Hey all you friendly, curious, adventurous, horse lovin people! Did you know Carnation has a great Equestrian facility in Lake Joy Estates?  The drive to this property is 10 – 15 minutes from downtown Carnation or Duvall and requires one to cruise part way around Lake Joy before detouring from the main path.  I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the residents of this area take the breathtaking lake and mountain views for granted when seeing them each day, but for me personally, it put me in a tranquil mood and set me up for some great expectations.

Regarding expectations, Nancy Pearson’s “Thundering Hooves Stables” does  deliver!  It is situated on a 20 acre piece of property surrounded by miles and miles of lush landscape. Moss Lake is nearby with trails surrounding it as well as trails leading to the pipeline, which literally  enable a rider to go on for days if they were to so choose. Not only does Nancy’s place make it possible so people won’t have to trailer out to enjoy great trail riding, she has a state of the art facility which includes one covered indoor arena (120 x 60) as well as an outdoor arena (160 x 80) with nice footing.  So regardless of whether a horse lovers interests are varied, or the focus is on one particular discipline, riders are not really limited here at Thundering Hooves .                                                                             

Nancy and her daughter Nicole are the horse crazy members of the family. They are active participants in 4H and love to engage in gaming and showing competitions. They have six horses, three of which are lesson horses.  Nancy offers lessons on these or on ones own horse. Her fee is reasonable at $35 for an hour long lesson.  Nancy provides instruction in Natural Horsemanship, Western Gaming, Western Pleasure, Western Equitation and Beginning English Riding.

Not only is  Thundering Hooves a great place to board your horse, there is currently a vacancy and if demand increased, she has plenty of room and may consider adding on more  stalls.  Board runs $500/month and this includes feed (grain and orchard grass or alfalfa hay),  stalls and paddocks cleaned (twice daily), routine worming, and blanketing.  Each stall is open and has a turnout run so horses here do not remain confined to their stall when not being played with by their owners. Thundering Hooves has a huge tack room, a bathroom (instead of a sani-can or porta-potty like some places), a wash rack with cross ties having both hot and cold water, 3 different pastures for grazing turnout.  The pastures get reseeded each Spring and at the time of this blog, grass is still coming in (growing tall in places and becoming denser).  Spring and summer, horses are usually out to pasture part of the day, during their ‘leisure time.’

Nancy’s arenas are available to rent for clinics and may be available if there are those w/ horses off site who may want a place to ride during rainy months.  Arena usage haul in fees are $10 . If you’d like more information please contact Nancy by email at nancysmagic@yahoo.com. If you may be interested in finding a property like hers for yourself, well I’d love to help and would be a great Realtor to assist with that!

View from Harbour Homes New Construction Plat in Duvall - Cherry Hill Vista

Ok, I feel compelled to blog on this topic not only because my family and I have made it home and love living here, but also I think many may have some misconceptions about Duvall and Carnation.

Woodinville/Duvall Rd

I remember when my husband moved here from Hawaii before the boys and I did, he temporarily took up residence with his Auntie in Sea Tac.  He regularly watches the news and when we’d talk on the phone, I remember him saying, like I was’ lolo’ or something (Hawaiian slang for stupid), “you want to buy a home in Snohomish????? It floods there.” Well duh, in many places where you find rivers, when there  can be  an exceptional amount of rain in a short period of time, quick snow melt, or a combination of the two, rivers are prone to spill over their banks! However, Washington is not a flat state and the majority of builders – or those who independently build or have built homes – don’t do so next to a river!

About to Cross the 124th Bridge, Headed Toward Redmond

Incidentally, we didn’t end up buying in my childhood town of Snohomish but made home on King counties eastside.  I’m not trying to deny we had flooding in January of 2009, which rendered residents landlocked for a day. I’ve lived in Duvall for  5 years now, and this occurred one other time since then and that was in November 2006; we were again landlocked for a day. (There are basically three thorough fares in and out).  So what’s the big deal? Who doesn’t want an excuse to take an unexpected day off now and then and not have the reason be associated with illness?

The Big, Bad, Scary River ending of April, 2009.

One thing people may not realize about this part of east King county…Duvall and Carnation are both 20 minutes from downtown Redmond; Duvall is tops, 25 minutes from downtown Woodinville; 35 minutes from downtown Issaquah (Carnation is 25 minutes from Issaquah).  Lots of people have decided to make it home because of the warm, smaller town atmosphere and sense of community. The other thing which is significant to mention is people can get more for their money when it comes to purchasing real estate. We have good schools and the lowest crime rate in the county.  It may be wise to consider taking up residency in The Snoqualmie Valley…especially if one appreciates outdoor recreation. I appreciate my field trips into the Emerald City and it only takes 45 minutes to get there.

From the opposite side of the valley, headed up Novelty Hill Rd into Redmond

Carnation is a suburb of Seattle with a population of 1,905 and 1.2 square miles in size. The small, rural city is located along the SR-203 in Snoqualmie Valley and borders Fall City, Duvall, and Woodinville. Carnation attracts newcomers with a variety of real estate, from large homes on acreage for under $1,000,000, some smaller homes for under $500,000, farmland with barns and affordable manufactured homes. As of Jan 2008 the median home price for sale is at $675,000. Most of the residents work outside of Carnation, as commutes to Seattle take only around 30 minutes west and to Redmond, 15 minutes.

Carnation, named in honor of the Carnation Milk Products Company, has the lowest crime rate in King County. Though a large number of residents are families, there are quite a few singles in the city as well. The Carnation Farmer’s Market, held in the heart of Downtown Carnation, is held every Tuesday from 3PM-7PM from the beginning of May to late September.

Carnation Schools

Carnation is in the Riverview School District which consists of 4 elementary schools: Carnation Elementary, Cherry Valley Elementary, Eagle Rock Multi-Age, and Stillwater Elementary, a single middle school: Tolt Middle School, and a single high school: Cedarcrest High School.