10 Reasons to be Thankful You Live in Yakima

With bands like Code Beebe and the Crooks, Not Amy and other regional favorites that play in Yakima often like Blake Noble, You don't have to travel far for live, local music that's actually worth listening to.

I've lived in places that have had 2 seasons - Winter and Construction. It's nice to live in an area that goes from the fun of winter to birth of spring to hot summers and the harvest of fall. Each season has their pros and cons, but at least we have four of them, unlike some parts of the US.

Again, I've lived in places that were predominantly Caucasian. Personally, I wasn't used to it. Being from Yakima, I love how there are so many cultures to learn from and get ideas from. Growing up also made me, and is making my children, racially indifferent. We're all one.

I couldn't imagine what it must've been like to grow up in an earlier time in the Yakima Valley. Sure, we've always had the Capitol Theatre, but now that we have the Sundome, The Seasons and other venues, there's always a great show coming up. No need to travel to Seattle.

I love Seattle, Portland and Spokane, but I'd never want to live there. I like living here and keeping my distance so when the time comes to travel to a big city for any reason, I can turn it into a day trip.

Growing up in Yakima will give you a pallet for what fresh fruit is supposed to taste like and feel. There's nothing worse than picking up an apple from anywhere else that has the same texture has a bouncy ball - slightly squishy. You gain that appreciation.

You probably are well aware we have a facility called 'Children's Village' but if you don't need to utilize it, you wouldn't know how imperative this place is for our children in Yakima. There are big cities that wish they had a place like Children's Village in their town.

It's a facility that provides help in the form of therapy to special needs children of all types, a child-friendly dentist and even provides help for the stressed-out moms of children.

Kyle McLaughlin is a Golden Globe winner and was nominated for two Emmys. He graduated from Ike and now we can see him on TV all the time from movies to being the mayor in Portlandia to my favorite TV show of all time, Twin Peaks. He still comes to Yakima every so often to visit family and to speak at functions. In most of his interviews, he finds a way to sneak in that he's from Yakima, putting it on the map for others.

Like beer, our wine has always been a tourist destination. Yakima is on the same parallel as France. Napa Valley, CA is on the same parallel as Afghanistan. Hmm - France or Afghanistan. I'll trust our wine, thanks. Many local wineries provide tours, tastings and you can use their venue for parties and weddings.

It would be almost impossible to talk about the Yakima Valley without talking about hops. Our valley grows about 75% of the hops used for beers in the US and almost half of the hops used around the world. We have hop festivals to showcase our pride which are always well attended.