No jobs
High cost of living
Horrible traffic
Relentless rain
But, no way around it, it’s God’s country here. You’ve got the Pacific Ocean, the Olympic Range and Puget Sound on one side and the Cascades on the other. There’s the University of Washington, zillions of restaurants, bookstores, great music and hippie-type artsy fartsy festivals in the summer (okay, so that might be a deal breaker). There’s also all kinds of outdoorsy stuff to do if you like skiing, hiking, rock climbing, sailing and so on.
And how about this? This evening I was looking out my window and saw a rustling near the top of a 75ft cedar tree in our back yard, so I grabbed the binoculars to look. Honest to God there was a black bear stripping bark off at the very top. So right now I’m thinking Seattle is pretty damned cool.
Vancouver is, indeed, a wonderful and magical city. And koeeoaddi has it exactly right about Seattle.
As noted, I live in Bellingham which is 30 miles south of the Canadian border, almost directly N of Seattle (which is 80 miles to the South of where I am.) I have lived here all my life and I LOVE it!!! I have never once had the slightest desire to live anywhere else.
koeeoaddi…my grandfather, who moved here from Scotland when my mom was 16, always used to say it is God’s country. I agree completely with both of you.
Well, Chico is a great place; better than Sacramento. But why should I pitch it to you? Why do I want you to move here? Haven’t we got more than enough people already? Let’s hear what you can do for us.
Another vote for Seattle, my current place of residence and the only American city I’ve ever loved. koeeoaddi summed it up pretty well.
I haven’t noticed the hippie population as being any larger than usual, but then again I came here from a college town. If you prefer yuppies, we’ve got plenty of those too. Overall there’s a fair bit of ethnic diversity, though a given neighborhood will usually be more homogeneous. Many newcomers find the people here more aloof than in other parts of the US.
Maybe having a hippie population has some connection to having a college. We have one here, too. And during the 60’s we had, here in teensy tiny Bellingham, the largest hippie community north of San Fransisco. Or so it was said. By the press, which is probably a suspect source.
We have plenty of them, too. Nowhere near as many as a large city such as Seattle, but plenty.
Honestly? I am stunned. I’ve never met a newcomer who didn’t say exactly the opposite…they’ve all said that this is the friendliest place they’ve ever been. But then, I don’t live in Seattle, but a small town near Seattle. Still, I have always been told that the PNW was the friendliest place most folks ever go. Interesting.
Can anyone tell me more about Austin? I was looking at some pictures of the city (yea, I’m a jackass, I’ve been google imaging these cities and basing my interest on pictures :)) and it looks really cool.
What’s it like there? Weather, people, things to do, jobs, schools…etc?
Louisville, and the University of Louisville, also look really nice. Does anyone want to brag about those?
