by Melanie Grimes

Created on: November 13, 2008   Last Updated: December 24, 2008

Things you should know before moving to Seattle

Seattle is the home of great hip-hop, ninety miles of waterfront, and the first shopping mall. If you want to live here, you gain access to many unique lifestyle amenities. But every cloud has its silver lining, and Seattle has more clouds than most. My family homesteaded to Washington State and after four generations, the area has changed a lot, but there is still a great deal to enjoy if you move to this area.

CON: RAIN If you want to live in Seattle, be prepared for long dark winters, but this is more than made up for by the glorious long, sunny summers. In winter, Seattle has only eight hours of daylight- it's parallel to Nova Scotia. But in summer, this translates into 16 hours of daylight, with 10 pm sunsets. This means that you can finish dinner, then go for a bike ride, then watch the sunset before turning on the 11 o'clock news.

PRO: ENTERTAINMENT Seattle is a great movie town, with lots of premiers and small regional theaters. There are also the most employed equity actors to supply local stage performances, and lots of nightclubs and bars.

CON: TRAFFIC Seattle's traffic is the second worst in the nation, behind Los Angeles and just a tad in front of San Francisco. Much of this is due to a lack of public transportation and the West Coast car culture. In addition, one of the main traffic patterns is across Lake Washington, serviced by two floating bridges that act like a plug during rush hour.

PRO: SHOPPING Seattle invented the shopping mall, and we have some great ones. Bellevue Square is a completely enclosed mall, and two new pedestrian friendly malls are being remodeled at University Village and Northgate. Seattle sells more sunglasses per capita. This is NOT because it is so sunny here, but because when the sun comes out, we can't remember where we left our sunglasses the last time the sun came out. We also sell more toothbrushes per capita. I don't know why.

CONS: SHOPPING Seattle has one of the highest sales tax in the nation: 9%.

PRO: WATER Seattle has 90 miles of waterfront within the city limits. It's a great place to kayak, sail, row, swim, or even live on a houseboat. There are over 500 houseboats in Lake Union, and if you drop your keys overboard you have to call a scuba guy. There are scuba plumbers and scuba electricians, and even scuba police in Seattle.

PRO: RECREATION You can ski just one hour from downtown Seattle at night skiing slopes at Snoqualmie and Stevens Ski areas. You can also white

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