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I moved to Seattle almost two years ago after living in big east coast cities for many years. The climate was a huge adjustment, though I think it bothers DH more than me. It doesn't actually rain hard very often, but we have lots and lots and lots of cloudy/misty/lightly raining days. We were actually really lucky this past year, the winter wasn't horrible and spring/summer came early! I'd say that would be one of the biggest things you might notice, coming from SoCal.

I really like the city itself. It felt massive to me at first, since I was used to tiny old row houses and alleys and an overall more crowded feel to my cities. Here, the buildings downtown are big, the streets and sidewalks are wide, and there are a lot of REALLY STEEP hills! For some reason, that surprised me. Also, there are a lit of areas of the city where you can get single-family homes, which was a nice change IMO. We live in an area that feels very suburban even though it's in the city, it takes less than 15 minutes to get downtown unless traffic is awful (which does happen...not sure how traffic would compare to LA).

It's really easy to do outdoor activities around here. DH and I belong to a sailing club. There is decent hiking within 30-45 minutes, and GREAT hiking of you're willing to go an hour or more. We've done some hiking in the north Cascades, near the Canadian border, and it is definitely worth the drive (~2 hours). My neighborhood is great for jogging of you don't mind a few hills, and there are lots of bicyclists (who, incidentally, are generally much more polite than the ones I usually encountered back east). We don't really ski or snowboard, but lots of our friends do and it's also easy to get to the slopes.

Proximity to Vancouver (oh, the foooood!!) is also a big plus

For me, one of the biggest downsides here is the sense of isolation...I used to be able to hop on a train and be in another big city within 1-2 hours. Here, everything is just so far away. The other downside, in a way, is that it's a very decentralized city, so after being used to walking to pretty much everywhere I wanted to go, it was an adjustment to have to hop in the car so often. But you might not feel that way, coming from LA.

Anyway, if you have more specific questions, feel free to ask here or on my wall!

@sarah.clarisse: we DO get sun. It has been in the 80s here for WEEKS!! I love the mild weather here.

Another vote for Seattle! To address the sun issue, summers here are amazing. Not too hot, not to cold, just perfect. And the scenery is beautiful, lakes and mountains in every direction. Winters can be a bit cold, but we rarely have much snow so its not too bad compared to the rest of the country.

Currently live in Denver and we LOVE it. There's plenty to do for kids and adults (we just got back from camping, and we're going to go see Princess Bride at Red Rocks (http://www.redrocksonline.com/CONCERTSEVENTS/FilmOnTheRocks.aspx) soon.) I absolutely love the weather. It's sunny almost all the time, but not miserably hot in the summer. I grew up in the South so getting away from the humidity was amazing. And I love the snow, but it usually melts quickly, and Denver has one of the largest fleets of snowplows/trucks in the country, so the roads are rarely an issue for more than a few hours.

Denver also has a relatively large portion of the city's budget set aside for making things nice, so there are always tons of flowers, and there are parks *everywhere.* The mountains are only a couple hours away, with cabins and camping options, plus hiking, fishing, canoeing, etc. It's a very healthy city, with tons of healthy restaurants and grocery stores. (It was weird when we visited home again and realized how many overweight people there are in the South compared to here.)

I've only been to Boulder once, but it seemed like a nice little town. It's a college town, so it has the drawbacks that come with that, and it has quite the reputation for being full of potsmokers. Personally I'd recommend the Lakewood or Castle Rock areas. Lakewood is closer to downtown Denver but it's west, almost in the foothills, and Castle Rock is further south and gorgeous. Also, Golden is just west of Lakewood actually *in* the foothills, and I love it. It also has the Coors brewery, if you're into beer. (Also, if you're into beer, Colorado has more microbreweries than any other state.)

The only real issue I have with Colorado is the pot smoking. I don't mind it in general, but I don't care for the smell and at 2 of the 4 apartments we've lived in we've been able to smell it in or around the building. But now that it's legal in Washington too, that's going to be a risk either way.

I live 45 minutes north of Denver. I absolutely love it here. We moved a couple years ago from WI so we're not native. They say there are 300 days of sunshine a year here and it's totally true. I never knew how dark WI was and how much it impacted my mood until I moved here.
I love to visit Boulder, it's really expensive to live there though. It has the best people watching because there are so many characters walking around!

