Thanks Jackattack. San Fran does have some kind of mystical lure to me but not all of that feeling can be described as sensible or founded on fact. Maybe once I find my feet and have had some time to explore the region it might be a consideration. Glad you like it there.

It is great to see so many people, enthusiastically selling their home cities. It gives me a little hope that I can be happy here, given the right situation and environment. I've never really doubted the fact, but living where I do has been chipping away at my conviction that a life in the US was going to work out.

So in your opinion, despite it's lacking in some areas, Seattle is best placed for Park/Forrest access and general hiking/outdoor activities? What is it, in your opinion, that gives Portland and edge over Seattle. Several people seem to have that conclusion.

I've never lived in the PNW but have visited Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula a couple times. I liked it very much. It does have it's downsides for me, it's much more expensive than the Midwest including the cost of land, and while there are more varieties of fish and game the limits aren't as liberal as they are here, the permits were more expensive and I found the hunting and fishing regulations voluminous and difficult to follow.

EDIT: By "follow" I mean "understand", not "adhere to"!

Thanks. Wonderful pictures! Absolutely beautiful. Cost is a consideration however I am prepared to spend extra for an increased sense of well-being. Looking at rent costs it seems a nice place could be found out of the city for less that the highly inflated price we pay in Fl for a waterfront Condo. Buying is a few years away at the moment and a bridge I shan't consider crossing until I come to it.

I've not fished since arriving in the US and am not really concerned to take it up again, hunting isn't an issue either. I personally prefer to see things alive, so the more variety of critters the better. Of course it goes to prove that the area might not appeal to everyone, based on that person pursuits and likes. Which is what this thread is all about gauging.

The one plus DC would have, especially given your resume, is the use of enterprise level systems in government and the telcos. There is a lot of 'big iron' in DC powering various government systems & telecommunications companies and they can never find enough people to run them, especially as many are legacy systems. Dice.com is a great site to start looking at for tech jobs, and believe it or not the WashingtonPost.com classified section is actually quite helpful.

There are four distinct tech area in DC, Northern Virginia (Telcom and startups, AOL was based here), Montgomery County MD (Biotech), Anne Arundel County MD (computer security, home of the NSA--jobs you can't get) and St. Marys County MD (Navy Electronic Systems command--some jobs you can't get). In addition, the overall DC area is filled with government support jobs, some of which are restricted (military) and many more which are not.

The research triangle area of NC is quite a bit different from Charleston SC. You might want to look into it, mainly because they are some jobs down there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle

I think some of the comments from others on Seattle have sort of mirrored mine. Was a bit spread out, didn't have a real 'buzz', kind of off in a corner doing their own thing (and happy to be doing it that way). Your mileage may vary.

My only other comment is that you don't necessarily have to consider tech 'hotbeds' if you are going to be 'the tech guy in a company' rather than 'a guy in a tech company'. There are plenty of cities that desperately need computer specialists (as their techies have fled off to Silicon Valley or other tech areas). Your skills and resume might be more impressive in San Diego or Denver then they are in Silicon Valley or Seattle.

Longer longer term, you may want to consider a Uni degree. It is not because you'll really learn anything, it's that employers here look for that first thing and can easily weed out anyone without a Uni degree and still have a pretty big pool of applicants. Rightly or wrongly, not having a degree here is read by some employers as sort of subliminal message--"this person can't set a long term goal and meet it" or "they probably have a chip on their shoulder about not going to Uni". Even if you get your foot through the resume weed out process, you'll still run into this bias in many places.

If this is in your long term plans, you may also consider basing your housing choice on the availability of public universities, such as the Univ. of Washington, or North Carolina, or whatever (such that you can get in-state/lower tuition fees after living there a bit).

Good for you!

Woke up this morning to see a bald eagle perched in a tree about 150 yards from our house. This is in the middle of downtown Redmond. There are four pairs at least nesting in Redmond this year, and six chicks were raised successfully last year.

The wildlife is one of the big pluses for me here, but I could do without the skunk that went off a month or so ago. Luckily it was about a quarter of a mile away, but the stench hung on for days.

