Wow, what a beautiful, scenic views! I've never visited that part of the country... we hope to someday travel the coastline of the western U.S. and would love to visit B.C., Canada too. We were in San Diego for a few months in early 1970 when my husband was in the Navy and we have friends who live in San Diego so we've been out there a few times the past six or so years but that's the only part of California we've ever seen. I love the weather in San Diego but earthquakes scare the beejeebies out of me! Our best friends son got married in SD six years ago and we were there for the wedding. One day I was out shopping with friends when an earthquake hit. None of the locals batted an eyelash but it sure scared those of us from the Southeast! We have to deal with tropical storms and hurricanes here but at least we get warnings weeks in advance of approaching storms!

It's amazing how different the coastline on the west coast is from that here on the east coast of Florida. We don't have the rocky coast here ... it's very sandy. There are lots of restaurants on the Intracoastal waterway where one can dock their boat and go inside or eat out on the deck.

But you DO have an ocean....

I've grown up with earthquakes, no problem....

I've lived in quite a few areas of SoCal, Iowa, Hawaii, Arizona, California Bay Area, Whidbey Island, Wa...and the PNW is by far my favorite place. I know I could easily live in B.C. Vancouver is a fantastic city...also love Seattle, Portland, it all varies so much in the PNW. Yes, you need to travel the West Coast. It's interesting here because we get tourists from all over the world, so you're sitting in a restaurant having breakfast and the people next to you are speaking German, or whatever...I'm sure it's the same in Florida....

I think it doesn't matter where you live as long as it has a 'sense of place' that's important to you.