In this episode, Anne travels to a small town close to her heart – Walla Walla, WA.
In this episode, Anne travels to a small town close to her heart – Walla Walla, WA. There, she’ll meet up with Michelle Morales. Michelle grew up in Walla Walla and is now a part of the city’s fabric, working in the prosecutor’s office there since 2017 and currently running for Walla Walla County Prosecuting Attorney. We’ll talk to Michelle about growing up in town, why she left and came back, and hear why being a public servant is important to her. Plus, Anne talks a nostalgic walk through downtown and you may or may not hear some fun duck sounds.
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Find episode transcripts here: https://townsizing.simplecast.com/episodes/moving-back-to-your-childhood-town-with-michelle-morales
The first time I came to Walla Walla, it was on a college visit. It was cold and dreary. And I liked the college but I thought I wanted to go really far away from my hometown. And Walla Walla, well, it was just 100 miles down the road.
THEME IN UNDER TRX
Four months later, I came again, to try and make a final decision. It was the end of April, and the winter wheat was bright green in the hills that surround the town. On campus, everyone was out playing frisbee or tennis or just laying around reading, and I liked that.
But what I remember liking most of all was what came after: we walked downtown, went to the old, creaky, wood-floored cafe that served soup and coffee and cookies, and then got milkshakes at The Ice-Berg, an old-fashioned drive-through with every shake flavor under the sun.
There were a lot of things that made me choose to go to school in Walla Walla, but the feeling of that day was one of them. I wanted to leave my own hometown in Idaho. But after visiting schools in big cities, it became clear to me that I actually wanted to be in a small town — just, you know, a small town that wasn’t my small town.
Walla Walla bewitches people. It’s magnetic, addictive — whether you come to attend one of the three colleges in town or just come for a weekend of wine-tasting, I know it sounds corny, but the town itself is intoxicating. Some of it is the downtown, which has been named “the cutest in the U.S.” and feels storybook and alive, filled with a curious mix of wineries and James Beard-award winning restaurants and seemingly endless breakfast options.
But it’s more than that, too: it’s still going to the Ice-Burg for a raspberry-pineapple milkshake, and going to lunch at a different taco truck every day, and running through the wheat fields that feel like they go on forever.
And while something things have changed — the number of wineries has explode from just under a dozen to well over 200 — so much has stayed the same. The buildings, the clock in the center of campus, the horse sculpture made of driftwood that my friends and I may or may not have ever rode naked and Mill Creek, running straight through town, and always filled with ducks.
Creek ambi + duck ambi
Plus… there’s the Farmer’s Market. Which has everything from soap and rose, to hard to find in the northwest Okra…
Okra tape: Do you get a lot of customers for okra? / Uh, I think we do. We typically sell out of it. / Really? / Yeah.
And the menu at my most favorite breakfast spot in town is the same as the last time I lived here, save for ONE NEW BREAKFAST SANDWICH.
Bacon & Eggs tape:
Anne: Um, I'm going to order my favorite thing in the whole world that I dream about all the time, which is the huevos con chorizo [cut] Thank you.
Michael: Could I do the migas with chorizo?
The guy you hear with me? That’s Michael. He grew up in Walla Walla, went to Whitman and now teaches music production there. There’s not a ton of producers in town but thankfully he was available to help record this with me. In a moment that felt so truly small town, we were out grabbing some downtown sounds when we ran into his wife, Leah – who also went to college with us – and their daughters.
Michael’s girls: Oh hi / hi / Daddy! / you look famous/ hey daddy!
I showed them some of my farmer’s market finds.
Squashes ambi with girls: I just got these for farmer's market, aren't they weird looking. /Yeah/ They look like alien squashes. /That one's really cool. /Yeah, I know. It has so many cool bumps.
I get emotional talking about Walla Walla because it’s a place that lives vividly inside me: I went to school there, I came back and taught there for two and a half years, if things went differently in my career, I probably would still be there. When my best friends and I go back, as we do every few years, there’s a moment, driving into town, when you know you’re close — you can see the Blue Mountains in the distance, you turn the dial to Power 99, and you know it’s all going to feel different and yet entirely the same.
[radio sfx under power 99]
And while this is true for a lot of people who went to college here — I also know it’s true for people who grew up here. Which is part of why I wanted to talk to my friend Michelle Morales, who, like Michael, also grew up in Walla Walla, went to college in Walla Walla, left Walla Walla — and has since returned, and is figuring out what it means to be a part of the community in a very different way.
