I have just avoided western WA for most of the last decade...
Quite a few folks from AK get the "pleasure" of visiting "Pill Hill", which kind of overlooks Lake Union. Fred Hutch, SCCA, Virginia Mason, Swedish, et. al. are in the vicinity. I've had the unfortunate "pleasure" of visiting a few of those places.
Seattle is a very good place for quality medical care and the U of W is very reputable institution of higher learning. I try to go to a Huskies game every year.
Sure, Seattle has changed a lot (not so much for the better) and I sure wouldn't want to live there, but it is tolerable for short periods. To each his own . . . .
