On traffic: it's terrible, but Seattle is now worse than Atlanta in my opinion. It wasn't like that when we first moved here, but it's like that now. Neither pl

On traffic: it's terrible, but Seattle is now worse than Atlanta in my opinion. It wasn't like that when we first moved here, but it's like that now. Neither place is great. On lack of character: we can just agree to disagree on that. I find the culture and character amazing, though it doesn't beat my favorite character-rich cities of New Orleans and Charleston, SC. I never wanted for things to do, and we went camping in the Appalachians regularly. Full of transplants: that's going to be true of most recommendations on this list. Seattle, SF, Portland, Bend, Nashville, Denver, Chicago, and on and on. Not a negative for me, as I'm a transplant myself (I'm certainly never moving back to Kansas).