EP INTRO
Now, Michelle is a very busy woman. She is the mother of two kids. She’s also in the midst of a campaign. She’s running for Walla Walla County Prosecuting Attorney. I caught her right before her 10am canvassing, chatting with her just a stone’s throw from Whitman College, where we both went.
INTERVIEW
[00:00:14] Anne: So we should also admit that you are not a stranger to me. . That is true. said, I know you. we didn't go to college together, per se. We weren't at college at the same time. But I actually first met you, when you were a waitress.
Michelle: Yes.
Anne: Before you started college and then, you became good friends with some of my good friends, and so I know you through a lot of that stuff.
[00:00:41] Michelle: Yes, that is true. Your group of friends came into our wonderful restaurant ELs Sombrero on a very regular basis for college students. and so you would come in every. You know, Friday or Saturday night, and that is how we first met. I was 16, 17 in high school and had no idea I would be going to Whitman in the next few years. But then we did and we kind of continued on.
[00:01:04] Anne: Yeah.And we're also in the same sorority.
[00:01:06] Michelle: That too.
[00:01:06] Anne: We have that, we have that in common. So what was it like growing up in Walla Walla? Because I think people who come here for college have an experience of Walla Walla that is very particular, very, um, centered around the college, like the actual physical space of the college, and then also like activities that kind of spiral out from there. But Walla Walla is very different, and I grew up in a town that's just exactly 100 miles away, so I know a lot of the texture, but I want to know what it was like.
[00:01:36] Michelle: So growing up in Walla Walla, you didn't actually, interact interact with Whitman at all. Whitman was, was the Whitman bubble we kind of called it.
[00:01:48] Anne: Yep, yep.
[00:01:50] Michelle: the town was, it was, uh, more conservative obviously. And so we were the townies and then the Whitmans were the whitties.
[00:01:56] Anne: and Whitman kids were like weirdos.
[00:01:57] Michelle: Yeah. We would drive around on weekends and for water balloons at them, . I mean, that's what we did, when we were in high school and able to drive. one of our friends, I don't know if you remember this, actually got a duck thrown at him.
[00:02:11] Anne: I just remember we used to get Slurpees thrown at us.
[00:02:13] Michelle: or those too. Yeah. so, you know, you grew up in this town that had this, kind of Disconnected identity in some respects because it had Whitman in one way and then it had the rest of the town. And it was a small town. We barely… I mean, we got a Starbucks when I was in high school. Yep. We had a beautiful downtown, but it was, older restaurants. And the old buildings. The
[00:02:32] Anne: The Bon Marche.
[00:02:33] Michelle: The Bon Marche.
[00:02:34] Anne: is a department store that used to be very popular in the Pacific Northwest. Yes.
[00:02:38] Michelle: And then it was Macy's.
Anne: Yes.
Michelle: And then now it's gone completely
[00:02:42] Anne: Really good dresses.
[00:02:44] Michelle: Yeah.
[00:02:45] Anne: for like homecoming.
[00:02:46] Michelle: Yes.
[00:02:47] Anne: Always 40% off.
[00:02:50] Michelle: Always. Always. And so it was kind of quiet, you know, you didn't, you have one high school and everybody went to the football games on Friday nights, and then you had, you know, two different middle schools. So it was just a very small town that kind of had a slower pace. Yes. You didn't always see all the other things that were going out – Happening in the world as much Yeah. As when what was going on with what you were doing as a small town.
[00:03:12] Anne: So I think sometimes now people who come to Walla Walla for the weekend to go wine tasting – because there are hundreds, actual hundreds of wineries – think of it as like a place that is almost kind of surprisingly fancy. But it was not like that when I went to college here. And it wasn't like that when you were growing up, right? Like what was the fanciest restaurant in town when you were growing up?
[00:03:32] Michelle: White House Crawford opened, I believe, when I was in high school because I did go there for homecoming, my sophomore year.
[00:03:38] Anne: So fancy.
[00:03:39] Michelle: So fancy. So that was obviously that realm of it. We used to have this other restaurant that I remember and it's now Core Restoration. But that building was a restaurant called Prime Cut. And I remember that being the fanciest restaurant. And you know why? Because it had a salad bar.
