One, it's the West Coast, and with that, different sets of people to deal with. Fewer Latins, more Chinese, lots more Japanese. Some of that only matters when it comes to restaurants, but there are other differences, under the surface, that will appear over time, regarding work ethics and loyalty that might confuse people at first.
Unlike Orlando, Seattle is not a service economy, it's an industrial one. And where Orlando is a HUGE service economy, Seattle is a HUGE industrial economy. Lot's of I/E, and lots of IT. Import/Export is a huge deal, and there are lots of jobs in and around that, and it offers some other things, like lot of weird stuff on sale (that somehow got stuck or 'fell off the boat' there in the harbor). It's also home to Microsoft and a bunch of other IT stuff. Did you know that Seattle has more millionaires per capita than any other US city? It's true. So there are a lot of opportunities to make money, apparently even large amounts of it, but its a pretty skilled environment to work in too. More jobs for college grads in Seattle than Orlando, but fewer jobs for people w/o college too.
OK, it rains - but it only rains as much (or perhaps even less) than it does in other places. Yeah, sure, whatever - cause when it rains in Seattle the sky opens up and dumps it in huge sheets. It's not that happy little clouds roll across the afternoon sky and get everything a little wet and that's OK cause you can see it evaporating even as it hits the hot Orlando pavement. Nope. It's 'get the ark ready' rain. And in the winter it's a chilled to the bone wet type cold water rain. REI (which started in Seattle in 1939) used to have a shower-type room at the main store so you could wear different elements of rain gear in a lot of water and see how they hold up. It's serious rain time. For those that downplay the rain in Seattle, look at a map. See that thing across the Puget Sound, Olympic National Park? And Mount Olympus looks spectacular out over the Sound on a clear day too.) Well Olympic National Park is the only (as in, ONLY ONE) rain forest in the contiguous United States. That's some serious rain, when you can get your own rain forest going I'll tell you.
It's not just wet, it's pretty much damp most of the time. Somethings never dry, they just sort of rot/mold/mildew away. Oh, and the reason that lighting is such a big deal is, a) its a lot more rare, and b) lighting starts forest fires, and forest fires out West can destroy huge areas. So it's a big deal. In the midwest every frickin' building has a lighting rod, out West, I almost never see them.
But it does avoid that Too Hot to do anything that the South and other places get, and the Too Cold For Life that the Midwest and NE get - so you can be out and about pretty much year round. And since there is all this water there in the form of rain, the Puget Sound, rivers, snow, waterfalls and all that - well then you might as well just get wet and there is a lot of boat stuff (fishing, sailing, kayaking, team rowing) to do. And, there is very much that West Coast physical culture deal that is heavily present. People ride their bikes (serious bikes too, lots of road bikes, mtn bikes and dual use bikes) year-round. People go up into the mountains year-round. People camp year-round. It is like some of the most mind blowing natural beauty of any place in the world and all that, so people are into it and use it.
So, like most West Coast places, there is no quicker way to meet people then doing your favorite out-door stuff, and no better way to be alone in Seattle than not to do any of that stuff - because just about everyone is doing that kind of stuff, at least some of it. In Seattle, REI is not just a camping/outdoors store - it's the major fashion statement. All that Columbia 'system clothing' stuff? In Seattle people actually wear it.
De Island Culture, Mon. Here's a weird deal about Seattle. There are all these little communities out on these islands in the Puget Sound. It would take a whole other post of this length to describe them, but it's very strange, very cool, and pretty unique to that area. Some are artist deals, some weird religious inbreeding stuff, groups of people with similar interests like sailing. I think it takes a while to get all that though, they tend to be isolated, which is what they want.
It's a heroin city. Portland likes Meth. LA crack and blow, and SF alcohol and pot - but Seattle really loves heroin. I don't know why. I just know it's true. Lots of junkies in Seattle. Stay clear of them, but that's pretty easy, it's not like they move very fast or anything. They are noddin, and not actively being crazy like the crack and meth heads.
