Vancouver - Rocky Mountaineer Train - Victoria - Seattle Trip

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I lived in San Francisco for 17 years. I used to believe it had the best setting until I started spending more time in the Pacific Northwest. Now I rank it fourth, behind Vancouver, Anchorage, and Seattle, in a tie with Portland. The common element among Vancouver, Anchorage, and Seattle is that all three of them are situated on fjords, providing dramatic combinations of water, mountains, and snow. Seattle drops behind Anchorage and Vancouver because the mountains aren't quite as spectacular.

I think Portland is a nicer city than Seattle, but Seattle has a more scenic setting.

When I arrived in San Francisco in the early 1970's, it was a very nice city. During the years I lived there, I thought it really went downhill.

Steve,

I grew up in the Northwest and lived in Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. From there I moved south and lived in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Mexico, Vancouver again, San Diego, SF Bay area, SE Florida, Venezuela, San Diego again, SF Bay area again, and then retired in Murrieta. I have also spent a lot of time in the Mid-West.

We could never live in the Northwest because of the weather. Both my wife and I like the warm sunny weather of Southern California. The Northwest is beautiful when it is sunny. Unfortunately that is not very often.

I haven't been in downtown Portland for over 40 years so I can't judge it. The first time I went to San Francisco in 1962, I thought it was paradise. The peninsula and San Jose area were beautiful with a lot of orchards. San Francisco was very clean. It went downhill for awhile but has definitely improved in the last couple of years. It is much cleaner and more attractive now than a few years ago but still will never be as it was in 1962. We lived in the SF Bay area last year and spent a lot of time in the city.

You should appreciate the view I had of Seattle from our room at the Grand Hyatt. We were on the 23rd floor with a great view of the city including Lake Union, Space Needle and the ocean.

It is a good thing that we all have different opinions or it would be very crowded in one place.