[00:04:00] Anne: That's like Bonanza, which also had a salad bar. I think they're very similar.
[00:04:04] Michelle: Yeah. And so that was where you could go get a steak. It was prime cut. Yeah. Um, but growing up, I think that was the fanciest restaurant that we had in town.
Anne: Right.
Michelle: And it closed probably in the nineties.
[00:04:53] Anne: I also think that people who come to Whitman or who come to wine taste probably think of Walla Walla as like a very white town. And it is not.
[00:05:04] Michelle: No, it is not. We are about 40% Latino right now. And it is a population that continues to grow because it's a farming community.
Anne: Yeah.
Michelle: And so we have a lot of that farm, labor through the Latino community that is just great, and really builds the diversity in this small town.
[00:05:21] Anne: Yeah, and I think that, the other thing that you realize, if you've been here for any amount of time, like the first taco truck I ever went to was in Walla Walla. Mm-hmm. The best Mexican food I personally think that I have had outside of Mexico Is in Walla Walla. Yeah. Like first thing I did last night was I went and got a burrito.
Michelle: Yeah.
Anne: From Yungapeti. The Walla Wall Sweet Burrito. Oh my gosh. It was so good. And I, and there's also a place that, there's just lots of different places in town where you can get really amazing food but you have to go a little bit off of like the beaten track of Main Street in order to access.
[00:05:54] Michelle: Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. And and Yungapti, you know, that was a truck taco truck originally, and then they were able to grow and now they're a restaurant, but there's still some of the originals, like Tinos tacos, El Taco Loco, La Monarcha.
Anne: Yeah.
Michelle: That started as taco trucks. That's. Still are taco tracks and you find them around the community and it is, it's the, it's the best place to get that authentic Mexican food.
Anne: and you can get a taco truck to like come to your birthday party.
Michelle: yes
Anne: It's just all I wanted —
Michelle: Yes you can
[00:06:21] Anne: So what was it like going to to Whitman? Going to the college, like to the fancy college and trying to bridge that division between like, this is the place where I live and where I still have a lot of friends and then also like here I am on campus, like living on campus, all that sort of thing.
[00:06:37] Michelle: So growing up here, I earned a scholarship to go to Whitman, which was amazing. And my friends were like, Wait, what? You're gonna stay? You're going where? And I was like, Yeah, I –
[00:06:47] Anne: Because people wanna get outta town, right? Even if it's just up to Pullman to go to Wazzu, Like whatever.
[00:06:52] Michelle: Yeah. They wanna get outta town because they eventually wanna come back for other reasons.
Anne: Yeah.
Michelle: But they wanna have that experience. And so I remember move day and my house was about a mile, two miles from the campus and it was such a weird experience to be, this is going to be my new home and me trying to say, Okay, I'm not gonna actually go home.
Anne: Yeah.
Michelle: Like I need to have that identity here in school.
Anne: Yep.
Michelle: And then when people found out I was actually grew up here, it was like, okay, so where do we go? Where do we go? Where do we go? And I was like, Mm. I didn't actually know how to explain my town to people who hadn't been here their whole lives.
[00:07:23] Anne: lives. Right, right, right, right.
[00:07:24] Michelle: Callie and I, the first week we of school, we were gonna go to a soccer game. I'd never been to the Whitman's soccer fields. I had no idea where they were, and I was like, Oh yeah, let's go. We'll just walk this way. We were lost.
[00:07:36] Anne: To be fair, I did not –wear– know where the new Whitman soccer fields were for a long time. Yeah. I was like, this, this is in some weird space, but like, yeah. I think that's, that's really interesting that people were like, Oh, you know, all the good restaurants, but also, Would it be weird Like you are coming in with the, like these new friends and old friends and it was just,
[00:07:55] Michelle: Well, and and then it was like I knew people everywhere I went.
Anne: Yes.
Michelle: And so, People were like, How do you know all these people? It's, it's Walla Walla. It's a small town. I grew up here. I worked at one of the biggest restaurants here. You know, so yeah. There was always just kind of that divide. And So when you make that merge, you're now a twittie. Yeah. Instead of just a townie and a wittie, you have to make that merge.
[00:08:15] Anne: when you graduated, This was in the mid two thousands in 2007. Did you wanna stay? What did you wanna do?
[00:08:23] Michelle: Well, I always knew I was going to go to law school. So I went to Seattle University School of Law, and I was there from 2009 to 2017 when we came back.
