I moved to Seattle (actually just north of the city) last September from the Midwest.
There are a lot of evergreen trees in this area - moreso then Seattle proper, I think. And I don't like them. They block out what little sun we get here for most of the day. We're renting our house, and when I look for another place (assuming we stay here), I will look for something with fewer tall trees. I know people who talk about all the green here (and the green grass rather than brown or WHITE in the winter is nice) but really, it just all looks dark in the winter, IMO. I want to see some sky!
I've always liked rain, but somehow this place hasn't impressed me, weather-wise. First of all, you don't get much of a break. There are SO many cloudy, wet days, and in the winter, they're very short too, what with being so far north. Also, it hardly ever dries out. Even when the sun is shining, it doesn't seem to dry out the ground - so forget having your little kids crawl around on the ground, because they'll get wet/dirty. If you like to sit outside, as I do, look for someplace with a covered patio or deck.
Our rental costs are a bit high but not nearly as bad as when we lived in southern CA. My husband takes a bus that travels down Bothell/Lake City Way to downtown. Other than that, we don't use the public transportation much.
I'm not a big city girl, and I'm often frustrated with being here. The traffic is a major nuisance. People are hard to get to know. There are various mom groups and meetup groups but they seem to lack the closeness that I had with my previous playgroup. I think it's harder with everyone being spread out over a larger area. I'm trying to get a group started in a smaller area. I have a daughter too young for many activities (though she's getting close now) and a son in elementary school, so my outings are somewhat limited. For me, the biggest attraction here is the FOOD, though even that has its negatives, because Seattle is missing a few of the chain places and specific foods I used to like in other parts of the country. But I'm exploring new foods too. Food is definitely more expensive here (particularly in restaurants).
Visiting the Puget Sound is nice. The crunchiness factor (much higher than where I came from) is good. Lots of people interested in environmental issues, breastfeeding, and so on. OTOH, I'm not cloth diapering my little one (yet?), and I haven't caught any grief from that either. There are a lot of cloth diapering and EC folks in the groups I frequent, but there are plenty of disposable diapering moms too. I guess people are more polite. ;)
This is basically how I feel as well. We moved here about 4 years ago from Southern California and I hate all the gloominess and the millions of trees. Everything is always shady and cold and I really miss warm sun.
The only thing I would disagree with is the food. Food here is terrible and way overpriced. Groceries are easily double what I used to spend and the produce sucks. The restaurants are pretty mediocre too.
People are really really hard to get to know up here. It took about 3 years but I finally feel like I have some good friends up here. The first few years I was so lonely and depressed.
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