I am considering a move to WA state, Spokane area to be exact. My mom and younger brother moved out there ten years ago, from NJ, and seem to like it. I have already contacted some prospective employers and they want me to come see them the next time that I am out there (which will be later this month). My wife has never been out side the mid-atlantic region, and she is a bit fearful of the idea.
Any advice, thoughts, or cautionary tails about life in the North West?
It's really, REALLY, ridiculously, HOT there. It's also eleven billion miles from anywhere else. You have to go WEST of the Cascades to find the nice part of the NW.
P71 wrote: It's really, REALLY, ridiculously, HOT there.
That would be an improvement over the Philly,PA area in the summer. really, really rediculously hot, 99.9% humidity and beautyfull brown smog that L.A. would be envious of.
Well, yeah I guess it would be better than Philly. The funny thing is a friend's family moved to the Philly area last year.
Seriously though, Spokane is considered one step above Boise, ID in the grand scheme of things.
It is oppressively hot there compared to the west side of the Cascades, on the flip side it is also cold there as well. I think you'd enjoy someplace on the West side of the Cascades moreso than the East.
Camas, White Salmon, Hood River, Cascade Locks all are fairly quiet little towns that tend to be a little more mild in their weather (at times)
Either way, there are plenty of car-related things to do here in the NW and it sounds like you have some potential jobs lined up to boot.
We have very dear friends that moved to Spokane last year from the Vancover(Wa.) area. They can't wait to get out of there. Of course a good part could be the fact that their sons are still in Vancouver and Portland, but they constantly complain about the weather. OTOH, anything would be better than Philly-except the hockey. No state income tax is a big plus......
My family lives in Coeur D'Alene, which is just a few miles east across the border in Idaho. CDA is muuuuch nicer than Spokane, IMO, and when it gets hot the lake is right there so you have plenty of cool water to enjoy. I don't care for Spokane much at all, it's hard to believe that it's only a half hour from CDA, as they feel very different to me. When CDA gets snow, it's beautiful, when Spokane gets snow, it's just cold. 
When you are out visiting, do yourself a favor and look around the CDA area or even Sandpoint if you want to be within shooting distance of Spokane but would like to live in a nicer area. Another bonus to the Sandpoint area is that you're right near some decent skiing if you like to ski/snowboard and it also has a big lake. The one thing Spokane does have going for it is more jobs, since it's a bigger city. There are still a lot of jobs to be had in the surrounding areas, but you have to be skilled at what you do to get them, as there's a bit more supply than demand than in Spokane. CDA is more of a tourist/vacation city than Spokane, so there's a lot of seasonal work and housing can cost a bit more if you don't hunt for a good deal. With that said, I suspect the housing will be cheaper than Philly.
I agree that Spokane is hot, but it's not as hot as SE WA (on average) and it's never humid, which is a hell of a lot better than other places I've lived. To those who say it's hot there, I doubt they've lived somewhere humid for any period of time. I'd take Spokane's heat over the heat+humidity I experienced in AL and FL anyday, heck, even Flint/Detroit summers were worse than Spokane because of the humidity.
I don't agree that you have to go west to see nice areas of the NW. I do agree that the best parts of the NW are west of the Cascades, but one of my favorite highways I've driven in the US (and I've been on a lot) is I-90 from CDA and Missoula, MT. There are some really fun twisties with beautiful scenery and high speed limits through there, I've had some very memorable drives through there. The Sandpoint/CDA areas are also beautiful as they've got big lakes at high elevation in the mountains surrounded by trees. This is postcard material pretty much year round IMO, one of the big reasons that my parents moved from the Seattle area to CDA a few years ago was that there are 4 real seasons and the scenery is always very nice.
Bryce
It's high desert enviroment - echoing the previous statements.
I live on the wet side of the cascades, moved here from Exit 168 (GSP) and love it here.
Jack
thanks for the advice and opinions guys. I did a big construction job on my moms property the last time that I was out there in '05 durring the summer, and it was in the mid ninties with low humidity the whole week. I wasn't that bad at all compared to what I am used to. I had to drink gallons of water every day though to keep hydrated because my body has never been in such an arid climate. I will probably move in with my mom for the first year out there, if I do move, but when I buy annother house I am going to consider the CDA area.
One thing that I like about Spokane is that it is reputed to have very good schools, Around the Philly area the schools suck (my wife works for a local district and wouldn't send our dog there) the school districts that are good have outragous taxes.
I have ten years of experience at my job which is a skilled labor trade (I repair electric forklifts), I can get a job almost anywhere in this field and come in near the top of the payscale, before that I worked for several years as a hydraulics system tech at a power plant. So I am not overly worried about finding a good job, even in a week job market.
