I was driving to work this week and I was thinking about what a cool place I have an opportunity to live and work. The sun was shining, frost glistening, and it just felt peaceful. Well, it just so happened that, I recently saw on Facebook that Budget Travel is holding a “Coolest Small Towns in America” contest, and my hometown is in the running.  Let me tell you a bit about Snohomish, Washington.

I don’t actually live in Downtown Snohomish.  I live up the hill from the town.  To get to town, where my school is, I drive through the valley.  It’s beautiful.  There are mountains in the background, rolling farmlands, hot air balloons, and sky divers.  The snow geese (swans) land here every year.  When my son was younger, he loved the idea that people would come from miles around to take pictures of the snow geese.

The town itself is an old town.  My grandma went to Snohomish High School in the 30’s and her dad was a pastor at one of the small town churches.  The main street through town is lined with old buildings, filled with cute little shops and restaurants, and houses LOTS of antique shops.

One of the joys of this little town is watching the skydivers and hot air balloons on a sunny afternoon.  One of my favorite memories of moving to Snohomish was eating at Chuck’s Seafood, one sunny summer night.  We were eating outside, having some really yummy clam chowder and fish, and enjoying watching the skydivers off in the distance.  The live music was playing and one of the songs was Bruce Springsteen’s My Home Town.  Everything about that night was absolutely perfect… music, food, family, weather, entertainment.  It really made me appreciate the home town my kids would be raised in.

I may have mentioned a time or two, on this blog, that I really love farm life.

Wide open spaces, raising animals, working in the garden, and local farmer’s markets make me truly happy.  While I don’t have all of those things, living in a suburban neighborhood, I do have everything I need within a 5 minute drive from my house.  I love all of the local pumpkin, berry, corn, and tree farms.  Lots of kids in the area work on the farms as seasonal workers.  It’s a great feeling of community and October tends to be one big party at the corn maze or pumpkin farm. (Many places around here offer night time corn maze adventures.  My personal favorites are not the zombie paintball corn mazes.  I prefer the corn maze that ends with a bond fire and marshmallow roast.)

Have I sold you on why my home town is a great place to raise a family?  My kids are 14 and 10.  We moved out here about 10 years ago because my sister and sister in law both lived in the same neighborhood.  My sister found the perfect house for us, in the neighborhood, and we just couldn’t resist the idea of all of the cousins growing up together.  This year we have a Junior, Sophomore, Freshman, 8th grader, 7th grader, and 4th grader running through the schools.  It’s so much fun having them all go to school together. (elementary, middle, and high school)  Last Summer, I decided that I was ready to make the jump from the Edmonds School District to the Snohomish School District so I could teach out here too.  It’s been a pretty great move!  I really love my new school.  I’m enjoying the small town feel, getting to know more about the district my own kids are in, and learning about the families in my community.  It’s a place I see myself staying for a long time.  

To vote for Snohomish in the  Budget Travel contest, click here.  Voting ends today, March 4th!

Photos on this post are from Googling Snohomish.