Exactly. B'ham is a beautiful town, with very much a "small town" atmosphere. Yes, it is a college town, so there are college kids around. So what? We were all there once as well. Just living there, recreating near there, or driving through there doesn't mean you're going to be affected in any way by these scary creatures and their youthful politics or ideals. Some folks just need to give it a rest... life is not always about politics.
I've actually considered moving up into that area in my retirement. It's just far enough from the Puget Sound megalopolis of Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia to be mostly free of that area's crazy traffic, although it can get busy on weekends as folks from that megalopolis flock up there to get away. It's near Mt. Baker, which has wonderful skiing (so I'm told, I don't ski), it's right on Puget Sound, and it has some of the best driving roads in Western Washington, for those Porschephiles among us...
Some of my most memorable backpacking trips have been in the mountains just east of there, there is great fly fishing, lots of off roading in Jeeps or on dirt bikes, mountain biking, great road cycling roads - it goes on and on. If you enjoy any form of outdoor recreation, it would be a wonderful place to live.
So, yeah, there is a lot to recommend it. I think it's one of the nicer areas in Western Washington. I wouldn't hesitate to move there - like I said, I've even considered it. A good buddy in the R Gruppe built a beautiful home on Lake Samish, which isn't really "in" B'ham, but it's very close. He loves it up there. I love going to his place up there...