2016 was a life changing year. I got married to my wife Nikayla. I was admitted into WSU college of veterinary medicine. And my wife landed a full-time sonographer position at Pullman Regional Hospital.
Before moving up to Washington, Nikayla and I had to make the decision between buying a modular home or renting an apartment. The goal was to spend as little money as possible. When renting an apartment, you have the monthly expense to cover. But if you buy a modular home, you can go to school for four years with practically zero home costs. After you buy the home, all you have to cover is the lot rent. (And modular home lot rents are generally cheap in this town.) Then at the end of four years of veterinary school, we would sell the home to an incoming first year vet student. In many cases, the house appreciates in value, and you end up making a small amount of money over the four years.
So that's what we did. We bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom modular home, and we love it. We have a fenced in back-yard which is great for our pup. It also has a pretty spacious living room. The appliances were a little old, but they still work great. It is a great temporary, cozy home that we have made our own.
And the city is has also been a fun experience. The population hovers just above 30k. There are two grocery stores, a wal-mart, and a decent number of restaurants that are surprisingly good.
There is also a quaint downtown area. It's on a one-way road with parking on both sides. There are many locally owned shops like bike shop and a used bookstore that makes you feel like your in small cluttered library from Harry Potter. And, of course, there are plenty of places to eat: there are multiple coffee shops, ice-cream parlors, and a couple very unique restaurants. One of our favorite restaurants artfully balances the feeling between a bar and restaurant. When you walk in, it almost feels like a speakeasy. There is a floor to ceiling bookshelf on your left tables in the middle, and a bar on the right. But when you head to the back of the restaurant, you'll find more seating, and a metal graded stair-case that goes up to an upstairs pool loft. It's a great restaurant to just sit and converse longer than necessary after you've finished your dinner.
But the best part about this city is the dairy's ice cream and cheese shop. The milk comes straight from the University's dairy, and they turn it into ice-cream and cheese in shop making it the freshest cheese and ice cream I've ever had. What's more, this shop has even set up small viewing rooms for the guests to see how the cheese is made. Then when you head back downstairs, you can eat the cheese you just saw being made.
This town has been the perfect city for Nikayla and I to start our life together.
Evan Sutherland
