Has anyone moved to Seattle from Florida? (Tacoma: restaurants, moving)

[gingerdancer]

Originally Posted by AngelicCreativity

Well, I have made friends, but they are just not originally from here. Honestly, I have to admit, I can make a greater effort to join groups and connect even more. lol!! Welllllllll, I am a woman-- but just not a heterosexual one.

I still must remember I am no longer in the south and things are just much different here. I actually have NO COMPLAINTS about the weather like I hear so many that move here have. I love the cool/cold temps, rain, and even overcast skies. I love the natural beauty here and those are the few of the reasons I do love it here.

Yes the cooler weather is appealing, esp in Aug/Sept when the rest of the country is baking in the heat. Have you noticed that, despite the less than "perfect" weather, people still go out in the evening to engage in regular nightlife? Last weekend, I went to a lounge/bar that had a large patio and asked why it was so empty. The bartender told me that everyone cleared out because of the "bad weather." LOL. The weather was slightly cool, and had a low cloud/fog. No Rain. Warm enough for a long sleeved tee shirt, or light sweater. Not to mention, there were heat lamps. lol I have curly hair and my hair was just fine in the very slight mist. It was so minor. That is the kind of So Cal BS that bugs me, if the weather is not exactly perfect, everyone goes home, or stays in. Personally I thought the weather was wonderful...

Do Seattlites have more patience with the weather and still go out at the slightest chance of the weather not being bone dry and in the late 60's- 70's?

[AngelicCreativity]

Originally Posted by gingerdancer

Yes the cooler weather is appealing, esp in Aug/Sept when the rest of the country is baking in the heat. Have you noticed that, despite the less than "perfect" weather, people still go out in the evening to engage in regular nightlife? Last weekend, I went to a lounge/bar that had a large patio and asked why it was so empty. The bartender told me that everyone cleared out because of the "bad weather." LOL. The weather was slightly cool, and had a low cloud/fog. No Rain. Warm enough for a long sleeved tee shirt, or light sweater. Not to mention, there were heat lamps. lol I have curly hair and my hair was just fine in the very slight mist. It was so minor. That is the kind of So Cal BS that bugs me, if the weather is not exactly perfect, everyone goes home, or stays in. Personally I thought the weather was wonderful...

Do Seattlites have more patience with the weather and still go out at the slightest chance of the weather not being bone dry and in the late 60's- 70's?

Yes, the cool weather is A PLUS and just one reason for my being here. From my short stay here, it seems to me that Seattlites are out at the bars rain or shine--I mean there really is NO waiting for 'perfect' weather here to go out. If so, you might not ever get it. lol! Well, I guess it also depends on what perfect weather is to you. This 'light rain' to 'drizzle' does not bother me, even though I am not a bar or club person anymore.

[AngelicCreativity]

I was thinking that maybe part of the reason for the 'anti-social' feel is the weather. hmmmm...

[gingerdancer]

Originally Posted by AngelicCreativity

Yes, the cool weather is A PLUS and just one reason for my being here. From my short stay here, it seems to me that Seattlites are out at the bars rain or shine--I mean there really is NO waiting for 'perfect' weather here to go out. If so, you might not ever get it. lol! Well, I guess it also depends on what perfect weather is to you. This 'light rain' to 'drizzle' does not bother me, even though I am not a bar or club person anymore.

yeah, it could be anything: symphony, art walk, basically anything one might do for nightlife in the evening. Here it can become a ghost town, especially in winter. The irony is that I think more ppl go out in horrible east coast winters than in extremely mild west coast winters. I personally love any excuse to wear a cute scarf.

[AngelicCreativity]

Originally Posted by gingerdancer

yeah, it could be anything: symphony, art walk, basically anything one might do for nightlife in the evening. Here it can become a ghost town, especially in winter. The irony is that I think more ppl go out in horrible east coast winters than in extremely mild west coast winters. I personally love any excuse to wear a cute scarf.

I guess I am going to continue to 'learn the ways' of the West. I also love an excuse to wear a scarf and boots--and I get to do just that here. Yes, I remember when I was into the 'night life' on the east coast, we went out in 30 degree weather as if it was 70 or 80 degrees--nothing stopped us.

[HotandHumid]

I lived in Seattle some years ago, moved back to South Florida and have decided to head back out to Seattle next Spring for the summer months to see if I can get re-settled there. I currently live in Fort Lauderdale and the car culture here is overwhelming to anyone who likes to walk, ride a bike or take public transportation. These people will get in their car to drive to a store across the street rather than walk! If you don't own a car here, people wonder what is wrong with you. The Gay population here spends most of it's time in bars or playing Bingo. Gays here are either old, not well looking retirees or not so young white trash barflies. There isn't much of anything in the way of good paying jobs and it's rare to meet someone in the Gay community who isn't HIV positive and who became infected in the past few years while they were drunk or on drugs. Any sort of social support group that I've gone to usually has how to receive public assistance money as the main topic of conversation with stints in rehab stories thrown in for good measure.
When I lived in Seattle, I found people to be more private and introverted which to me is preferable to loud, aggressive people who seem to be the majority of the population here. Most people here don't seem to realize or care that not everyone wants to hear them talk about their latest operation, how much they paid a rent-boy or where to go for free food served with happy hour.

