If you want a somewhat rural community with great outdoor recreation, weather, and a vibrant entrepreneurial scene, try Bend, Oregon. I'm there about once a mon

If you want a somewhat rural community with great outdoor recreation, weather, and a vibrant entrepreneurial scene, try Bend, Oregon. I'm there about once a month or so and very impressed with the talent, capital, and overall community that is developing. Fair number of silicon valley escapees have moved there for lower cost of living, skiing, biking, etc. Bend is what Walla Walla should be aiming to be in another 10-20 years. In the past decade, the community in Bend realized they were way too dependent on real estate and tourism alone, and started diversifying. Walla Walla is too focused on wine and tourism, which are great industries - we shouldn't leave them behind, but we need to build a three-legged stool of industry that isn't dependent strictly on industries that only thrive when people have disposable income in their pockets.