September 30, 2004

           I did not move to John Day ten years ago, but here is the second location I was considering. Tacoma, Washington. It's a one-pizza place town with zero young people, who all move the 30 miles north to Seattle. I never could afford Seattle. But Tacoma is considered a center of "country music". It was only going to be for a few years until I found something I wanted to do. In the end, the lack of night life and chilly winters changed my mind. Around 200,000 people live there if you include all the military types all over the place.

Note: 2014-09-30 Tacoma was, in 2004, voted the most stressful city to live in. Miami was second. However, in Tacoma, the violent crime rate is tiny compared to Miami.