Hey all. I live in Washington state where I work as a mental health therapist. In my job, I work with people who originate not only from different areas around the US, but around the world. Which has taught me that a lot of the assumptions I thought were obvious truisms aren't for a lot of people. For example, I just learned recently from a Syrian client that the idiom 'don't throw the baby out with the bathwater' isn't commonly used in the Middle East, at least from his experience. So I'm curious, what is something about where you live that is less known but you may have assumed was common knowledge?
One that I've learned from clients about Washington, that as a native Washingtonian I don't even give a second thought, is how wildly different Western Washington is from Eastern Washington. For those that don't know, Washington is broken up into three main sections, the islands and mainland on the western side and than the eastern side. The state is split by the Cascade Mountains.
So, climate-wise, Western Washington is a coastal climate. Our temperature ranges typically go from the mid-30's (Fahrenheit) to the mid-90's, depending on the season. We get mostly rain, a bit of snow from time to time (usually a good two-three weeks of snow), but a ton of just standard, grey and overcast with occasional sun breaks, and '40-50 degree weather. For about 6-7 months. Than our springs and summers are amazing. Than it's back to the '40-50 degree, grey with spots of sun weather. Eastern Washington is like a normal ass place, with normal ass seasons. Snow in the Winter. Hot as hell in the Summer. It's a rural area without the impact of the Pacific Ocean causing the coastal climate.
The Western-side is more populous and politically more progressive. The Eastern-side tends to lean more conservative but because there are so fewer people living over there they aren't well represented in our political system. As much as I personally don't agree with the views of the Eastern-side, it really does suck that they aren't well represented. It's gotten so bad that there have been talks to split and state in half (well, more like 1/3 on the west and 2/3 on the east) and create two separate states because they are so distinct. As a Washingtonian myself, I personally wouldn't be opposed to the idea. The folks over there should feel better represented than they are. But also their economy might take a bit shot. The East side is where most of our agriculture comes from. But when you think of Microsoft, Boeing, Nintendo of America, Valve, Amazon. There all on the West side.
So yeah, there you go. A bunch of Washington tidbits. Enjoy?
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