Spent three days in one of my favorite cities in the world. Seattle. I spend a lot of time hopping from place to place, and although Vancouver and NYC remain my all time favorites, a trip to Seattle always fires me up.

Hands down, Seattle is one of America's finest urban gems. And after having spent 2/3 of my life in places with 300+ days of sunshine a year, even the subtle soup in the sky of gray and green is novel enough to keep me entertained for at least a day or so.

How people live with it, however, is beyond me. I'm convinced it's why the population is permanently hopped up on stimulants. It takes chemistry to get through the winter.

But seriously, people, do you NEED three coffee shops per building? THREE? Do you need an espresso on the way to your latte?

I digress.

Seattle: Better food, better hotels, better views, better people, better activities than almost anywhere in the country. Downtown Seattle is without a doubt one of my favorite environments with amazing contrasts between sea, sky, trees, concrete - it's amazing. Arguably rivals SF for the crown on the west coast (add, Vancouver to the mix, however, and they all get crushed).

Regardless, on those rare days when the clouds are gone, I've said it many times, there is almost no place better than Seattle. And if they had weather that more closely approximated San Francisco's, I'd have moved there a decade ago.