating class was just over 200. The middle school is a bit rough for some kids. There are three elementary schools, all three are good. In general, the people care about education, and I dont remember a levy getting denied. How intrusive is CWU? Well, the town depends on it as far as economics go. But, as long as you dont live up by 18th street you shouldnt have any parties going till 3am. There really is a 'college' section of town. Things to do for a family? Well, if you like the outdoors its awesome. Growing up, we always had to think of things to do...which probably got us in a bit of trouble. But, at least we werent out smoking crack or something.

And finally, the roads. Oh my god the roads. I didnt appreciate them while I was there...But now, its the main thing I miss. Some of the roads have 'spotty' pavement/chip seal that you think is fairly crappy. Then you ride somewhere like spokane and realize its nothing. You're 30 miles (and those are 30 miles of good riding) from highway 12 and 410. There are back roads everywhere, and if you know the area you know where you can let it rip with VERY minimal chance of getting caught. Most of the roads are decent, and not traveled often....and passing zones are plentiful on most roads. You also have blewitt pass 15 miles away. The roads around Ellensburg are amazing. Its also 160 miles to spokane, 140 to the tri cities, 110 to Seattle, and ~160 to Canada via Omak.

Would I move back? Not permanently. Maybe its because I grew up there. Maybe not. But, its really not a bad place to live.


/novel

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Stuartt

I lived in Ellensburg for 5 years. duane sums it up pretty well. However, like many small towns I would seriously advise staying on top of your kids education. I knew a large group of people whose kids were not very well educated, but there were a few that had a great experiance in the system there. Because of the college being there if it were me i would also watch any little girl closely and have a shotgun ready to point at any guys head if he fucks around.


The college is very respectful of the town, I think. There is about a 1/2 mile, maybe even a 1 mile, circle you can draw around the campus of area that wouldn't be a good idea to live in because of the typical college party scene. The outskirts of ellensburg have some BEAUTIFUL, CHEAP houses though.


*the wind is a real bitch.... but i liked it actually

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Stringcheese

Thank you both very much for the replies. I have a little boy in first grade so no shotgun worries, just potential cheering I spent my teenage years just north of LA in the high desert so I know wind, sounds familiar. Doesn't sound like a bad place to spend the next 4 or 5 years until I'm ready to take the leap to the next higher level.

Keep those thoughts about eburg coming please and thank you.

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manicmike

yeah Duane pretty much said everything. The only thing I don't like about it is there aren't a whole lot of jobs available, depending what area of work you're in.

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manicmike

Yeah but those are some great memories.

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rpappi

tumble weeds pass cars

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Oxygen

I love it here.

I moved out here for college, and at first I was like, "get me back to Seattle!" But now everytime I go to Seattle I think, "get me back to Ellensburg!"

It's definitely a slower paced laid back town. It's small, yes, but everything you need is here, and if you need Best Buy or Costco, it's a 30 minute drive to Yakima (most of us drive wayyy longer in the city if you consider traffic). The other thing is that there is NEVER traffic! I really appreciate that I can get to work in 7 minutes every single day (I have to go across town) and never have to worry about traffic holding me up.

I work at the hospital, and as far as I've observed it's unlike any place I've ever worked. Everyone in my department are friends (even with the "boss"), and regularly go out together...it's awesome.

Living here is definitely less expensive (relative to living in Seattle). In my car (STI), a 1/4 tank of gas lasts a week. There are less places to tempt you to eat out and less places to tempt you to spend money on entertainment...however there is a really nice new movie theatre, some cool bars (but there mostly the college scene), and a ton of outdoorsy stuff to do (which is awesome)...oh did I mention, NO TRAFFIC!?!

Only drawbacks I've found is the damn wind and shopping. There's not much wind during the winter, and during the summer it can be a relief from the heat...but you definitely have to get used to the wind. I don't really like to shop, but I do make a trip to Seattle every now and then if I need something that I can't just buy online. It makes you realize what you really can do without when it means a 2 +/- drive to go to a mall (there is a mall in Yakima...but it's a fail...it does have a Macy's though).

Riding here is pretty damn good, as Duane mentioned

Everyone does know everyone though, so you have to be aware of that. Also, it sucks you in...you might not ever be able to leave

Overall, I prefer it out here to Seattle...and you can get a kickass house + property for pretty cheap!

ok I have to breathe now...

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TL1000

I used to live in Cle Elum which is pretty close to E-burg about three years ago. I lived there for about 3 years then I moved back to Seattle for school. Now I'll be finishing my AA this June and then I'm making a beeline back to the Cle Elum E-burg area (I'll be going to CWU). I love it out there. I didn't have a street bike then but I do know and I can't wait to rip up all the roads. Like most have said the biggest annoyance is the wind but it is nice on those hot summer days, and isn't around as much during the winter, and if you have allergies there are areas where the cotton wood seeds fall like snow in the spring, and the rodeo traffic does suck, good luck driving anywhere, just walk or bike (bicycle) around town if you absolutely have to go. It is the country, and if you like the outdoors you'll like the area.

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Rippn

...WAIT..."It's a cookbook"...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bwhahahahaahahahaahahahahaahahahahahaahahahahhaaa! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
INCREDIBLY UN-LIBERAL FRIENDLY... infact...ALL OF E.WA IS...
GENERATIONS and GENERATIONS OF US...CONSTITUTIOAL LOVE'N LOCALS
you should SEE ALL the gun racks in our truck's back window...
WE LOVE IT... JUST THE WAY IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FREE and clean, Ripp'n

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mikeysfun

I dig it... been here most of my life

I love how you can travel less than 30 minutes away in ANY direction for DIFFERENT terrain... everything from wet mountains to dry desert... oh, and the water features.

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vananator

LOVE IT! AND THE PEOPLE(RIPPIN) ASPIRE TO LIVE THERE AT A LATER DATE IN LIFE! WHEN KID HAS GRADUATED-van

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