Mid size outdoorsy cities

We’re a mid 30s recently married couple who are currently located in Utah and are looking to move away within the next couple of years. We are hoping/planning to have 1-2 kids starting as soon as possible. The goal is to find somewhere we can buy a house for the long haul and to raise our family in. We are lucky to have a good bit of equity in our current home. It’s a small house and we’ll want to upsize when our family grows, but not necessarily here. We don’t have family help for childcare anywhere, so that’s not a factor.

We’ve researched, discussed, and visited many places but would love suggestions or feedback from people who have lived in some of these cities. Non-negotiables are western half of US, excellent access to outdoor recreation (we hike/peak bag, mountain bike, cross country ski and downhill ski), dog friendly trails (preferably some off leash options), and not a naturally treeless low desert (no Phoenix or Vegas). We’d prefer a small to medium sized city, say 100-500k, and are keeping projected resiliency to climate change in mind. Salt Lake City’s air pollution and potential worsening environmental issues as the great salt lake dries out are part of the reason for wanting to relocate. 4 season climate a plus. Politically moderate a plus though it seems hard to find these days. My husband is remote and will make the same salary no matter where he is based. I am a healthcare worker and should be able to find a job most places, though wages and exact degree of opportunity vary with location. I also prefer locum/PRN work to maintain control of my schedule, which becomes less reliable to find in small towns. Most of the places we like are at least medium COL, but we’re trying to stay out of very high COL areas since our salaries won’t increase commensurately.

We’re considering: Missoula, MT - have spent a decent chunk of time there and love it. I would make a significantly lower wage there and it’s no longer cheap to live, but the public land access, 4 season climate, and small city size with the culture/resources of a college town are all pluses. We like the city better than Bozeman, Helena, and Kalispell.

Bellingham, Olympia, and Vancouver, WA- These are on the list because they are far enough from Seattle/Portland to have lower COL and feel like distinct cities (maybe less so for Vancouver) and have the PNW forests and natural beauty. I’ve lived in Oregon and like the PNW climate well enough, husband has not and isn’t sure about the gray/snowless winters. I’ve lined up short term travel work in all of them this winter so that we can try them out.

Anchorage suburbs or the Matsu valley in AK - we spent this summer in Alaska and loved it We need to spend winter time there before really considering relocating there.

Lower on the list: Anywhere on the front range of CO - an obvious choice, but a little too big and some of the worst wages compared to COL for my work. The mountain towns are either too small or too expensive.

Spokane, WA - not as cheap as it used to be, good access to mediocre outdoor recreation, have to drive to ID/MT/Cascades for better mountains and trails, higher crime/less charming city (don’t hurt me if you love it there!)

Bend, OR - expensive, fairly isolated, but nice

Flagstaff, AZ - slightly small, the ponderosa forest is nice but not as into the surrounding desert.

Any feedback from people who live or lived in those areas and have similar interests? Any other areas we should scope out? There’s no urgent need to move, but right now we have a camper van and travel work opportunity which makes it easy to scope out possible locales. We figure that this sort of travel will be much more difficult with young children, hence the serious consideration now.