Whats your "Perfect Day" in Seattle?

The rules about telling the truth about Seattle weather are very specific. We can't, or everyone will want to live here. I can post http://www.komonews.com/weather which is the 5 day forecast from komo, a local news outlet. There is viirtually no snow in the mountains right now, so all of the outdoor activities we wait until july to enjoy are available right now. I live north of the city in a beach town. I see bald eagles every day. On my commute to work i can see three volcanoes, the ocean, the san juan islands. tomorrow i can be on a sailboat 20 mins after work. saturday i can drive less than an hour to a trailhead to an alpine lake or a mountain top. Sunday i will have brunch in a quirky artsy neighborhood in the city before heading out to play ultimate frisbee, half of my teammates will bike to the game. Seattle is a vibrant city that skews young. it has neighborhoods with parks, art cinema, craft brew stores with tables to play boardgames and drink pours. weed is legal here. Traffic is abysmal for some, public trans is pathetic, and there are problems that any urban space faces. for these ymmv. cost of living is going up because it's great to live here and therefore people are moving here increasing real estate rates and density. Others will likely suggest specific neighborhoods for you to come hang out in...you might want to check zillow or some such site to see what area you can afford, but if you are looking for a place to get the feel of the city, try Greenlake, Magnuson park/Burke Gilman trail Ballard or West Seattle. Some folks talk of the 'Seattle Freeze', which is a vibe very different from what you are used to in chill santa monica. I have never found it to be a thing for me, but again ymmv. If Seattle is too much of a city for what you want, you might like Bellingham, a (small) college town closer to Canadia. Enjoy.

but I'm scared of moving from sunshine to grey skies and rain. This week has been sunny and the cherry trees are blooming. Head to Volunteer Park near Capitol Hill on a sunny day to climb the watchtower and get a fabulous view. The pop down to one of Broadway's many delicious restaurants like http://annapurnacafe.com. I love Mercury Coffee's lattes; ridiculously decadent and creamy. Your list of likes can easily all be found in the greater Seattle area.

I love Seattle, it's a literate, beautiful, historic, interesting place. But I don't think it's what you're looking for if sunshine is important to you. Seattle has most of the things on your list of desirable qualities, but when that list is contrasted with the list of things you love about Santa Monica it's less favorable. Seattle: 71 clear days 93 partly cloudy days 201 cloudy days (cloudy is defined as 80% or greater cloud cover) 43% sunny annually Los Angeles: 186 clear days 106 partly cloudy days 73 cloudy days 73% sunny annually As you can see, the difference in weather is very drastic. Seattle may have less actual precipitation than the cliche would lead you to believe but the number of days on which precipitation occurs is greater and there's a long period of cloudiness and/or rain from October to May or June. That's quite different than "endless sunshine" and it may be a shock to adjust to 30% fewer sunny days. If it's cloudy when you visit, just consider that it will be like that for 57% of the year and give serious thought to whether you could deal with it for 5-10 years or even permanently. Definitely discuss that with your SO. Seattle also has a reputation for being polite but impersonal, sometimes called "The Seattle Freeze". You might want to test that out as much as possible when you're out and about during your visit to see if it's something that happens to you and if it's something you could live with.

There's been a ton of good answers in this thread already, but you seem pretty fixated on the weather thing, so here's some cold water: My SoCal-4-lyfe boyfriend moved here in 2013 to live with me in the heart of the city. The first winter was a shock to him: 8 hours of "sunlight" filtered through clouds, light rain that's just enough to be obnoxious, and a whole new water-proof winter wardrobe required. It's not the whole winter, but every year weeks will go by without the rain really stopping or the sun coming out. The lack of sunlight causes serious sleep issues for some, myself included, where it's hard to feel fully awake or get out of bed in the winter mornings because the sun if it comes out at all isn't up till 8:45-9am. SoCal boyfriend experiences a mild SAD-induced depression every winter. So for him, yeah, it's been that bad. He's asked me a bunch of times in the last year if I would be ok living in NorCal sometime soon. The joke among locals is that summer doesn't start until July 5th. Residents usually travel during the winter to warmer, sunnier places -- our go-tos are Hawaii, California and Vegas. Boyfriend's second winter here (this one we're just exiting) has been somewhat less grumbly and disappointing, but it's also the nicest winter I can remember in almost three decades of living here. I'm savoring it, and so is boyfriend, but this is not normal. There's still time for this nice weather to go to shit and be low 60s and cloudy straight through into summer, which it has done before and isn't predictable, unlike sun in California. On more than one occasion I have planned and taken a vacation somewhere warm to escape late lingering winter, only to miss one of three sunny weeks we had that summer. And as a side-note, the "beach" here isn't the ocean, it's Puget Sound: no real waves breaking and freezing year-round. Golden Gardens, the only real SAND beachfront (because almost every other beach will be rocks that are not fun to walk on), is packed with people all summer long. It faces land, so you can't really look out into the horizon. I love it, but if you're used to wide-open Pacific beachfront and waves and the whole actually-an-ocean thing, you need to drive a couple hrs to the peninsula for that. I used to be super gung-ho about the rain and the cold rainforest feel. What really changed it for me is when I lived in Arizona for 18 months -- getting lots of sun lifts my spirits and keeps me full of energy in a way that I had never experienced before. My personal long-term plan is to relocate somewhere else where school season weather is nicer and then live in Seattle during the summers. As beautiful and amazing as this place is, and others have said as much, I've spent too much of my life putting up with Seattle winter bullshit when it's just not a good fit for me personally. No amount of awesome things to do or it being my home will change that.