[00:09:09] Anne: So what pulled you to come back?
[00:09:11] Michelle: my husband and I had just had our first daughter. She was about nine months old, and I was commuting like three hours per bus every day
Anne: in Seattle.
Michelle: In Seattle. Cause I lived in Kirkland.
Anne: Wow.
Michelle: Which is still, it was only nine miles from Kirkland to downtown Seattle where I worked at the King County Prosecutor's office. And it just became too much. And so actually when I graduated from law school, a job opened up at the prosecutor's office in 2012 and I immediately applied and I actually did not get that job because the person who had left came back. . And so then we always knew that was kind of a potential for us to come back and, and start our family or raise our kids here. And so in 2016 when the job came back, my husband was working for a winery in Woodenville who actually was opening a tasting room in Walla Walla. And so it just looked like the stars were aligning for us. Yeah. And so I applied and was fortunate enough to get the position.
[00:10:04] Anne: So with my friends, like every time we come back for a reunion or whatever, , we all talk about how we're going to retire at this gorgeous retirement center called the Oddfellows Home. A retirement home here that has like these gorgeous columns. Like it looks like you're, I don't know, retiring in like Greece, somehow . Uh, but. . I think that everyone is on the same page about like, yes, we wanna come back and retire a place like Walla Walla, but also there's this incredible gravity to Walla Walla that I don't think people understand. So it, Can you explain that? Like what is it that draws people?
[00:11:04] Michelle: Well, and I think a lot of people have already started that, um, migration here to be honest. We have in the last….Well since Covid hit, our town has kind of had this influx of people coming from either retiring or realizing that this is a pretty special place and they wanna come back here and work remotely because now they can.
Anne: And real estate is still decent.
Michelle: Yeah.
Anne: It’s up.
Michelle: I mean it's, it's up, but it's, it's now coming back down.
Anne: Yeah.
[00:11:36] Michelle: and so I think what it is, is people are nice. People are friendly here. it's a beautiful space. It's just big enough where you can. have your own little niche, but also go out to the mountains we have Bennington Lake and and Park area that has all these trails on it. And it's just, the town has really improved on how its identity is. We've accepted the fact that we have now this wine destination that is drawing other people into our community. Yeah. But it's also, it's just when you get here, you kind of feel like the relaxation of being outside of a city.
Anne: Yes.
Michelle: and, and knowing that you can walk down the street in this beautiful downtown, get a cup of coffee, probably see a couple people that you know, but also just have this quietness in yourself. And I think that's what I found when I moved back. It was like you came back and you were settled.
Anne: Yeah. Yeah.
Michelle: And and I think it's just a really special feeling that people get when they're here.
[00:12:28] Anne: And Walla Walla downtown has won all of these awards. It's like cutest downtown in America, this sort of thing. And one thing I remember researching, trying to figure out, this is part of like a journalism project, trying to figure out why Walla Walla kept its cute downtown and my town, which is a similar size and also is a combination like agricultural. We also have a pulp mill, but like a very similar town in a lot of ways. Did not, similar to Walla Walla, we had a mall come in away from the downtown in the eighties. Right. And that pulled the center of gravity of the town away from where it had previously been.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Anne: But I know that like Walla Walla made some decisions, like as a, a governing body that would keep some of those anchor stores like the Bon Marche Downtown.
[00:13:17] Michelle: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:18] Anne: And as a result you just, you still have like this downtown, It's right next to the college too, which is also important because you get that foot traffic from students who oftentimes don't have a car and there's nothing else that they can do except for like walk to the grocery store in downtown, but then also people who are visiting, who are staying downtown, all that sort of thing that allows the downtown to stay really vibrant. But I also remember…you were in high school. It was my first year of college when the first Starbucks came in...and there was this incredible pushback. Like we don't want that big city stuff. We don't want a chain. It didn't help that they put in Starbucks right next to like the one coffee shop that was downtown.Yeah. But really interestingly, the Starbucks is still there and so is that other coffee shop and stuff is just continued to build around it.
Michelle: Yeah.
Anne: It's just like the downtown is pretty magical, but it, part of that is policy decision and part of that is happenstance.
[00:14:12] Michelle: Absolutely. And I think our city council has made it a priority to keep our downtown vibrant. I think that's what they want to do.
Anne: Yeah.
