Indeed it is. I was looking at doing the reverse if I do move that direction. I like to meander state highways but for actually moving, I think it best to just haul on out the boring interstate and arrive.
I agree about the other stuff, too but there are a few nice folks scattered about. The rest are into the self-reliance of western mythology versus the neighborliness of the Midwest.
If you end up in Bellingham, it’s a straight shot across to Seattle, and then I-5 north. Looking back, we wasted a lot of time on the winding backroads of WA to connect to I-90. If I did it again, I’d just go strait north to Seattle, then across.
I’ve spent time in both Bellingham and Santa Fe. They are extremely different from one another. My impressions:
Bellingham: sprawling, service-industry economy, bedroom community for Seattle. Upscale middle class sprawl vibe. My utterly unimaginative brother in law lived there for years and never had any complaints; to me, that’s a bad review. If you’ve never lived through a winter in the PNW, rent first. A friend of ours who moved down to California said his Malamute’s fur turned faintly green from algae one winter. It’s very gray and damp; summers are cool, rather less gray but not less damp. It is close to everything you might want in a big city.
Santa Fe: large art colony/tasteful-tourist town. It has a building code that requires all buildings to look like they’re built of adobe. Unlike Bellingham, which is in a sprawl of cities, it is surrounded by hundreds of square miles of virtually-empty desert. The nearest real city is Albuquerque, an hour away. It’s a place where you can buy, say, an antique carved Afghani wedding bed, but it is also in New Mexico, one of the poorest states in the union. It is more than half Hispanic (Hispanic culture here dates from 1607). New Mexico is unlike any other place in the US, culturally. Santa Fe is very high – 7000 feet; it’s not far from the ski slopes in Taos. It is very dry, as dry as Bellingham is wet. We were tent camping on the Big Rez in August at a similar elevation one year and our water bottles froze. Cool in summer, really cold in winter, crystal clear skies most of the time.
We used to drive out from California to New Mexico every few years. I don’t like Santa Fe very much, because after you spent some time in the dirt poor ancient Hispanic mountain towns, or on the reservations, it seems like a lot of rich white people having fun being artistic with other cultures’ religious objects and traditions, and I find that distasteful to witness, although I do it myself. But I love that part of the world.
Summers can be hot. Not desert-hot, but into the 90s for days at a time. Lots of sunshine. Not humid. Note: Temperatures a few miles inland (we’re at the beach) seem to be about 10º hotter.
As someone who likes deserts, that’s a plus.
Q: How can you tell newcomers to the desert?
A: They’re the ones with the tans.
I’ve been in the PNW on those rather rare hot summer days and it’s plenty humid.
It varies. It’s not always humid but it can be. It depends on where you are and general conditions.
Yeah, compared to east-of-the-Rockies, PNW summer humidity is a joke.
This is absolutely true. I’ve experienced the true, life-draining, brain-melting humidity of the Southeast and the West has nothing to touch it.
That’s a joy to hear!
Unfortunately, Portland has had terrible late-summer air quality for years due to wildfire smoke. Last time I tried to drive there, there was unhomed camping not just on sidewalks (in NE), but actually in the street.
Well, it’s an hour and a half away from Seattle, so not exactly a bedroom community. Unless you’re @Johnny_L.A, of course!
Only one day a week to Burien. 
Has anyone mentioned D’ Anna’s Cafe Italiano, in downtown Bellingham? Their eggplant parmigiana is a good reason to move there.
That sounds like pretty harsh sentencing. What ever did you do?
I bought a house in Birch Bay.
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Well, it’s an hour and a half away from Seattle, so not exactly a bedroom community. Unless you’re @Johnny_L.A, of course!
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You’re right, I’m wrong. My impression of Bellingham is admittedly at least fifteen years out of date and blurry on the details. Bellingham is between Abbotsford and Seattle, considerably north of the latter.
Although I betcha not a few people commute into Seattle from there. Seattle is very expensive.
Birch Bay is about 2½ hours away from Seattle or Burien. It shouldn’t be, but… traffic.
summer humidity in the PNW, pfffffffttttt. I lived in Asia (what a country) for 20+ years. That’s 90F and 90% humidity for summer months.
PNW summers are gorgeous and pleasant. No rain, no clouds for 2-3 months. Rarely breaks 90F, and cools off at night. That said, the forest fires that started up 5-ish years ago puts a major harsh on the summers. Air quality can approach that of Beijing, and just be nasty.
Yeah, New Orleans in July and August… horrible. PNW? Quite nice.
If’n I had the means, I would move to Taos. NM just feels like a second home to me, and the basin reminds me of the town I was born in, only, larger. One major upside to a place like Santa Fe is that the elevation keeps fungi in check – but, of course, you need to have decent lung capacity.