The pacific Nortwest, Alaska and the city of Seattle

This region is known for its natural beauty – a beauty that is fairly tame in Oregon and Washington and much more wild in Alaska. On the other side, this region is also known as a very vet region because of the Olympic Rain Forest, which is not a tropical forest, but it is very cool and damp. There is little sunlight and for example the city of Seattle has one of the nation´s highest suicide rates. Some scientists think a reason may be the rainy weather. There is a joke that says: “With so little sun and so much rain, people in Oregon don´t tan – they rust.”

There are mountiens (the highest peak in North America is Mount McKinley – in Alaska´s Denali National Park), forests, and rugged coastlines. The outdoors play an important role in people´s lifestyles, which tend to be casual and informal. Wahington and Oregon are known as states with progressive laws, especially in environmental matters.

In the economic hard times of the early 1990s, these states were among the few that were not experiencing difficulties. Alaska was doing well because of its oil, while Oregon and Wahington were doing well because they are centres of trade with Asia. Manufacturing, agriculture, lumber (wood) and fishing are important to all the states. Portland, Oregon, Wahington and Seattle are important ports for trade between the United States and Asia, too.

For ex. Seattle´s harbor has ferries, which people use for travelling. Seattle has been often called America´s most livable city. It´s a large city, with plenty of jobs and excitement. It has also fine theaters, a small-town atmosphere, with friendly people and after a fire in the late nineteenth century, the city became a modern city with new stores. But you can still explore the old stores, which remained under the new streets. You can still go for shopping to the most important and oldest open-air market in the United States – the Pike Place Farmer´s Market.

Seattle became a very popular city in 1980s, when people began moving there – from the East Coast, from the Midwest and especially from California. They wanted to get away from traffic, crowds, pollution and crime. But soon Seatlle´s prices, crowds, pollution and crime increased dramatically and a new slogan started to be said: “Have a nice day – somewhere else!”. Seattle must deal with its problems and the Seattleites began to exaggerate about how much rain there was....hoping that the growth of the city will stop...