Michelle: And, and that's why it has grown in a way that doesn't necessarily expand it to, um, corporations, but expands it to that spawn business feel because that's what they want to keep. They wanna support our small businesses. So we have the Starbucks, but if you look that's the only big corporation that we have in our downtown.
[00:14:35] Anne: Totally.
[00:14:35] Michelle: And, and, and coffee Perk is still there and doing really well. And we have a few other coffee shops that are coming in. There's Cart who is actually a coffee truck right now that's gonna be getting a storefront, which is great.
Anne: There's the old school candy shop.
Michelle: Brights!
Anne: still there.
Michelle: Is still there. The cheese popcorn. Still the best. You know, and then we ha… we do have all the wineries that have come in and, and you know, we have the old building where merchants used to be, where then it was Olive and now it's AK Mercado. So it's, that building has changed businesses, but it's history is still there. And that has just been the work of the council to make sure that we keep that, you know, our mall that we first originally had died.
Anne: Yeah.
Michelle: and now they're re it's been rebuilt and doing really well with some of the other bigger stores that have come in. but it's still not gonna change. It's not going to change where the heart of the town is, and that is the downtown.
[00:15:24] Anne: Yep. Totally. Yeah. So, being in the prosecutor's office, like what does it feel like being part of the civic fabric of the city mm-hmm. in the way that you are?
[00:15:34] Michelle: Well, like I said, I made the decision to be a lawyer and a prosecutor quite young in my life, and it's been a really eye opening experience to another part of this town that I didn't have before. growing up here we have the Washington State Penitentiary, so that's always in the background. 13th, 13th, 13th Avenue, Like that's the address of the penitentiary.
[00:15:56] Anne: And people know. Cause it's in a sublime song too, right? Yes. Like when I first went to Walla Walla. Well, people know Walla Walla either because of that Sublime song which ages you or they know it because there's like a very famous Mike Burbiglia joke about the La Quinta.
[00:16:10] Michelle: Yeah. Where he walked off the, the balcony. Yes. Mm-hmm. . So, so, you know, we had that growing up, but, you know, I didn't really have to deal, fortunately for myself, with law enforcement as a child, uh, too much. And so, being able to be part of that process now it's just an eye opening experience to where our our town back in the nineties, early two thousands until where it can be now. Our town really does wanna do a lot of good things in the criminal justice system, and so I'm, I'm happy to be part of that. Mm-hmm. and see that change happening in our, in our community.
[00:16:43] Anne: What sort of changes?
[00:16:44] Michelle: Washington State last year, the Supreme Court ruled that our, um, simple possession crime statute was unconstitutional. So anybody that had been convicted of simple possession, their, their convictions were vacated because they wanted to focus more on how do we deal with this endemic of addiction and substance abuse. This is happening over and over again. Putting people in jail is not the answer because it's not helping what the underlying pro- problem is. Yeah, and so, since I came back in 2017, I've been part of the Adult Recovery Court, which has been a really rewarding part of this job. As a prosecutor, people always think that your main goal is to put people in jail. And, and that's just not simply the truth. The main goal is to hold people accountable for things that they've done and help them.
Anne: Mm-hmm. .
Michelle: And, and so being part of the Adult Recovery Court program has been a really rewarding experience because we get to see these people who, at the beginning, they don't wanna do treatment because the treatment is the hard part. Right. Overcoming that addiction is the hard part. Right. But then seeing them when they graduate mm-hmm. a couple weeks ago, we have now these monthly.] like check-ins with our graduates. And one of them came up to me and we were talking about her life and where she is, and she's like caregiver now for her father-in-law and her husband is still working construction. And she was just talking about how, I'm trying to get him to find a new job. He really needs to work. Think about his, you know, insurance and things like that. She's, –he doesn't even have a 401k. And I stopped her and I said, You just said 401k to me, and she was like, I know. And this is a woman who had spent most of her life in jail or prison.
Anne: Wow.
Michelle: Who had lost her children, who before we got her into the adult recovery court program, would've spent another seven years in prison.
Anne: Wow.
Michelle: we got her through our program in two years, but she was such a different person, and so that. Such a realization of how much it works. Mm-hmm. , just to help people overcome this abuse, substance abuse issue, rather than we can throw them in jail. So some of those changes are happening. It's a slow process, but we're really working on it and it's just really great to be part of it.