Namely, moving to a city thats a little more affordable for us. The city is becoming much less affordable, so if you plan to rent here, be aware that — barring some unforeseen problem with Amazon — real estate prices will be substantially higher in a year. Renting from month to month may be more sensible, until you get your bearings and know what kind of place you want and can afford. Unless you live north or south of the middle band of the city (basically, outside of QA, Belltown, Capitol Hill, Central District, Madison Valley and Magnolia) having a yard will be $$$. Living space is tight and options are dwindling, as houses are torn down to build mega-apartment complexes. Outside of those neighborhoods I mentioned, public transportation is not great and the traffic is often worse. Where you work will become a major consideration in where you look to live, because it will determine your commuting options. All that said, we are having freakish weather and it is beautiful. It is normally amazing here from mid-June to late-September, and rainy and dreary the rest of the year. The summer weather makes up for the rest of the year. Some good coffee can be found at http://www.fremontcoffee.net/, http://www.caffevita.com/, http://milsteadandco.com/, http://www.victrolacoffee.com/content/cafes/coffee-and-art-on-15th, and http://espressovivace.com/. If you go to http://www.paseoseattle.com/, Caffe Vita is right up the street. But Paseo makes pretty heavy food that would be difficult to follow up with coffee. A trip to Fremont and Ballard may be sensible. You can end up at Golden Gardens, which faces the sound. It isn't the ocean, but it works. Another option is couple miles south of Ballard, in Magnolia: http://www.seattle.gov/parks/environment/discovery.htm, which has lots of trails to hike that lead out to Puget Sound. It offers a nice Sunday walk, about 5-10 miles, and goes well with a thermos of coffee and some sandwiches at the end.

I came to also comment on the weather. I am from socal and have lived in the PNW and for the last several years in sunny (NOT) europe. It takes a while to get used to the change, but your second winter should be okay. It helps to be in a place where you can do winter sports (which you would be, I believe) and to use lots of cosy things. The norwegians have a concept called "koselig" which you might look up, but its all about cosiness... hot soups, good bread, warm slippers, cashmere dressing gowns, soft throw blankets, warm lighting... those things make the winter very nice indeed. Plus, the PNW gets nice hot summers.

If you think the weather will be an issue for you, don't move here unless you dig the idea of waking up to a gray, drizzly fifty degree day a week before the Fourth of July wondering why the fuck is it not summer yet? Also consider what kinds of outdoor recreation you prefer: if you like the beach and swimming and surfing, you already live in the right place. If you'd rather take long bike rides in the rain, hike to see waterfalls, or (in some years, when the mountains get enough snow)ski or snowshoe, Seattle might be for you. Seattle is fabulous from July through September, arguably the nicest large American city in which to live during those amazing three months. But since you'll also be living here the rest of the year, consider that October through June is one long, gray season periodically interrupted by amazing bursts of sunshine and blue skies. The best part about Seattle weather is that at its typical worst it rarely prevents you from doing the things you love, as long as you don't mind doing them in a light rain. My ideal day involves my walkable neighborhood: I never have to leave if I don't want to, and if I do want to I'm about one minute from I-5, close to half a zillion bus routes, and in 2021 my neighborhood will have light rail service, which can take me as far as the airport. If it's a weekday, I might stop by Trader Joe's on my walk to work, maybe walk to the Y to work out over the lunch hour, I could meet a friend for a drink at one of a thousand places, or visit the library on the way home. On a weekend I'm within a 20 minute walk of Green Lake park, Ravenna Park, the Burke-Gilman Trail, a Whole Foods, several bookstores, the Y, four independent movie theaters, one of America's great remaining video stores, plentiful vegan food, the University of Washington campus, some live music venues, and all kinds of other things. I could walk to Lake Union and rent a kayak, I could bike the Burke to Fremont or Ballard and hit up a lot of the places people mentioned above, maybe I'll go to one of the frequent author talks put on by the Seattle Public Library. If I want to get out of town, this weekend I'm camping along the coast in southwest Washington, but a three hour drive gets you to Vancouver BC, the warmth and sun of Central Washington, Lake Chelan, three national parks including Mount Rainier, or to Portland. The variety and quality of the food here isn't as good as in LA, but it's good, and the same goes for local music and other live entertainment. I honestly don't know how feasible it is to buy a house with a yard in one of Seattle's great neighborhoods. I feel like you're probably looking at the $600k range unless you want to start making compromises. I do think you should think very very carefully about the weather before you move. Flights to Seattle aren't that expensive and you can always visit during the summer and spend the rest of the year living in perfect Santa Monica weather.

Cafe Mox seems like a great place for tabletop gaming.

https://ask.metafilter.com/276846/Whats-your-Perfect-Day-in-Seattle Weird, off the beaten path type of things -Plants, botanical gardens This is probably further than you want to travel but it covers both those: the http://www.kruckeberg.org/ in Shoreline. And since you said you want "affordable," well, you're more likely to end up here than in Seattle.