With your list of interests, I think you will really like the Northeast.

Museums--Check(every small town seems to have some kind of museum)

Art--Check(tons of art gallerias/museums especially if you branch out to NYC/Bos)

Hiking---Check(there is great hiking throughout the Northeast, more hills then mts.)

Photography--Check(I am a photographer and the landscape changes with the seasons and is always interesting, and so many subjects to photograph)

Driving--?(not sure what that means, but for me the back roads and small hwys of New England are some of the most enjoyable and beautiful drives I have ever done)

Food--Check!Check! (between Boston, CT, and NY, you can find anything and a lot of great food, but if you are gonna be a Nutmegger you must go to New Haven and try the 3 big apizza(sallys, pepes, modern) and choose your tribe.)

Drink--Check(CT has a strong micro-brew scene)

Supporting Small Business---Check(CT & NE is small business)

Haunted or spooky places---Hell yeah, Check(there are so many you just got to go explore)

I'm glad you said you had a sense of humor, because my brother and best friend move to Seattle a few yrs ago I have visited often and did not vibe with the people (no offense to you, just in general) they did not seem to have a sense of humor(maybe it's the Seattle freeze?). Having said that Northeasterners have a wicked sense of humor, but they are also reserved and it can take a while to make friends. As long as you are getting out and doing things that interest you, you will eventually make friends, and those friends will bust your balls, but also have your back. Enjoy your adventure and welcome to New England.

As a west coaster who spent a few weeks this summer in CT, good luck you couldn't pay me to go back. Literally the worst place I've ever visited hands down

You are moving to new england not just ct. dont be confined to your new town. Its just a few hours to a bunch of rad places. This west coaster was prob a boring person. Ct isnt boring, people are

Ct is gonna absolutely be a good fit for you if those are the things you enjoy a lot of trails and hiking spot. The scenery is beautiful in the fall very welcoming for photography. What part of ct if you don’t mind me asking?

New England is almost the same size as WA state! If you take out the remote parts of Maine, it’s smaller. People here think 90 minutes is a long drive. There so much here to enjoy and do. Go experience it.

We're also glad you went back

check out http://www.ctmq.org

Thank you so much for your response! I'm also excited to be moving out there, because I've been told there are some similarities to Washington, with the new bonuses I'm about to experience. I'll admit I'm mostly excited for the food. Someone I worked with was born and raised from NH, they said a big difference here with cooking is because we have hard water up here. thought it was weird but good to know.

I will happily pick a pizza tribe. Pizza is one of the foods that isn't ruined for me if I have it too often. Some would say I'm committing sin with my pizza choices, but my bf has luckily gotten me to find a way to enjoy thin crust so I will be prepared for that.

And small business/photography: my hometown used to be 7,000 people until others found it to be awesome, too. I am a freelance photographer of 15 years and shooting in any areas from weddings, family portraiture, senior glam, Quinceanera, boudoir, sports/in-motion. I'd really like to get into some other areas of taking photos that I've had a small taste of already to build on those as well.

About the Seattle Freeze, it's totally there hahah! I'm from the west side so I'd have to catch a ferry or drive down n around to get to Seattle. Very, very different attitudes. It's sad how Seattle is dying, and the cold attitudes are probably from that. I'm even a little bitter from it even though I lived about an hour and a half away. In high school, my friends and I would hop in my '05 Civic and split the parking cost, then walk on the ferry free. Walk all around wherever we wanted and no worry about our persons. Then we'd go home when we got bored. Can't really do that without being even a little sketched out by your surroundings now.

I am definitely up to exploring outside my actual city I'll be residing! Long distance driving doesn't bother me (I consider long distance 3 hours or more, personally) Driving here is absolute madness, complete insanity... Literally risking my life every time I get in the car with the OTHER drivers here. But no, some places can be boring. And people can be boring too. I don't think I'll experience close to "boring" once I move. So far, a lot of my boxes are getting checked for what the area has to offer.

Thats a good way to look at it, and I definitely want to visit Maine! Bf had a diving job out there once and said he liked it there. Im excited to make my way around.

Hearing that is some great reassurance! Hopefully I'll be able to experience a true "4 Seasons" like I've heard of. Here... its shorter spring and weird ass winters that wanna act like spring but still holding on to fall so bad hahah.

We recently applied to a condo in Vernon, but we are pretty open to looking around the Hartford area. Bf's going to go back to school for his BA in engineering and some of the schools he's looking at are in that area. He used to work in Groton at the base there. Originally, we were looking to rent a house on the water, but we thought being closer to school is a safer idea. We are ok with a 30 min commute for school.

Thank you for the link! Theres alot there!

Yep, I remember visiting Seattle in the early 90's and thinking what a cool town, like everything change comes and some things are better and some are worse. I will say my brother left Seattle and moved to Gig Harbor and I really liked it over there(very different vibe, but its growing quick) so I hope he is happy. Spring and Fall will be similar to Washington although more sun in general. The big difference will be winter and summer, CT winter will be much more sunny but way colder, and snowier. My California wife was afraid of driving in the snow, but they clear the roads pretty quick in most towns, unless its a huge storm(in that case stay home). The summer in the PNW is pretty ideal and sunny, CT will be hot and humid with frequent thunderstorms. For me I find the winter snow and summer thunderstorms beautiful and I love that they force you to slow down and work on mother natures schedule. Good luck.

Winter here is absolute shit. They DO NOT maintain the roads. When it snows, it doesnt last very long, but then we get black ice, and alot of our roads here are heavily wooded making that worse. It takes a few car wrecks for any of the surrounding counties to be like "oh shit we should do something to the roads..." Oh and employers here are SUPER unforgiving about the winter here. Don't even get caught talking about it when you finally get to work in a panic. Everyone at your work hates you if you show the slightest disinterest in driving to work in the snow. I just dont get it. Roads are shit but you're expected to risk your life for less than $20/hr (if you make more, im proud of you lol)