[00:18:40] Anne: So explain to me, I, I guess I don't actually understand this. So when you run for prosecutor, you're running for like the head of the prosecution Department. Like the boss of prosecuting attorneys. And you're running for that right now, and you're the first woman Latina, who's ever run for that position.
Michelle: Yes, that is correct.
Anne: What has that campaign been like? you know, there are, there are yard signs all over the place. Like we are a month, less than a month out.
[00:19:07] Michelle: 30 days. I always knew that this was a possibility in my career path and Jim Nagle, who has been in the office and they are elected for 30 plus years.
Anne: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: finally announced as retirement. And so it was an opportunity to say, why not now?I made the decision to announce my candidacy back in April and we have been pushing forward since it has been one of these campaigns where, I think statistically, women of color have to be asked seven times before they will agree to run.
Anne: Yeah.
Michelle: Because it is such a hard process for a woman of color. And I would say I have experienced that here as much. Walla Walla is mainly a Republican county. Yep. But it is turning more purple as we like to call
[00:19:52] Anne: it. Mm-hmm.
[00:19:53] Michelle: And we have a very strong, democratic, committee here that has helped. I did. in Walla Walla County, the prosecutor's race is partisan.So I did have to announce as a Democrat. it's also been really great to have a lot of support. Yeah. I have old teachers that I had from, middle school to high school, elementary school that have contacted me since I've announced my candidacy and said, We are so proud of you.
Anne: Yep.
Michelle: And we always knew that this was something that you could do. Yeah. so that has been a really, really rewarding experience and to have my daughter see this. And watch me go through this experience has been amazing. So at the end of the day, it is, I want it so bad and I'm fighting so hard because I know it's the right thing to do for this county.
[00:21:21] Anne: Yeah. Oh, well I was gonna add too, I saw the other day, a letter of support for you as a candidate from a woman who happens to be the head of one of the first wineries here. And also one of the first woman to be a regional president, I think of the Fed, right?
[00:21:36] Michelle: yes. Mm-hmm.
[00:21:37] Anne: and also happens to be in our sorority.
[00:21:38] Michelle: Yes
[00:21:40] Anne: but like 20 years before us. Yes. but it was just cool, like, you know, I love that you can see support from the people that you. New here as an elementary school kid, and then also people that know you as a part of the community as an adult, right?
[00:21:55] Michelle: Yes. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And that is, you know, that line where you, I still called my teachers by, you know, Mrs. So-and-so, and they were like, You have to stop.
[00:22:04] Anne: Oh, I still do that.
[00:22:05] Michelle: You are now in a part of your, your life where we are on the same page. And I'm like, Mm, I don't
[00:22:10] Anne: No, no, no.
[00:22:12] Michelle: But yeah. and I say this a lot, this community helped raise me. This community made me who I am. And so, being able to come back and, and show what this community can do for a young Latina woman that was raised mainly by a single mom, it's, it's pretty amazing. And it just shows how great this place could be.
[00:22:30] Anne: So can you describe the feeling of driving into Walla?
[00:22:34] Michelle: There's like almost two feelings now because we have the new highway that kind of changed it. So once you kind of get past the new highway part, so you, you're past kind of all the college place exits and you're driving and you're looking for second, Avenue exit because that's the one you always want. And then you turn, you, you see it, and then you see the Marcus Whitman still coming on your right.
[00:22:54] Anne: It's a grand like old hotel that was empty for a lot of, you know, when we were here that they rehabbed and now is just like this beautiful grand hotel.
[00:23:03] Michelle: Yeah. It's also the tallest building that we have in Walla Walla is the Marcus Whitman, which
[00:23:08] Anne: it's like three stories, four stories.
[00:23:09] Michelle: I wouldn't say it's it's very tall. and I still do to this day. I always get that feeling that. I'm coming home. Yeah. Like that is my beacon of, I've made it back to Walla Walla and I've made it back to my home. This will always be my home, regardless of whatever happens else in my life. But, it's, like I said before, it's just that feeling of calm that you get and settledness when you're in this small little town.
[00:23:32] Anne: I, I get that feeling too, even though I didn't grow up here, but I went to college here and then came back here and taught for a while and have known it in different iterations, but, each season has a different feel to it too, because it's wheat fields that surround the town. And so there's just incredible feel like the, of the wheat coming up in spring. Like it just feels lush, and verdant, and these rolling hills that seem to go on forever. And then those fields get harvested and it's just this bright, dry golden color.
