My wife and I just visited Western Washington state and were AMAZED at the natural beauty there and the friendliness of its inhabitants. I just finished my Master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in MIS (Management of Information Systems), and my wife is a newly graduated RN (registered nurse) who works for a local pediatric clinic here in Omaha, Nebraska. We have been contemplating a move lately. We are entirely too sick of the winters here. We are looking to move some place that has milder winters. Omaha’s are 5-6 mo long and we get way too much snow and often wind chills far below zero. In addition, the summers are often too hot and humid so the kids end up spending too much time indoors. We have three children ages 12, 7 and 5 and we would like to move some place with a community feel to it. We don’t mind rain instead of snow and even some snow is perfectly fine, just not as much as we get now where the 50 degree below zero wind literally takes your breath away. We want an area with good schools, safe neighborhoods where outdoor recreation is easily accessible. We want to be close enough to a somewhat bigger city so we can enjoy typical city advantages such as concerts and live theater, as well be close enough to drive into the wilderness for a weekend of camping and “getting away from it all”. We need an area that can serve both of our professions and where home prices aren’t extravagant and the people are friendly. Omaha is incredibly friendly and the cost of living is wonderful and our kids go to great schools in a smaller neighboring city but we just can’t stand the weather. When we visited Oregon and Washington in early September, we went as far South as Portland, OR and as far North as Port Angeles, Forks, and Cape Flattery in WA. Downtown Seattle was too big and scary for my wife to live there on a regular basis, especially at night (though I loved it) and Forks was too far from a big city for me (though my wife loved it). Something or somewhere in between would be nice. Someone suggested Bellingham to us but we just don’t know much about anywhere ourselves. If anyone would have any good suggestions or other websites for us to aide in our research, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, our family in Omaha