I love Seattle and the region for the sheer number of available activities. I had class til 2 today, but then went by Green Lake to fish for a couple hours, and I'm home in time to cook dinner. You can go to Carkeek or Discovery Parks and have no idea you're in a metropolitan area.
That's another thing. Most cities think of parks as beautiful, pristine, manicured lawns maintained by a huge staff--a manufactured oasis designed to let the city-dweller escape the stresses of urban life. Here the parks are like, "Hey, here's a couple of paths, and we're not going to put any buildings here." You're really in the woods with moss and mud and trees and streams, even if you're only a couple miles from the city.
Region: If the in-town activities weren't enough, we're 2 hours away from everything. Climbing, hiking, mountaineering, two ski resorts, islands in the Sound, whales (fucking whales, man!), the boonies (any direction will get you to some peace and quiet). The Sound! I like to enjoy Golden Gardens with a coffee from Cafe Fiore on 85th. Over this past winter I've been able to watch a noob windsurfer go from falling off as soon as he got up to functionally turning when he wants to. If I were a windsurfer, I'm sure someone else would be watching me. If you're into those kinds of things (SUP, sea kayaking) it's hard to beat having Puget Sound on your doorstep.
The people: I don't know much about the Seattle Freeze, but all the natives are super polite, friendly, and helpful. If they don't want to be my long-term friend, that's fine. The transplant scum (myself included) have heard too much about the freeze so no one talks to me. I'm okay with that. All of the friends I've made here are fellow transplant scum.
The weather: Yes, there are fewer daylight hours during the winter than you'd find in many other places. But it's always so dynamic! The grey winter days are never a blanket of sadness. There's always a crazy front moving in from that way, and a different cloud formation over there, and now it's pouring a record-breaking rainfall, but in a few hours there'll be a patch of blue. The convergence zone is crazy. Driving south on I5 you'll go from bluebird to fog-out over the course of a few hundred feet. The grey winter days in Chicago (where I call home) were just sad blankets of grey sadness for weeks on end. And your face would hurt as you're climbing over 3' snow/mud banks to get to the bus stop, only to step in an ankle-deep puddle of near-freezing water, so that just ruined your day.
Housing: Yes, we need to build high density housing to accommodate the influx of jerkoffs like me who dare to enter the city without having parents who chose to live in a very special part of the world. That said, in Greenwood I pay as much for a 1000 ft2 house with a garage and a huge yard and a garage as I paid for a fancy apartment in a 3-flat in Ukrainian Village, Chicago. In both cases the public transit commute took between 30 and 45 minutes to get downtown. I can still walk down the hill and get Thai, Indian, Lebanese, Mexican, French, American Diner, or steakhouse restaurants. I'm typing this in front of a window where I'm watching my flowers' blooms retract a bit as the daylight winds down.
Geology: There are few places on Earth that have as interesting of a geologic record as the PNW. Fun fact, the geologic PNW pretty much excludes Oregon, so suck it, Portland. The Columbia Embayment was there til yesterday, in geologic terms, so the PNW is Washington, Western BC, and panhandle Alaska. More fun facts, there are formations in Australia that are identical to WA formations. These are from the first identifiable supercontinent (Columbia).
Wife and I moved here from Chicago almost two years ago, sight unseen. Neither of us had ever been to the PNW, much less Seattle. We picked a place that had mountains, a thriving restaurant scene (I worked as a chef until a year ago), and enough smart people doing smart people things so that my wife (longform academic) could find employment. Since then I blew out a knee while working in restaurants and went back to school.
Housing density is an issue. Homelessness and drug abuse is an issue. The cost of housing is about the same, but the overall cost of living is higher. There are pros and cons with every decision but coming out here is a definite high point.
Big city stuff: Seattle has plenty of top tier museums/galleries/music venues/food scene.
tl;dr I can go skiing in the morning, hit a meeting in the early afternoon, catch a symphoy or hike a few miles in townd, grab a superb dinner, go see a rock'n'roll show, and get delivery for late night snacks. That's a busy day but it's possible.