MIchelle: Yeah.
Anne: And then you also get all the like dust from the harvest plus smoke in the west and just the incredible sunsets. I drove here and just incredible sunset last night.
[00:24:13] Michelle: You know, I remember being in Seattle and you would get great sunsets over the sound.
Anne: It’s not the same.
MIchelle: but You never saw the stars.
Anne: Yeah.
MIchelle: And that was one of the things that I, I noticed the most when I moved over to Seattle in 2009. I looked up and I was like, Where am I? And, and then you can, you come home and you take a look at night and you can see all the stars and you kind of don't realize how much that impacts you as. As an adult, as a kid, as anything. You know, my kids love to go outside at night and see the moon. Yeah. My son loves the moon and he always asks like, How come I cannot get to moon? You know, and, and things like that. And so you, you miss that in a city that you just, it's, it's a feeling of comfort in a small town.
[00:25:03] Anne: Totally.
MIDROLL
Anne: how does your advice change on where people should go?
[00:25:07] Michelle: Oh.
[00:25:08] Anne: in town. Okay. Depending on the person. What have you noticed in yourself? Like when someone if it's a bougie Seattleite, does that change yes.
[00:25:16] Michelle: I would say if it's a bougie Seattleite, I don't necessarily tell them all the like, hidden gems in town. I'm not gonna send them to, you know, my favorite spots because I don't want them to be known . Um,
[00:25:29] Anne: one time I told someone to go to the Worm ranch, which is a taco place. . It also is a convenience store, um, and sells worm for bait. Is that right
[00:25:37] Michelle: Yeah. I, yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:25:39] Anne: And, and they were like, what is wrong with you? I was like, No, trust me. Yeah. but yeah. But what do you tell 'em?
[00:25:46] Michelle: if it's like a food recommendation,I will tell them to stay downtown. I do think there's really good restaurants downtown that I think will also. Satisfy their palate. Yeah. if it's somebody that's I know has been here a couple times and really wants to get deep down, I will send them to the Taco tracks. I will send them to La Monarcha, Mi Pueblito, but, The beauty of it is, is, is all of our new places and old places make up what Walla Walla is about. And so, I may not give them my favorite places per se if it's they're just a tourist passing through because I want them to come back. So if those other places bring them back and then they get to explore some other parts of the town, then, you know, that's, the best part of it.
[00:26:44] Anne: Yeah, totally. I love to that like, A lot of people stay in the hotels when they come, but a lot of people stay in houses like different rental houses, which forces you to be out in the neighborhoods and like really see the parts of Walla Walla that are not, not every single part of Walla Walla, but like you get a sense. You get a feel for. beyond the, the main strip of town.
[00:27:04] Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. And, and they're throughout. I mean, Walla Walla is not very big. You can get anywhere in 10 minutes. Easily. So even if you're on the south side of Walla Walla, you're gonna be able to get downtown in 10 minutes easily. So it doesn't matter. And so you just, you really get to experience those, these old neighborhoods. and most of the Airbnbs are in older houses too, which is kind of fun. so that's been a really good for us.
[00:27:49] Anne: Just like a tiny anecdote that I always loved about Walla Wallas. So, Pioneer Park was designed by the Olmstead brothers who designed Central Park and many, a ton of other parks all over the United States and, and that is very cool and part of why the park feels cool, but it also has an aviary.
Michelle: Yes.
Anne: That has all of these different birds. And I remember it was like in the later two thousands, maybe 2000 tens, like it was falling into disrepair. Yeah. And would've like, I think in a lot of cities, they would've been like, Well, we can't afford to house these exotic anymore so we're gonna get rid of it. But they did a fundraising raising campaign and saved it, and now it's like even cooler than it ever has
[00:28:31] Michelle: Yeah. So the town banded together and raised funds to keep the aviary and improve it. Yeah. And so they have done that and it is a beautiful aviary. A few years ago we actually had somebody break in and and harm several of our birds in the aviary. And it was quite disturbing. The town was very upset. Rightfully so. Yeah. Because they had worked so hard to preserve this part of our, of the park. but they also, again, once again, were fighting for that aviary and it's been, it's so beautiful. There's, you know, the, the concrete paths in between. Anytime you go there, there is somebody caring for those birds. they had a turtle, I don't know if they still do, but they had a turtle, like a giant tortoise this summer that just, I mean, he would come out and he was just real slow.
