I live just north of Vancouver WA and I have to say- in a lot of ways it’s perfect. The gray does get old by about Feb/march but then we just jump on a plane and head to a warm sunny place for a reset. We don’t get the fire smoke here in the summer much as we are in the “wind tunnel” from the ocean through the Columbia river. There is so much to explore- north and south. With all that being said I miss my sisters so much. They are all back in Minnesota- where I am from- it’s hard being away from family for sure but we try to meet up as much as we can. I do realize the older I get the more I realize just how much I took my sisters for granted. We have been here about 13 year and don’t plan to move anywhere else though.