My cousin and her family have just moved from Seattle (boo hoo - nowhere to stay in Seattle now!) to a small town near the Idaho border called Pullman. As I know nothing about Pullman, I was hoping some of you could let me know a little about it. If I went to visit, what could we do? Any good shopping or restaurants? What is the overall vibe like?
Very small town. Pullman is the town that exists around Washington State University, so it’s pretty eclectic, but it’s in the middle of nowhere. A really pretty nowhere, about five hours from Seattle. Lot’s of cool thirft stores and a few neat little books stores nestled around.
My sister-in-law and her husband lived in Pullman while they attended WSU.
To give you an idea of the size, it was exciting to drive to Moscow, Idaho for a change of scenery – about 15 minutes away. Spokane is a couple of hours away, so a doable day trip.
They do have a lentil festival, though.
I’m sure Pullman has grown since I lived there in 1985-1987 as a student, but it was then, and surely is now, still quite a small town. In the summer when the wheat is ripe, the whole area smells like baking bread. Summers are hot and dry, winters are brittle cold with some snow, and the wind seems to blow constantly. I loved Pullman. I had a group of friends who would sometimes walk, at 1 in the morning, down the hill to Daylight Donuts…
Ahhh, reminiscences. 
GO COUGS!!!..ahem…
As someone mentioned it’s an awfully small town. Are they moving there to go to school or what?
But it’s a college town. One of the few “college towns” left in the PAC-10. UW is in Seattle. Corvallis and Eugene are some of the fastest growing areas on the west coast. Pullman is still out in the middle of nowhere.
Also, as a college town you have to remember…it’s geared towards college folk. There’s huge possibilities if you’re ordering pizza, maybe not so much if you’re looking for a steak.
What is there to DO? Not much. WSU gets a reputation for being a party school partially since there really isn’t much ELSE to do around town. There’s a movie theater, a bowling alley, a small card room, other than that bars are about it.
Good places to eat. Had some great food at Bella Dolci downtown (on Main) last time I was there. Highly recommend that place. The Fireside Grill (on Bishop) is supposed to be the nice new place, but I’ve heard mixed reviews. I think Basillios downtown is kinda overrated too. Sellas is a Pullman tradition. Food is so-so but students swear by it.
As far as the bar scene, my favorite is Ricos (right across the street from Bella Dolci and Basillios). No nonsense, no TVs (to my knowledge), you go there to have a drink and hang out. During the school year students and faculty from the music college play some jazz music on a pretty regular basis there.
Plenty of other options if you’re into the more lively scene though. I think Valhalla is still there (it’s on campus on Colorado). They’ve got half the campus torn up to expand so I can’t be sure if it’s still there or not though (I will withhold my fury on this subject :mad: ) The Coug is a classic dive. Right next to Valhalla
Shopping? None. You have to do all that in Moscow.
Yeah…Pullman’s like a second home to me. I’d move back there in a second, no matter HOW boring the summers are with no students. 