Rochester, MN?
The wife and I were living in Boston, and we had a choice on our next move. Chicago, Rochester, or Seattle. It was really not much of a contest. Seattle is an awesome city.
There are a lot of transplants from the midwest here (I'm from Michigan originally). Progressive, big city feel, without too much whiney liberalism. There can be a bit to much civic 'do goodersim' with some of the folks, but common sense typically prevails.
Access to outdoor activities is just amazing here. On a clear day (4 per year) Seattle is surrounded by mountains on 3 sides. Mount Rainer towers over the entire region. It is really a beautiful place.
Weather? Winters are very mild compared to the midwest, but it rains. Heres the thing, yeah, it rains, but its not typically that kind of downpour you get in the midwest. It will rain, then clear out a bit, you get some sun, then 10 minutes later it rains some more. Thunders storms pretty much don't exist here. We get snow that sticks about every 2 years. This year we had pretty nice snow falls. Frankly, snow is the one thing I miss. Summers are AMAZING here. Clear, dry and in the 70's for months. Just awesome.
Housing costs are substantial, but stable.
Tons of Porsches (mostly grumpy, well armed air cooled fanatics
)