[00:29:17] Anne: There's also, I saw, today there is a new sign that a Boy Scout, probably an Eagle Scout put together as part of his Eagle Scout project that has, the trees in Walla Walla and specifically in the park that are the oldest in the state.
[00:29:31] Michelle: Uhhuh.
[00:29:31] Anne: And we have a bunch in like the top two and three and there's this gorgeous old tree that had, one of those limbs, you know, that goes out like really like extended out and kids would play on it all the time cuz it was pretty close to the ground. and it broke. And again, you could like just cut it off and like have it just be a very simple thing on the part of the parks department. But it was a really beloved play structure for, for children and they, created a sculpture
Michelle: Yeah.
Anne: To replace it. So there's like a, a bronze appendage Yeah. To this tree. And I just, I love that idea of like, this is a park that has been here in Walla Walla since its height, right. when it was an incredibly wealthy wheat baron town right in the early 1900s, and it's gone through many iterations now. Like, you know, a lot of the, the farming has transformed from wheat to, to wine and to grapes. but you can add on and, and still make it special. Like maintain that specialness.
[00:30:30] Michelle: Yeah. And that's, and that's really so great about this community too, is is those old structures. I mean, that was Pioneer Park, That's the first thing you did. You ran to the tree and you played on it. Yeah. A lot of family pictures are taken on that tree. Yeah. To do the line of the generations, you know? And, and one of our local artists was able to preserve that because we all know how important some of those landmarks are for this community. Yeah. And they really wanted to preserve it.
[00:32:22] Anne: I love that. I have this thing that whenever I go home and read , the local newspaper mm-hmm. which is like a lot of lo local newspapers kept alive by the high school sports section. I just love looking at the last names. Because I'm like, Yep. I know who their parents are. And their parents. And their parents. Right. Because it's like everyone that I went to high school with. Yeah. And those last names just stay the same.
Anne: Yep.
Anne: You're like, That looks familiar to me.
[00:32:44] Michelle: Or my, my high school teachers that were just starting out who then had kids while I was still there, and now their kids are graduating from from high school, you know, and moving on, you know, my track coach, I just saw one of his sons now just turned 18, and I was like, Oh my God, what? So, but it's, it's just that generational… that just keeps going.
[00:33:03] Anne: You know, people sometimes call Walla Walla, like the new Napa. Like how many wineries because of the way that climate change is working and and affecting the grapes and that sort of thing. But it will never become the new Napa because the closest major airport is three hours away. Right?
Michelle: Yeah.
Anne: Like there's just no, like there is one flight
Michelle: Yeah.
Anne: That comes into Walla Walla proper every day.
[00:33:28] Michelle: Every day. And that was like a stretch for the one flight. Yes. Yeah.
[00:33:31] Anne: They have to like subsidize it. Yeah. In order to keep them flying it in. And I think that's part of what like has kept its charm, right. Is like it's still really far from basically everything. Yeah.
[00:33:41] Michelle: But it's, it's almost like an oasis cuz if you're at Tri-Cities, which is only 45 minutes away, right? So it's just a small place we get to call home and we're so fortunate to call home.
[00:34:26] Anne: Thank you so much. Thank you for hanging out with me here in our favorite place, and I hope that we will see each other retired at the Oddfellows home. Yes. Together. Yes,
[00:34:36] Michelle: absolutely. (laughs)
OUTRO
On my way out of Walla Walla, I had to make a final stop. To the aviary.
AVIARY AMBI
And it’s this incredibly tranquil place. Where you can stare at white peacocks or of course there are geese and ducks and all sorts of different birds.
AVIARY AMBI
I’m so glad the people of Walla Walla banded together to save it. Because it’s just one of the many things that make it special here…
THEME IN
Next week, we’re hearing from folks who aren’t in small towns yet but they’re contemplating the move. Some are in the exploratory phase, weighing their options, while others have given themselves a hard deadline of 6 months and need to sort it out soon.
END CREDITS
Townsizing is produced by Neon Hum Media for HGTV. You can follow our show wherever you get your podcasts. If you like the show, we'd love it if you could take a second to leave us a review on Apple podcasts. It helps other folks find the show. I’m Anne Helen Petersen and if you see me online or in real life, be sure to give me that small town wave.
THEME OUT