I Really Really Really Love My Hometown.

I read This Is Where You Belong over the month of January. Immediately within the first chapter explanation of loving where you live, I recognized I was rooted in my hometown of Yakima.

I didn’t always love where I grew up. Like any teenager, I dreamed of “wide open spaces” and “big, city life” where I would become the idealized version of myself. A smarter, glowing goddess who shook off and rose above the dust of valley.

But then something funny happened. Seattle, where I attended university, was drizzly and gray. Where was the sunshine? Where was the grass? There was a plethora of trees, diversity, and open-mindedness but each winter I would hole up in my room, trying to dry my bones from the wet that seeped in daily. I started missing the dry cold, as mean as it could be.

Then I started missing the lack of traffic, the quick drives to the mountains, the produce! Oh my goodness. I realized I had been completely blind to the beauty and bounty of my hometown when I was there. I took the sunshine for granted.

From a distance, I began to yearn for home and when the opportunity arose to move back, me and my family took it.

Shortly after moving home, I started hearing a common theme: Yakima was not family-friendly. There weren’t enough indoor activities to do in the winter or in the summer it was so hot the only thing to do was swim and why weren’t there better indoor activities then! I often heard about how the schools were failing or any community activities were focused around alcohol (we do produce America’s hops). I couldn’t disagree with them. It would be nice to have more options for indoor play and we sometimes seemed to lack festivals that other communities made extremely family friendly.

Had I been wrong about moving back?

Reading this book last month, helped reaffirm and refocus my love for the valley. While reading, I started thinking of all the awesome ways that we as community members can participate in building our city and then I started thinking of all the things that I really wasn’t taking advantage of. There are so many kid friendly hikes and restaurants and there really are more indoor options than one realizes, it’s just some of these small business really struggle to advertise/communicate what they are offering.

So I started thinking, well I wish there was a site where you could really know what to expect with a nearby hike (because hiking a new trail is always a little trepidacious but hiking a new trail with kids feels like a death wish) or I wish there was some way to know more about awesome events or stores or business that are catering to families, because they are out there!

Our city has so much to offer, the information is just hard to find sometimes.

I figured that person might as well be me. Born and raised in the Valley and a big lover of the outdoors and arts, my enthusiasm for my hometown is immense. My goal is to highlight the awesome events and opportunities that Yakima has to offer for families. More importantly, I want to make that information accessible and useful.

So with a google doc full of ideas, I hope locals (and visitors!) will tune in as I review and recommend family-friendly activities every week. Who knows, maybe along the way people may realize that this little city is actually just a diamond in the rough.

I sincerely hope you enjoy what’s to come!

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