San Diego vs. Seattle

After living in the Pacific Northwest for almost a year, I finally made it down to California for the first time. My first California experience was in San Diego.

The first morning I awoke in San Diego: it was rainy skies, cool, and foggy. It definitely felt like I never left Seattle; where is this California sun that everyone speaks of??? After I layered up to begin my exploration of this Seattle-like city down south, I began to see even more similarities between San Diego and Seattle:

• San Diego is divided into neighborhoods as well, although they have fewer than the main ones in Seattle.
• San Diego is a very walk-friendly city.
• It's expensive to live in both cities (i.e. gas, food cost, rent).
• They are both close to another country (Seattle-->Canada   San Diego-->Mexico).
• 60-degree weather will cause a large diversity of clothing apparel being worn. A person could be wearing gloves and a coat; whereas, the person next to them could be wearing shorts and sandals.
• The waterfront (Harbor Drive--> San Diego and Alaskan Way-->Seattle) is a common place for locals and tourist to congregate.
• Both are close to many non-tropical islands.

However, since I was in San Diego for five days, I began to see and learn differences. The major difference being that San Diego does not receive that much rain annually; therefore, the probability that the sun will peak out is much higher than Seattle. And unlike Seattle, its a necessity for this pale midwestern to wear sunscreen.