Among the slightly less common town-based beasties, we have beavers and cormorants in Redmond too.

Well as we are on the subject of wildlife - I saw a herd of about 6 Elk in the backyard of a house about half a mile up the road from us last Friday (we are out in Maple Valley/Hobart), they were just mosying around eating and looking so cool and relaxed, it was on the way back from Crystal Mtn skiing and they were the 2nd lot I had seen that day - so cool

As I mentioned in my earlier post - the wildlife in Florida sounds terrifying and slithery!!! at least in WA we don't have too much to fear!!! mind you I did meet a woman whose dog only had 3 legs, it had been trampled by a herd of Elk!

Not useless at all. Much appreciated.

Maple Valley/Hobart, looks about 15-20 miles out. Do you or your husband work downtown. What is the commute like (regarding time, not life threatening incidents already mentioned) if you do travel the area?

Wonderful! We do have many Ospreys around where I live and it is wonderful to watch them skimming the bayou, plucking fish out as they go. We also have many Herons. Smaller birds are few and far between due to proximity to water and I guess the lack of many tress in Pinellas county! We also have some nesting Bald Eagles in the area but I've yet to see one myself?

Well we work in the Kent/Tukwila area, if you google map it, straight down hwy 169 onto the I405 and then the I5, we both are about 30mins from work, and the traffic is definately bearable!!

To get into downtown from our house is about 40mins on a good run! we don't go in on the weekdays so I couldn't really comment on that commute, but in the past if I have needed to go downtown I used the park and ride at Tukwila and hopped on the bus, now you can also get the light rail from Seatac into downtown. But as I am not a frequent user I can't really comment on public transport on a regular basis, although I have always found it efficient and reasonably priced (cheap).

We used to live in Cheddar and commute to Bristol, and so the commute here was always going to be an improvement on Bristol traffic..... we are out in the sticks where we are now, but by no means in the middle of nowhere, we can be in downtown in 40mins and sat on a chairlift in 1 hr 30..... perfect for us!!!

I've lived in Seattle for the past 15 years or so and love it here. We live just a little bit north of downtown, 15 minute bus ride. Where I live is pretty walkable too, and we have lots of bars and restaurants pretty close by. I've never lived anywhere else in the States though, so don't have much to compare it too.

Pros:
--A short drive to some gorgeous areas (Cascades, lakes, forests etc.)
--Pretty easy to navigate around (busses are okay from our area at least, and driving/parking downtown isn't too bad).
--Lots of good/eclectic neighborhoods here (Fremont, Ballard, Capitol Hill etc.)
--Schools are pretty good (although underfunded, and do vary depending on where you live)
--I've found it pretty easy to make friends here.


Cons:
--Seattle is expensive if you want to buy a house. Of course prices have gone down in recent months, but it is still very expensive compared to other cities in the U.S.
--The winter months can be depressing and really long.
--It is expensive if you want to fly to Europe.
--The job market. Yes there are a lot of high tech employers here, but there are also a lot of tech companies laying people off. Guess it just depends on what you do, and your level of experience etc. I wouldn't recommend moving here without a job offer in hand.

Naomi.

Thanks Naomi, for your balanced view of the area.

One company is definitely hiring right now:

https://us-amazon.icims.com/jobs/sea...s=5&searchZip=

We have several hundred open positions in Seattle.

!!!

Need an MBA to reship stuff.

Hi everyone,

I am a bit of a lurker usually as my great friend (and brother-inlaw WARPed tends to be the poster for the family). Like WARPed I am looking to get out of Florida (for many of the same reasons). While the PNW definitely appeals to me, my wonderful wife (sister of WARped) is seriously affected by gloomy grey weather (think British winters). A couple of people mentioned Spokane in their posts. I had read that it's really sunny over that way. Nettlebed mentioned "... I couldn't stand the climate." Nettlebed, are you referring to the cold winters in Spokane?

Also does anyone have opinions/experience about/of Yakima?

Peace.