We made it back from Washington and while I think we were somewhat spoiled by the perfect weather while we were there, we now know 100% this is something we want to do. We were able to scout housing locations, I was able to get a feel for the job market, and we even had time for touristy things.
Luckily the flights had lots of this:
It felt so good to be out of the airplane. All I could think was how different it was from Florida.
The beautiful view from my parents deck looking out to Mt. Pilchuck.
The first full day we were there I spent in Bellevue and Seattle talking with recruiters, the next day we did some local exploring, these are from the Granite Falls fish ladder.
After that, we went and hiked to the Big Four Ice Caves.
These guys are everywhere!
The pictures don't do them justice for how truly massive they are. The temperature change alone is quite dramatic.
The next day my wife went up for a short flight in my parents plane. (I'm not very enthusiastic about flying.)
On our final day we went downtown and did a bunch of touristy things like visiting Pike's Place Market, ordering from the first Starbucks, and we also visited a local brewery.
All in all, it was a fabulous trip and we can't wait to be here full time. As of right now we're targeting the Lake Stevens/Snohomish area for housing.