I moved from the Philadelphia suburbs area to Seattle suburbs and it's still an adjustment for the DH and I. And we have lived here for almost 5 years. It's definitely different from the east coast. Although, we love visiting CA, Portland and Vancouver BC.

The weather is something I had to get used to. Pretty much all of my summer clothes (shorts, short skirts) have not be used... unless I go back east. I miss it. All I wear now are capris and that's only during the 2 months of hot weather. Oh, A/C is not common around here so when there is a heat wave (+80 degrees), it can be pretty uncomfortable with fans scattered throughout the house. During the rainy and gray months, from late Oct to May, it does suck but I got used to it. Buy yourself some cute rain boots.

I did miss going to the NJ shore but I have now traded going to the community pool at my apartment to get my daily dose of sun on the weekends.

East coast traffic might have been aggressive but Seattle traffic is so passive. I know as a true east coaster that I am always in a hurry (but safely). People out here do.not.understand.that.the.left.lane.is.the.passing.lane! I-5 is upto 4 lanes up here and every lane will have a car going THE speed limit or 5 miles under the speed limit. Speed limit on the interstate is 55 MPH. I actually prefer the right lane because that's usually the lane with less people and faster drivers... Faster as in drive between 60-70. Yeah, there are going to be stupid drivers going faster than that. Also, as an asian driver (who is a good asian driver) I do notice that we have a ton of bad asian drivers. My defensive driving course has really benefited me.

Now, on to snow during the winter. When I interviewed, my coworkers told me that I would get 3/4 of an inch of snow at maximum and that it was a rare occurance. Well, first winter I was there we got 1-2 inches of snow about every other day. It would melt then freeze then more snow. Dangerous combination. Coming from the east coast, I was like, eh, this is nothing. I've dealt with this before. Couple inches of snow is nothing. Boy, was I wrong!! Here in Seattle we have hills and not many salt trucks. No good...at all! My hour commute home turned into 4 hours one time because it started snowing during rush hour. I am now terrified of snow. I would rather take a snow or sick day if it's going to snow.

I do believe in the Seattle Freeze... people are nice to you at first but won't take the extra step to become friends outside of work. I've been to countless coworkers birthday and random parties when I live on the east coast. I have been and invited to 2-3 parties but the person who invited me lived in CA beforehand. It can be hard to make friends out here. I have been to meetup groups, too. It's so hard. Although, I'll admit that I've myself have conformed to the Seattle Freeze ways and won't put myself out there to new friends and coworkers. Yeah, I hate that I'm contributing to the problem. I do love talking to people from the east coast or other cities. If you are interested, google 'Seattle Freeze.'

Sorry, this post sounds like a big whiny post of Seattle.
My husband and I just aren't very outdoorsy type because of his health condition. So no hiking, rock climbing and skiing for us. Maybe that was our weakness.

We do love going on roadtrips so we have been out to eastern WA, OR, CA and BC. The scenery is amazing. When the Mt Rainier is out (no clouds), it's great.

Yeah, I'm sorry about my whiny post. Our time in Seattle is coming to an end and we are headed back east to be closer to family and plus we are still east coasters at heart. In general, it was a good experience for us to move to Seattle and be on our own and I don't regret our time out here. It's just time to go back.

Oh, since my DH and I were both born and raised in the suburbs that why we chose to live in the suburbs of Seattle. Some people think it's crazy that I commute is 45-60 minutes but I like living there. City life was just a tad too loud, busy and expensive for us. We like living in a 1000 sq ft, 2bed/2 bath apartment, with garage, community pool for roughly $1100 a month. Plus, we are a two car family so we like not having to pay for parking. I do take the bus to work 3 times a week to save on gas and prevent myself from having a heart attack during my commute home.

Oh, I've definitely become more greener in the choices I make. I try to compost and mostly try to prevent excess. I do love that I'm fairly earth conscious. Cloth diapers all the way whenever I do get pregnant.

@Mrs. Jacks: Great post. Thanks for writing all of that. I was beginning to think my post was too heavy on the negativity and most of it being because I'm from the east coast. I'm glad it's not just the east coast.

@Mrs. Jacks: hahahaha. I feel similarly about Seattle. Greenlake is the place to take kids especially to work off the baby weight!

We're near the beach, mountains, yada yada yada but it is super gray here. I have to take so.much.vitamin-D. The summer is glorious though.

