Doc wrote:Our question is "What is the best time of the year*to come where we can see our hands in front of our faces and not be*surrounded*by a*cold fog?"
Doc---
Everything everyone has posted up to this point is total bullsh*t.* Here's the straight scoop.
Don't come up here at all.* It drizzles constantly, Mt. St. Helens is forever covering everything with engine and lung-killing ash and is starting to show signs of firing off another massive eruption, it's foggy most of the time and if it's not foggy it's hellaciously windy.* Puget Sound lies on a major fault line and Seattle's crumbling infrastructure, most of it built in the first half of the 1900s, is predicted to collapse in a major way when-- not if--- the next large earthquake hits.* Which when you think about it comes a day closer to happening every day.* It's a big reason my employer is bulding a complete airplane manufacturing, assembly, and delivery facility in South Carolina.* We're hedging our bets against the next big Puget Sound quake.
Add to this the fact that the locals hate anyone who hails from south of the east-west line that is an extension of the southern Oregon border and east of the Mississippi River.* Anyone living outside that defined quadrant of the US is considered "The Enemy" and is treated accordingly.* Unless you're here to buy some airplanes in which case you will be treated extremely and genuinely nicely.* But if you're not coming up here to buy planes or negotiate a big contract with COSCO or one of the other big Chinese shipping companies that use the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, or the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, or Paccar (Kenworth trucks), your presence will not be regarded with much enthusiasm.
I've lived here for 31 years now.* It used to be that the period between July 5 and August 31 was considered the best time of year here in terms of sunny days, warmer temperatures, and nice weather.* However as I have stated in other discussions, I've noticed that in the past eight to ten years even that brief period of "good" weather during the summer is no longer dependable.* Last summer, for example, we didn't have a summer.* There was one week of what we consider hot weather (in the 80s-90s).* But the rest of the summer was cool, windy, and rainy most every day of the week.* I don't know if this is a result of global warming, global cooling, global tilting, global acceleration, global deceleration, or global indifference.* But it's been happening long enough for it to become a measurable trend.
So my advice (seriously) is don't waste your time or money coming to the PNW unless you actually want to be in cool to cold, wet, windy, gray, foggy weather.* For example, it's a great place to commit suicide and we have a number of bridges and railroad grade crossings that come highly recommended for this purpose and are used with great frequency.* I think there's even a guide book for them with maps.
Now if you happen to like non-stop overcast skies, low, gray cloud ceilings, and constant drizzle (as I do) then no problem, you'll like it here.* But if you want days of clear air, beautiful views, and sparkling water, these have become so hit-and-miss now that the chances are far greater that you won't have any days like this in a two or three week stay than you will.* Regardless of the time of year you visit.
In fairness, I should say that over in eastern Washington, east of the Cascades, they get a huge number of beautiful days even in the dead of winter.* It is horribly cold in the winter, but the number of sunny days in eastern Washington makes up the better part of the year.* So if you like wheat, wine, cattle, apples, alfalfa, cherries, potatoes, rolling hills, big rivers (albeit with lots of big dams on them), vast open spaces, mule deer, rattlesnakes, and Republicans, then you might want to consider eastern Washington instead of western Washington for your visit.
FF made mention of our seafood.* The truth is, it's crap.* Not because it actually is, but because we ship all the best stuff out.* Same as we do with our famous apples and cherries.* You are more likely to get fresher and better quality northwest salmon, crab, clams, and oysters in Wichita, Kansas than in Seattle.* Just like when I lived in Hawaii back when there was still a huge pineapple industry there.* The pineapples you bought in the local stores were mediocre at best because the best ones were all exported to the mainland or canned.
I just got back today from a week's filming and interviewing in our new 787 manufacturing facilities in Charleston, SC.* The seafood we had in the restaurants there made the stuff you typically get in Seattle restaurants seem like Mrs. Paul's fishsticks in comparison.
So the bottom line is, in my opinion, unless you have a burning desire to be in this part of the country (which is not the same thing as seeing it--- chances are you won't actually be able to
see very much of it), there are about a zillion ways to spend your vacation money more productively and enjoyably.* Go to England or France or Brazil or Argentina or Italy or Canada (but not BC since they have the same weather we have minus the volcanic ash).
Go to Maine, for example.* Same fascinating coastline, same neat boats, but you can actually see it during the summer.* Plus they have lobster which we don't have.* The runner-up Pacific spiny lobster we get from Hawaii, Australia, etc. is a lobster in name only--- it's a poor substitute for a proper Maine (or Canadian Maritime) lobster.
Now there will be people on this forum who will write in great protest over what I've written here.* They will tell you the weather's not nearly as bad as I've portrayed it, the seafood is fantastic, the people are nice to out-of-towners, and so on.
They're lying.* The only reason they will tell you this is that this state is well on its way to bankruptcy just like California and anything that can be done to flim-flam* out-of-state suckers into spending money here will help stave off they day when we simply annex ourselves as a new province of China.* But I refuse to be pulled into that dishonest campaign.* So I'm giving you the straight poop here.* If your favorite color is gray, and your favorite feeling is wet, come on up.* Otherwise, you'll be a lot happier and get a much bigger bang for your buck somewhere else.
-- Edited by Marin on Monday 6th of December 2010 01:14:12 AM
