pz

Yeah, north of Seattle is the Burlington-Edison school district, where the infamous Roger DeHart tried to peddle creationism in the public schools. Seattle itself is, of course, home to the Discovery Institute, a truly wretched bunch of villainous scumbags.

Otherwise, though, it's a great place. I grew up there, and may be making a visit this summer. The biggest negative to living there is the traffic: everything is bottled up in a north-south corridor, and they've really done a relatively poor job of supporting mass transit (although I understand that is changing, out of necessity). The last time I visited my home town (Kent, south of Seattle), it was miserable -- it's nothing but a choke point for through traffic between Boeing plants.

Corwin

Seattle, to put it bluntly, doesn't live up to its PR.

PZ... I lived in Kent for almost two years. I couldn't get out fast enough.

Seattle likes to think of itself as very hip and trendy and lefty and liberal and enlightened.... with repressive blue laws, horrible mass transit, and even worse traffic. It rains constantly. I'm from Oregon.... and Seattle was too much rain for me. On top of that, the housing market is, to put it bluntly, obscene. The problem is that there are a HUGE amount of Californians who are forcing up housing prices by paying obscene amounts for houses they rarely spend any time in. (It's a tax shelter. Hence you end up with people making 4000/mo house payments. As a result, 20% of houses in the Seattle area are $280,000 or less.)

I ran back to Portland. Fast. Beyond that I'm considering either staying here, running home to Eugene, or moving to New Orleans.

ex-idaho

Aquavita, as a former Texan myself I can vouch for Seattle. It is a great city with alot of culture, great restaurants and every form of entertainment out there. It does have some big downsides though. It is expensive (up there with LA, SF, NY), it does get alot of grey days (not really rain but no sun to speak of) and it is crowded.

The Northwest if by far the best region in the country as far as quality of life goes. I live in Spokane currently which is very depressed and is really the armpit of the region. Portland is very nice and has a great mild climate and offers about the same lifestyle as Seattle but for a little less money. You may want to look at Everett, Wa which is just north of Seattle or one of the other suburbs.

I personally prefer Boise, ID of every other city in the region. Its smaller so it dosen't suffer from the crowding and traffic. It is very culturally astute sue to its large white collar workforce population. If host dozens of world class restaurants. It has a pretty good ski resort just 16 miles from downtown. The weather is excellent with over 275 days of sun a year, a average summer high of 89 and a winter low of 39. It is was also ranked 2nd best business climate in the US and is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Boise.org

pz

Yeah, once upon a time, way back in the early 1960s, it was a nice small town with good fishing and pleasant little family farms all around. Then it grew in ugly ways. They tore down the theater and put up a bank. They turned the farms into parking lots. By the time I was in high school, it was regarded by everyone as a soulless horror, a gutted, uninteresting suburb with nothing but banks, gas stations, and parking lots. I was glad to get away, too. No! The rain was PERFECT!!! The rest is true. There is a solid foundation of lefty liberal people, but the way the place is governed...it's too strongly dominated by a few big corporations, like Boeing and Microsoft. The WTO affair was a perfect example of the Seattle culture: a liberal activist population held in check by goose-stepping Republican clones.My family moved south to Auburn (more gas stations, banks, and parking lots, with the added joys of a multitude of car dealerships) as the price bloat expanded. The one good bit of news is that my parents bought a house at precisely the right time, picking it up for about $25K and now seeing its value somewhere up above $150K, and still climbing. Ah, Eugene is where I ran to after Seattle. Nice place. It was showing some growing pains last time I visited, though.

Sauron

Yes.
We will ask you what kind of coffee you drink.
And what kind of wine you drink.

And don't get me started about salmon. This is an actual conversation I heard at work.

"My husband just got some salmon from a friend; we're going to fix it up for dinner tonight. Would you like to come over?"

Oh, really? Pacific or Atlantic?
Pacific.

Pen-raised or fresh caught?
Fresh caught.

Local or Copper River?
Copper River.

Okay, we'll be there. How's 8 o'clock?

Yes. South in Federal Way and Auburn. Anywhere outside Seattle. Gun rights nuts and "wise use" property advocates.

But in the city, it's very eclectic. Gay-friendly, pagan-friendly, veggie / alternative lifestyle friendly. Sort of "Scandinavian" in that sense. Note: that's Seattle, not Bellevue. The first is tolerant, the 2nd is like Orange County, CA.

If you're pagan, there are quite a few covens and kindreds here. If you're into Asian mysticism, there's also a large community here for that.

It rains a lot. Winters can be dark, but the clouds are dramatic and the winter sunsets are beautiful. The winters are mild, almost never snow -but snow and skiing only an hour away. The summers are unbeatable. 75-85 degrees, sunny, with a cool breeze.


I have lived her for 21 years.
Cost of living can be high - but Washington how has the country's 2nd highest unemployment, so if you're renting, it's a bonanza. So landlords are forced to make huge deals - 1st month free, last month free, a free TV, a free bike, free cable, etc. just to get stable renters.

You're not from California, are you? We have enough of those already. :razz: