Ok, we are thinking about moving sometime in the next year or so and we are trying to think of a good place to go. We thought about going to Syracuse area, then we thought about so cal, and then Massachusetts, and now we have generally narrowed it down to just Portland, OR (AREA) -OR- Seattle, WA (AREA). In someone'* opinion, which would be the better choice? Otherwise please suggest a different area of the US and give me a couple good reasons to consider it. Thanks!

Oh yeah, and somewhere I can get FIOS service...lol

What'* FIOS?

I like visiting Seattle. Love it to death. But the traffic is 5x worse than Portland. Another thing to consider about Oregon is that there is no sales tax.

Both states and cities are great. I've either visited or lived in 44 States. Oregon and Washington are my favorites (which is why I'm still here) by far, in spite of being a CA native.

Does it have to be a large city? There are plenty of great options in the Midwest, particularly Iowa. Nobody ever thinks about voluntarily moving to Iowa, but everybody loves it when they get here. You could move to the Des Moines metro area, which isn't small by any means. There is also the Quad Cities area that includes cities in Iowa and Illinois.... great place to live. And for a fun university town, Iowa City has nice flair.

Move to idaho its like a less humid version of washingto or oregon. Plus we need a 3rd BC Member

There'* a good selling point LOL

Seattle traffic is a NIGHTMARE. Well, Washington traffic is, not just in Seattle. It is a great city, lots of oportunity, places, homes, etc... Great views. Near the mtns if you like to snowboard/ski. Tons of lakes and the Puget Sound is never far away. I like it! It does seem to rain quite a bit, but it does in Portland too.

Portland... well.... don't know too much about it so i won't try to act like I do. Seems nice when I've been there

Let me know if you ever get out here, even before then. I'm about 45min. SE away from seattle!

willwren: FiOS (Fiber Optic *ervices) is a new internet thing that Verizon offers, it is like 3 times faster then cable for the same price. Thats a good thing about that no sales tax, especially if you buy expensive things. Very cool.

big_news_1: well my mother is from the west and she wants to go back out the west but does not want to live in California anymore. Way too overly populated. Yeah I know about not voluntarily moving places...we did not mean to move to WI...it just...kinda happened. I don't neccisarily love it here...but it is not tooo bad. I really love snow, but it really does not snow enough here..AND I love monuntains...and well the last time I checked, the entirety of the Midwest is absent of mountains.

Hans: Haha, well Idaho does have mountains, it does snow lots. And WHO could pass up all those potatoes??? WOOH!!! But one thing missing...ocean...love ocean...don't know why I left Hawaii.

DriverJohn2005:Really? Is it now? Thats kind of a drawback. I really love snow, but really don't know how to snowboard or ski, but it would probably be fun to learn! I have heard that it is very wet, hence, lakes...very cool. Rain is not a problem, I LOVE RAIN! I am kinda leaning toward Washington at the moment. But before I make any stupid decisions, like moving from Hawaii to Wisconsin, I will come there and check it out! That should be pretty soon. Hopefully. We will see how things go in dah moneys department.

Thanks for all your help, but this is still in the deciding process so anyone please add any comments you might have, I need all the deciding power I can get for the moment.