Mrs. Jacks' mention of friendliness reminded me I didn't cover that. I've found in Denver that people are very friendly, but less so than in the South. BUT they're sooooo much less judgmental. People here are definitely unique a lot of times, but everyone just goes with it. Especially as an atheist, I've found that it just isn't an issue here, whereas back home I'd be ostracized if people found out.

Also, just have to say, if you do move or even visit here, and want a nice dinner without the kids, go to TAG on Larimer Square downtown. It's pretentious as hell (their menu says on the front, "TAG is a celebration of the unexpected, an exploration of the esoteric recesses of our appetites. Our aesthetic transcends both nationality and convention, freeing us to brazenly create and encouraging you to liberally indulge." Seriously, I took a picture so I wouldn't forget the whole thing.), but it's the most amazingly delicious place I've ever eaten. My husband is also quite the foodie, so if you wind up moving there, we can recommend a lot of food places to try!

@bluestriped bee: I don't think you were too negative and I agree with a lot of what you said. I think about going back to the east coast on somewhat regular basis, but overall we're happy here. My hubby's job is not at all portable and just plain doesn't exist in most places, so the chances of us being able to move again are minimal, though. But I think most of what I really miss being closer to family and old friends.

Regarding the Seattle Freeze, I agree it exists but I don't think it's limited to Seattle. I had friends in Philly from college and law school, and I made friends with DH's friends, but I can't say I met a single person outside those contexts who became a real friend. My neighbors were not particularly friendly in any of the buildings I lived in, and nobody from the various classes I took or activities I participated in ever showed the slightest interest in getting together outside the structured time. Maybe it was just me, but I don't think so... Honestly, I haven't found interacting with other people to be different in any meaningful way here than it was there. If anything, it's better here because we have nice neighbors that always say hi and have gotten together with some of them for wine, New Years, and walks to the farmers market on occasion! I wouldn't say we're very close to them, but we're definitely on good terms.

@sarah.clarisse: I didn't realize you were already pretty familiar with Seattle -- I moved here without ever having seen the city! It's great that you already have a sense of what it's like, I think that would help a lot in making the adjustment.

@Mrs. Jacks: haha I've never heard of the Seattle Freeze... maybe because I'm from here. Perhaps that's why I don't know most of my neighbors.

@sarah.clarisse: If you do decide to move to Seattle, let us know, I can give you some suggestions on walkable neighborhoods. Also, if you're in the city, we have a system called Car2go, a point-to-point car sharing program that is pretty cool.

@bluestriped bee: is very right about the traffic, but no city is perfect

I totally disagree with @Mrs. Jacks: about the Mexican food, though the good stuff is harder to find, but it does exist (I grew up in LA with a Mexican nanny).

@Mrs.Someone: tell me where, because we searched everywhere, drove to shoreline, scoured the east side. I've eaten at probably every Mexican place in king county. (desperate Californians!)

Closest we found were homemade tamales from a grandma who sold them at Mr. Jacks work.

We go back often, so I'm ready to take any suggestions. I'm looking for jalisco style. Oaxacan won't do! ;). No place is too dive- y!

@Mrs.Someone: yup, we have :(. If you discover any names, let me know.

@Mrs.Someone: I mIght, but I grew up in the central valley of California. My baseline expectation was set there!

@sarah.clarisse: isn't it amazing? When I was a kid in Orange County, my parents used to drive to San Diego County for good Mexican (even if just their favorite taco truck)... So I really do get it!

Just enjoy the other multitude of wonderful foods in Seattle, including Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Thai, puerto rican, middle eastern, Indian... All great!

@Mrs. Jacks: @sarah.clarisse: So funny about the Mexican food. Toronto has no Mexican food so I thought the stuff I have had here was pretty good... apparently not

@sarah.clarisse: I can't say anything better than @Mrs. Jacks said, so just consider this me ditto-ing her. (side note, Jacks, now I have the Friday Song stuck in my head). If you have any questions about different neighborhoods, let me know! I've lived in many of the neighborhoods around downtown, and grew up in a 'burb of Seattle. Also, nothing is better than a Seattle summer.

Ooo, one more thing- my husband works downtown (he's part of the team that designed the new tunnel going in) and we live in West Seattle. He takes the water taxi to work every day, and there was one day when he rode it back and forth many times because there were orcas leaping out of the bay in front of downtown. Other cities can't compete with that, I'm afraid.