[deckard9080]

I lived in Ft Lauderdale/Boca for a long time. I would never move back. Why?

1. Mountains, it's beautiful here.
2. Snowboarding and outdoor sports, loads of it.
3. all 4 seasons
4. The Sunshine state isn't that sunny. It used to rain at least once a day in Ft Lauderdale. The summers suck there too because of the humidity.
5. The people are educated here. You don't have the toothless white trash southern rednecks up here. They ruin Florida in my humble opinion. At the gas stations here we don't have a shirtless guy cranking up the Kid Rock in his jacked up truck.

[HotandHumid]

Seattle has a nice compact vibrant downtown area where you can walk to EVERYTHING and there are public squares, restaurants, nightclubs, theatres and the like downtown. It's a bit hilly so I wouldn't recommend biking it around downtown unless you have the gears on your bike to get you up the hills. Seattle does have a really great transportation system throughout it's downtown area so you can always use that also. If you live in the city and work in the city, you don't have to have a car and that will give you lots of spending cash since cars just really suck money out of most people and there's really not many reasons in this day and age of trying to cut down on CO2 emissions to help prevent further global warming that more people can't give up the car habit and live close to where they work.
People in Seattle are much nicer than those in Florida. Florida is all about people putting their money in the face of those who don't have it to make themselves seem more important. Pick up any city magazine in Florida and it's all about selling things to rich people and the only real industry Florida has is selling real estate and we all know about how HONEST and CHARITABLE people are in the real estate selling business in Florida.
Seattle has lots of neighborhoods and it has festivals in those neighborhoods that create a sense of community in Seattle that doesn't exist here in Florida where more and more people live behind walls in gated communities and people don't get out of their cars often to walk in a park or look at a view. Seattle is currently in the process of building a tunnel under downtown so that it can shut down the double decker highway that runs across the downtown waterfront and put the cars that travel on that highway that create all that traffic noise, pollute the downtown air and obstruct the waterfront development of downtown Seattle, inside the tunnel. It would be great if Seattle could do the same thing with that section of that Interstate that runs along the east side of downtown Seattle at the bottom of Capitol Hill.
Florida's governor blocked putting in a high speed rail system that would get people around Florida without having to pollute the air driving their cars to various destinations so we all know that was about keeping the oil industry people happy who contributed to his election.
Along with the recent passage of the highest minimum wage law in the U.S., you'll find more people in Seattle who are interested in the common good than you'd find in the whole of Florida where people have become increasingly wary of their neighbors who can shoot you down for stepping on their lawn saying it was in "self defense" and of going to public places where people can carry a concealed gun obtained with a permit from the State of Florida. And to think they used to call the parts of the once lawless western part of the U.S., "Wild."

[Rcsligar]

Originally Posted by Scorazflwa

Hi all,
I'm sure similar thread was posted previously, but I'm considering moving to Seattle from Orlando Florida, so I would like to know more about Seattle before I make a decision.
1. Do you regret leaving the sunshine state? How do you like the rainy days in Seattle?
2. How are the people in Seattle? Friendly? Hard to make friends? I honestly don't like the people in FL. I think a lot of people here are rude, uneducated and annoying.
3. Can you walk or ride a bike to go somewhere in Seattle? In FL, you must have a car just to get a coffee...
4. How is the economy in Seattle? I'm a female young professional (late 20's).
5. Are there many activities/events in Seattle especially for single people?

I know this is depending on what you want in the city, but I don't really like FL. I've visited many places like Miami, Tampa, Daytona, Cocoa beach...I don't like any of the cities. A lot of places are just dirty and ghetto. And I can't stand the humidity anymore. I tried to like Orlando but after living here for four years, I've come to realize that I don't belong here.

I would love to hear honest opinions from people who moved from FL.
Thanks!

I recently moved back to FL from Seattle and all I can say is that there are definitely pros and cons of making a transition like that. The countryside out there is pretty striking and more diverse than what you'd find in FL. People are generally more educated and I'd say there's less crime. However, I found the social climate to be extremely difficult to deal with. People are significantly more reserved, aloof, and not direct at all. I wasn't used to that coming from the east coast so it wore on me after a while. This is just my opinion although it is a fairly common sentiment.

[Harrier]

Ted Bundy made the opposite move.

Perhaps he preferred to be electrocuted in Florida rather than be hanged in Washington.