We live in Spokane now 8 years after moving from Seattle. Seattle is different than most other northern cities. Not so cold and easy to spend the year home. Also easy to keep RV'ing all year around. We aren't retired yet, but it if we did still live there, we probably wouldn't base our traveling on the weather or time of the year in Seattle. Seattle became too crowded, and as I'm a home appliance service technician, I asked for a transfer to Spokane where I'm not sitting in traffic all day. We love it here, but I do miss Puget Sound, boating, scuba diving, the San Juans, etc. Nice lake Cour D'alene though!!