i grew up in washington state, and have spent most of my life here, lived in at least 10 cities in washington... recently moved back after a few years in LA.
the public transport in Seattle pretty much sucks(as does traffic). the new light rail, when it is done will make life a lot easier. $2 to the airport from downtown is awesome, this route is the only finished one, so far.
parking in seattle sucks donkey balls, no for real, worst then anywhere ive ever been. When they have hempfest, the parking expands over 3 miles from the venue.
the sports teams are OK
specially the seahawks and the sonics are coming back!!!
the weather isnt as bad as most people think. the volume of rain is lower then NYC in fact, its just that there is a lot of over cast days, the summers we will go 90 days without a drop of rain, easy.
Seattle is far from cheap, rent in Issaquah(nice place) is on par with downtown LA or Beverly Hills(where i moved from). Bellevue and downtown are also in this price range.
aside from belltown(which is trendy as all get out), downtown downtown, is not a place to live, very high rent, but you wont want to go out at night on foot, lots of bums and stupid shit going on. there are also a couple of "section 8/hud" buildings in downtown that also drag it down as a place to live.
if you want to be close to the city, i would look in "eastlake" union or queen anne neighborhoods, not too many trendsetters as they are fairly expensive but not over the top.... decent view from both. Magnolia isnt bad either but a bit further out. if you want to avoid trendy, dont go to capital hill(lots of homeless hipsters begging) greenlake(super trendy but hotties at the lake in the summer) the u district and ballard.
Bellingham gets a LOT more rain then Seattle, i lived there and didnt like it much. a lot of hippys and a lot of college kids and wannabe gangsters. only place in America i have seen guns get pulled outside of a club. you might like it, personal preference. Allegant air flies here though, so flights are cheap at least.
there are three counties between Seattle and Bellingham, you can take public transpo the whole way, but its 100 miles and takes 4-5 hours with transfers.
if you dislike the rain, and don't need to be in the city, id also look at whidbey island, fidalgo island, camano island, anacortes, oak harbor area, they get a lot less rain. are out of the way but don't require a ferry to get to.
if you got the cash for decent rent and dont mind living on an island that is a bit slower paced, Bainbridge is a very nice place to live, just gotta take the 30 minutes ferry ride and your in downtown ready to rumble.
oh yea, Seattle PD is crooked as shit, so watch out for those guys. weed is legal though!
got any more pointed questions, hit me on icq: 82667356