[Mass_nerder]

I literally just moved from Calgary to Vernon 2 months ago.
Graduated with a Master of Architecture, but there's not much going on in Calgary, so I had to get out.

I don't have any experience with schools as my kid is only a month old, but so far so good! The weather is great; partly cloudy and 6-7° today, with all the leaves still on the trees and slowly turning yellow and red. The end of August and into September was pretty toasty, but almost every place I looked at to live had AC.
Rent is pretty comparable to Calgary, but rental stock is a lot smaller, so there wasn't a huge variety of choices (although we found a 3 bedroom place we're happy with for under $2000/month). Also, a lot of places either don't allow kids, or don't allow pets, so that made things a little more difficult as well.
I haven't been here long enough to know which communities to avoid, but I've heard 24th Street is pretty sketchy.

Shopping options are limited (housewares, clothing etc...) So you'll have to go to Kelowna if you want a little more variety, but there are plenty of grocery stores etc... There's also not much of a core, and there's a pretty big homeless population, but I haven't had any bad experiences.

Vernon has access to Kalamaka and Okanagan Lake which is nice obviously, and there are tons of hiking trails, and biking nearby.

Overall, I've definitely enjoyed Vernon so far.