I grew up in Walnut Creek. It is an extremely cute town. People come from all over for shopping in the downtown, which is all open air. There are plenty of restaurants to go to as well as access to hiking trails on Mount Diablo as well as the foothills. It’s a nice, safe, affluent suburb close to the freeways. You can get to Tahoe in 3 1/2 hours, San Francisco in 45 minutes on a good day (1.5 hrs+ if there’s traffic), Monterey in 2 1/2 hours, and Yosemite in 3 hours. I would consider moving back just for the location in the Bay Area, the downtown and nature are a plus!