thoughtfulThings I will miss about living here
Being able to dry clothes outside on line (between March and October, anyway)
Edible stuff growing everywhere
Our big wide kitchen sink
A few select people
Yellow-billed magpies (normally hate birds, but these are nice to look at, and they run around in pairs, which is cute)
California nights
Things I won't miss about living here
California days (sun glare)
California drivers
People bicycling while talking on cell phones
Every fourth pedestrian talking on a cell phone
Drunk college students yelling "Woooo" after midnight on quiet residential streets
Star jasmine (I originally loved the stuff and thought it smelled heavenly, but lately it has struck me as cloying and perfumey, and the town is absolutely covered with it)
Total and complete lack of topography
Being at least a two-hour drive from anywhere interesting and/or attractive
No rain for five months straight
100 degrees being normal and 90 degrees being "not too hot" for June through September
Sales tax AND state income tax (Washington at least doesn't have the latter)
High rent prices, low vacancy rates, dinky square footage
House being so lacking in insulation that temperature inside is always within ten degrees of temperature outside
Sugar ants
Black widows
Homework
University politics
Having to water lawn all the time
People asking if Oregon has paved roads
Sacramento radio stations
People wrinkling their noses and saying "Oh, but the RAIN" when I tell them I'm going back to Seattle
Hard, sulfurous, chlorine-laden tap water
The pollen/smog/dust clogging up the air
Only bodies of water in town being puny ponds infested with ducks and mosquitoes
Living across from Co-op, which means hearing really loud delivery trucks at all hours, not to mention hippie live music on occasion
Being owned by Co-op (seriously, they own our duplex)
Dark-colored clothing being highly impractical most of time
Having to shave legs way too often since wearing shorts is necessary most of time
Not having bathtub (and try shaving legs without one, incidentally)
Sycamores (they're everywhere, they smell weird, they drop leaves and junk constantly, they are not very pretty)
Having very little, in fact, in the way of attractive autumn foliage – stuff just turns brown here
The dork who rides past the house every night on a teeny motorized scooter that sounds like a cross between a mosquito and a jet-ski
And just to round things out...
Things I look forward to about Seattle:
Rent won't be any cheaper, but should at least get more square footage for the dollar
Evergreen forests by the square gigamile (if that isn't a word, it should be)
Being able to point to at least two volcanoes even if it's too cloudy to see them
Most days, in fact, being too cloudy to see the mountains
80 degrees being considered "hot"
Drizzle being considered normal
Gothly clothing being practical
Salt water with fresh tides to keep it clean
More CD stores, bookstores, trendy shops, and totally weird-ass shops than I can shake a stick at
The yearly possibility of snow
The way the skyline looks at night (especially from a ferry in Elliott Bay)
Plenty of hills with actual views
Seals and sea lions barking just offshore from Ballard
The smell of the air (some combination of ocean, Douglas fir, traffic fumes, and wet pavement)
Mucho cool family members up there, with corresponding beach houses 'n stuff
Halloween night on Broadway - now there's good people-watching
The Space Needle fireworks on New Year's Eve
Several places within city limits where our kayaks could actually be used
The Stranger
I could go on.
But, to be fair:
Things I don't look forward to about Seattle:
THE TRAFFIC.
That's mostly it.
