Item — HN Reader

exactly. spent 20 gray, drizzly, and damp years there. then came to California and realized there was life outside the stratocumulus. also in the winter it gets dark dreadfully early (~1615).

[edit 1] That said the summers are beautiful. Long days, fresh water lakes, boating, clean and crisp feeling (at least when I was there many years ago). The problem is there's no guarantee you'll get a nice day even in the summer so you end up at the mercy of that dampness.

1 comments

I went to UW, and lived in Seattle for 6 years. It was miserable. The city's natural surroundings are gorgeous, but it's always cold and damp so you can't really enjoy it (unless you particularly like that kind of weather).

For about a year there was a fantastic hiking trail that started about 50 feet off my front yard. I think I walked it once...

Like you, I moved to California. Night and day difference.

Similar experience, lived in both Seattle and Portland. There is a lot to like about the Pacific Northwest and I loved living there the first few years. But as the years passed I got a bit more depressed.

Had to pay a lot more to move to California, but the sunshine tax has been worth it for me.

Same. Lived in Seattle for nearly a decade. Then I moved to San Francisco (which itself isn't known for being sunny or warm) and it was like I moved to LA. Such a dramatic difference to my mental well-being.

I grew up in a fairly dark, cloudy place and never thought anything of it, but Seattle broke me. I'm extremely sensitive to sunlight now.