Both of us want to move to the Northwest, but we're not sure which city we'll move to. We both want to live in a fairly large city, so Seattle and Portland seem like the best options. I've heard a lot of good things about Vancouver, British Columbia, too, but we didn't visit there and I don't know much about it. I suppose Vancouver would be a good option, too, but right now Portland and Seattle are the top two options for us.

I think that moving up there will be difficult, since we don't know anybody up there and at least one of us will need to get a job up there before we move. It's hard to find a job, even in a city you live in, so I imagine that it will be pretty challenging to find a job up there. Since either Seattle or Portland would be a nice change from living here, I think we might just move to whichever city offers one of us a job. We'd move to either one partially so that we could move up there sooner and partially because even if we were to have an option, I don't know which city we'd pick. I think I'd pick Portland, but she'd pick Seattle.

We want to move to the Northwest for a number of reasons. We're both tired of this scorching Texas weather, we like the nice parks and natural beauty, and I especially like the vibrant and livable urban areas. But, Portland has more of what I want and Seattle has more of what my wife wants.

I want to live in a dense area, probably downtown, so I want that downtown area to be livable, with places to see and things to do. I don't want to have to drive everywhere, so it's important to me that the city be walkable and have a good public transportation system. I also want a good park system and other attractions.

Both cities have good parks, Seattle probably has more things to do and a more vibrant downtown, but Portland is much easier to get around without a car and has a more livable downtown.

My wife wants to live in a bigger metropolitan area, close to major sports teams and with even more places to go and things to do in the city. She wants to live closer to water and in a more scenic city that's different from where we've lived, and Seattle seems more different from home than Portland.

So, both cities have what we want, but my wife definitely prefers Seattle and Portland just seems to fit me a little better. I don't think we could reconcile our differences and just pick one place that we both want more, so I guess the best thing to do is just stay open to both and see which place we're led to. I'm excited about moving up there, though, regardless of which city.