Well, there are a couple kinds of short palms that do fine here, there are lots in my neighborhood! Strange to see them next to Rhododendrons.
One thing to think about with moving, although we don't get hurricanes or tornadoes, or even many thunderstorms, this is earthquake country. Every 300-1000 years there is a massive earthquake here, and it's been over 300 years since the last one. The tsunami it produced was devastating in Japan (they have written records of it) and the geologists and the Indians tell us it was here too, so you might not want to live at sea level, or at the edge of a cliff. Remember those awful videos of the walls of water in Japan a few years ago. Well, you asked for advice, and that is my advice ;-)
Here is a photo of a house here, note it was taken on New Years Day, has Christmas Lights, Palm Trees, Evergreen Trees and Palm Trees!
