[Charles Freeborn]

Lots of good advice here. Port Townsend is really cute - but I wouldn't want to live there year round... The upper peninsula is cool in that you can jump on a ferry and go all over the place in the sound. The San Juan's are simply one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
Sandy is pretty - we looked there before deciding we wanted to be in closer to culture and services. We frequently take drives in that area when the weather is good (pretty much all summer) It's a small town, so all the basics, but not a lot of smaller (but important) services. Parts of outer Gresham are okay, as is the area around Damascus. Those are all more suburban bordering on rural areas that will grow exponentially as the area expands with development. I'd avoid Yakima for reasons already said. Spokane is really nice - but haven't spent a lot of time there. The weather trade off is when you go east is there's less precipitation, but it's much colder in temps in the winter. The way we survive winter is to have indoor activities at home (my shop is on my property, my wife does photography, etc) and out (theatre, movies, museums). We also get out of town to sun for a week or two minimum. We've got a friend with a condo in Maui, or we go to CA and hang with friends. Also bear in mind that the further east you go it can get very conservative - not sure (not my business) where your politics lie, but unlike CA it's not very diverse in some areas up here.