Compare Seattle area to Nebraska/Iowa/Kansas/Missouri

[ilkhd2]

Omaha is nowhere remotely as hilly as Seattle.

I lived in Seattle area last time more than 2 years ago, but I remember that Seattle was flatter than San Francisco and yes, I agree, Omaha is not San Francisco. However it is not flat absolutely certainly and it definitely hillier than Bellevue WA, no doubt.

Honestly a lot of people I knew back there lived there because it was where they were from, they tolerated it because to them people don't just pick up and move. But when I made it known at my work place that I was moving to Seattle I got constant comments from people about how lucky I was to be moving out here, how they wished they could do such a thing, etc. Just such a completely different feeling from this area where you see so many people who are here because they want to be here- they moved here from points all across the country because they love this area.

Good for them. Count me as one who is saying opposite.After spending 2 years in Puget Sound I got increasingly depressed with gloomy grey skies - it is the capital of MS for a reason, no sun - no Vitamin D, tired of arrogant people, hipsters and high cost of living (then I moved to Bay Area where at least I saw sun all the time). However yes, people are more fit, are better educated and city itself has more amenities and there is also UW there. I can see however myself coming back though, if salary difference will be high enough.

[RJ8089]

Seattle hills can only be compared to San Francisco. WHY IS OMAHA MENTIONED?? Sheesh. Someone trying to compare Omaha hills to Bellevue now? OK... Fine Omaha has bigger hills than Bellevue. BUT Bellevue is nicer. HA!!

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by RJ8089

Seattle hills can only be compared to San Francisco. WHY IS OMAHA MENTIONED?? Sheesh. Someone trying to compare Omaha hills to Bellevue now? OK... Fine Omaha has bigger hills than Bellevue. BUT Bellevue is nicer. HA!!

Yes, so true! Bellevue is so much nicer than Omaha. And to compare Omaha hills to Bellevue is silly. Only a small part of Omaha has hills, it is just the far east part by the river. The rest of the city and metro is quite flat.
And the hills it has are small rolling bluffs, nothing like the towering hills in Seattle and many other parts of the metro area, even parts of bellevue.

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[ilkhd2]

I cannot argue with someone who apparently never lived in Omaha or lived very short amount of time.

Here are the terrain maps:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Belle...ngton&t=p&z=13

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=omaha...raska&t=p&z=13

Overall Bellevue is flatter, but the hills are much steeper than in Omaha. Omaha has a lot more hills but these hill are less steep.

Speaking of what is better: yes, Bellevue WA is more upscale and rich, so you may like this kind of environment; I do not like posh affluent WASP/Rich Asian places so for me it is not nice and actually very boring.

My point was very simple however: Omaha (and many other places in Midwest) is not flat at all. Whoever claims the opposite is delusional.

[tobester]

Originally Posted by ilkhd2

I cannot argue with someone who apparently never lived in Omaha or lived very short amount of time.

Here are the terrain maps:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Belle...ngton&t=p&z=13

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=omaha...raska&t=p&z=13

Overall Bellevue is flatter, but the hills are much steeper than in Omaha. Omaha has a lot more hills but these hill are less steep.

Speaking of what is better: yes, Bellevue WA is more upscale and rich, so you may like this kind of environment; I do not like posh affluent WASP/Rich Asian places so for me it is not nice and actually very boring.

My point was very simple however: Omaha (and many other places in Midwest) is not flat at all. Whoever claims the opposite is delusional.

Seems you are defining a hill as something with a slope greater than 0. Does this mean a city with 1000 hills with a 1% slope is less flat than a city with 500 hills with 10% slope? Lots of little hills does not make a city hillier than one with a smaller number of steep hills - I think just the opposite is true.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by ilkhd2

I cannot argue with someone who apparently never lived in Omaha or lived very short amount of time.

Here are the terrain maps:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Belle...ngton&t=p&z=13

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=omaha...raska&t=p&z=13

Overall Bellevue is flatter, but the hills are much steeper than in Omaha. Omaha has a lot more hills but these hill are less steep.

Speaking of what is better: yes, Bellevue WA is more upscale and rich, so you may like this kind of environment; I do not like posh affluent WASP/Rich Asian places so for me it is not nice and actually very boring.

My point was very simple however: Omaha (and many other places in Midwest) is not flat at all. Whoever claims the opposite is delusional.

I lived around there for 12 and a half years. Yes some parts of the town have some rolling hills but as said before, they are nothing at all even remotely like what we have around here in the Seattle area. Many of the hills there are barely hills- they are more like rolls in the terrain, not exactly something you'd go up for a view, or build a house on for a sweeping view of the landscape below. That's the difference when referencing the size and scale of those hills.
And between eastern Nebraska and eastern South Dakota, I spent almost my entire life in the Midwest up until 2009, and I will say that the Midwest is flat. There are a few areas of rolling hills, sure, but by and large it is FLAT. Take I-29 up into South Dakota- once you get away from the Missouri River you are in terrain that is almost as flat as a table top, and remains that way for hundreds of miles. Or take I-80 west from Omaha towards Lincoln and across the rest of the state. Or I-80 from Omaha east through Iowa and Illinois into Chicago- almost that entire stretch is extremely flat as well. Any hills you see are again just small, rolling hills- when you look out on the horizon you can see rolls in some areas, like small waves in the terrain, nothing that most out here would even call hills. That is the difference.
To put it another way, the man made hill you drive up to go over an interstate overpass is taller than almost any natural hill in most of those areas- that is no exaggeration, it is true from my experience.
And the idea of Bellevue being nicer, it is not just because Bellevue is "posh". Add to it the mountain views, the steep hills in some parts of town, the water views, and the evergreen forest, those are the reasons many people find this area to be so much nicer than Omaha or other Midwest cities.