I mean look at what happened in Bend Or. and Wenatchee has 5X the potential of Bend.. other than Bend has a better ski mountain.   

With out the hard trek up the mountain I would not have the view I currently do. 

I encourage you to read the book "Mover of Men and Mountains".

Not overly mountainous  but nice forests and hiking available.

There are so many different ways to attempt to climb that mountain (and a million mistakes/roadblocks that could be avoided by paying a Sherpa)!

This is helping me in the Smoky Mountains.

@Nathan G.I think you would like " Mover of men and mountains" by RG Letournou.Rather poorly written compared to say a Grisham novel but I found the content excellent.He was a Christian business man /inventor who went broke several times and always came back strong.His wikepedia page is fascinating too.

People like to live near oceans, mountains, and beautiful landscapes.  

But I have to take some kind of action now, or I'm going to be stuck with a mountain of student debt and child care costs that are as much as a second mortgage (without the rental income!).  

If you like the heat, move to Florida or Nevada; need to be near the mountains, Colorado is lovely; never want to have to drive a car again and don't mind living in a shoe box, Manhattan awaits.