Washington State/(Seattle)

yeah im in Tacoma... Seattle is just too busy for me lol

LUV it moved here from AZ dig the green and lack of heat luv the change of seasons. Live in Puyallup nice small town.

Hate it.

I've lived in Washington my whole life (29 years) and I'm sick of rain 85% of the year.

Its alright here. I am a Californian so the transition from that lifestyle to this one took some getting used to. I have been here since 2007. The rain gets to be a bit much after the 4th month, however the Summers are beautiful!

Born and raised in the Seattle area. I have lived in various places across the country (currently in Maryland) and I can honestly say that I miss Washington state. If you want out of the rain, go east. You want out of the heat, go west. Want to take a hike? You can. Want to go to the beach? You can. Want to see a rainforest? You can. You can fish in lakes, rivers, and on the ocean. You can go snow skiing, water skiing, hunting or for a hot air baloon ride. You can pick your own fresh ripe berries, apples, peaches, pears, corn, etc. All of this is within just a few hours of driving. You have fantastic sunsets, majestic mountains and rolling grain fields. You can live in a metro area, small town, on a farm, in the woods, or can visit any of them any time you like. Yeah, I miss it.

Born and raised in the Seattle area. I have lived in various places across the country (currently in Maryland) and I can honestly say that I miss Washington state. If you want out of the rain, go east. You want out of the heat, go west. Want to take a hike? You can. Want to go to the beach? You can. Want to see a rainforest? You can. You can fish in lakes, rivers, and on the ocean. You can go snow skiing, water skiing, hunting or for a hot air baloon ride. You can pick your own fresh ripe berries, apples, peaches, pears, corn, etc. All of this is within just a few hours of driving. You have fantastic sunsets, majestic mountains and rolling grain fields. You can live in a metro area, small town, on a farm, in the woods, or can visit any of them any time you like. Yeah, I miss it.

Born and raised as well...wanted to touch on a couple of these things.

"If you want out of the rain, go east." -- Sure hope you like snow though!
"Want to go to the beach? You can." -- If you like beaches with no sand and nothing but jagged rocks. Yes there are beaches with sand...but most of them are several hours away from Seattle.
"You can pick your own fresh ripe berries, apples, peaches, pears, corn, etc." -- Yes...but if you don't have time to pick your own and you'd like to buy them at the store I sure hope you like rotten fruit...90% of the stores around here carry *kitten* for produce.

With that said...there are good things and bad...there are a lot of safe(r) areas here...there are also some more dangerous ones. We have great local food & bar scenes...the local music scene is great if you're big on music (or a hipster). Gay & Lesbian culture is very widely accepted here. And while the economy isn't great...it's still better than a lot of areas thanks to Boeing & Microsoft.

On the downside...It's expensive as *kitten* to live here...I don't know where you're from but if you're not used to it its rough. Minimum wage is not enough to cover living expenses. The average 2 bedroom apartment where I live (20-30 miles north of Seattle) is between $1000 and $1300 to live in a safe area...and for that price it will be small. Gas prices are always higher here than 90% of the US. Even when the US average was $3.80 we were pushing $4.50.

People here are more rude than I've found in other areas. Obviously it depends on where you live but I've been to Nevada, Cali, Oregon, Florida, & Hawaii and I've found that Washington is the worst out of all of those for uptight people. I won't say everyone is that way but between the high cost of living and the weather it can sure make for some grumpy motherf....

As for the weather...Western WA is rainy probably 50% of the time...overcast 80% of the time...and sunny 20% of the time. Summers here are short...this one in particular...we just started getting warm days as of July 3rd.

The majority of the things to do here are touristy and get old after living here for awhile...The space needle, EMP, seattle center, art museum, etc...only worth it if they change the content. There is a lot of history here which is cool.

Traffic is awful. I mean...beyond awful. Like I'd rather be sitting at the DMV. Yeah...that bad. People here drive like *kitten*...which, coupled with the fact that there are 2 boeing plants with thousands and thousands of employees getting off at various times throughout the day, makes "rush hour" more like "rush afternoon/evening".

That's a pretty lengthy explanation...hope it helps. I can't recommend living here or not living here...personally I"d like to move somewhere warmer...but there are things I'd miss. It's really about what you like.