We live in University Place, which is South of Seattle, between Tacoma and Gig Harbor. It is 45 minutes to the airport from here and there are buses that run straight there.
Our schools are excellent, with a lot of parent volunteers and great activities - PJ movie nights, carnivals, ice cream sundae socials, concerts, plays, community gardens, etc, etc. There is a community college (TCC) within walking/biking distance, and high school juniors & seniors can attend classes there free (running start program). The high school has a ton of AP classes as well as a lot of art programs and sports. The elementary and middle schools have music every day, PE, arts, and lots of after school enrichment options (my son just took advanced robotics in 6th grade). There are a lot of options for gifted students, as well as great support for students needing more help.
The town is very walkable, has a great library with oodles of community activities, the fire station hosts parties a few times a year ( they cook hot dogs for everyone), there are multiple festivals during the year and a parade in June, plus we have a Apple Cider festival where you can make homemade Cider in a park (which is a huge Apple Orchard... Pretty cool park).
The town has a lot of parks, nice bike trails, is on the sound, is 15 minutes drive to PT Defiance zoo/park, a mile walk to a rollerskating ring, jungle gym, and lots of other kid friendly entertainment.
Houses range from $250k for a nice 3 bedroom with good sized yard, to $$$!!! for a mansion on the waterfront. It's a mature town so lots of big trees. There is a nice mix of socio-economic groups and it's pretty diverse ethnically (for Washington).
I love our town, but I have to say the schools here are amazing. We've been in several other school districts and they can't compare.