Thank You, Snoqualmie Valley: the right place for our last child to be raised her entire life

Yesterday was my daughter’s 18th birthday. She is the youngest of our four children. She was born six months after we picked a small parcel of land in Snoqualmie – where we decided to plant our family roots – to build a house.

We moved into that new home – one with every finish picked by us – exactly one month before her birth; a birth that included my water breaking in that new house and a frantic middle-of-the-night drive to the hospital in Seattle. A day later we brought her home to the Valley.

There was no retail area on Snoqualmie Ridge in those days. It was empty land and signs of what was to come. The closest full service grocery store was in North Bend. There were no schools on the Ridge. We drove everywhere for everything.

All our neighbors were also new Snoqualmie residents and most of us picked it for the same reasons: you got more house of the money and it seemed a great place to raise kids.

We we not wrong. Our youngest has been raised in Snoqualmie her whole life. My husband can’t say that. Our other kids can’t say that. I lived in three different homes by the time I was 8. In fact, in my nearly 50 years, Snoqualmie is also the longest I’ve ever lived in the same place.

Our first Snoqualmie Ridge home was approximately the 800th home built in this master-planned community. It seems only fitting as the last few homes are built, our youngest would be getting ready to fly the coop. She and Snoqualmie grew and changed together.

She was…

  • About 1 when the first restaurant opened on Snoqualmie Ridge and the fire station was built
  • 1 1/2 when the Valley passed a school bond that built Cascade View ES and Twin Falls MS.
  • 2 when the city council decided there would be a second phase of Snoqualmie Ridge
  • 3 when Cascade View opened
  • 5 when the Snoqualmie IGA opened
  • 6 when we built our second Snoqualmie home, the Snoqualmie Casino opened, North Bend got its water rights back and Twin Falls Middle School opened.
  • 10 when the Snoqualmie Valley YMCA opened, which is now her employer
  • 13 when a bond was passed to build Timber Ridge ES and the new MSHS
  • 14 when Timber Ridge opened, where she now works for the Y’s after school programs
  • 16 when Snoqualmie got its second grocery store
  • 17 when the new MSHS opened

As the Snoqualmie Valley experienced growing pains, she felt it in the way of school boundary changes. She attended both elementary and middle school in North Bend. Unlike others living a mile away on Snoqualmie Ridge, she was not ‘bubblized.’

We always felt welcomed by the North Bend community…. like a second hometown. She was grateful for her NBE and TFMS years, making lifelong friends. And looking back now, all those hours in the car with mom were pretty priceless.

Things have definitely changed the past 18 years in the Snoqualmie Valley. Some changes we liked, some we haven’t. That’s part of moving anywhere I guess. It can’t be perfect all of the time and some decisions won’t please everyone.

Regardless, after nearly two decades living in the same city, I can definitely say we picked the right place for our last child to be raised her entire life. The community here is like nothing I experienced growing up in Seattle.

So thank you Snoqualmie Valley! Happy Birthday Jenny!

And to all the new residents out there, we hope you enjoy raising your kids here, too. It’s an incredible place.

Photo by Manju Shekhar

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