Beach, lake, river or mountains seem to do the best.

It creates a mountain out of a mole hill from some of the smallest disagreements.If you guys want to hear outrageous.

Why not move to B'ham or somewhere with more stable work and a more grown up atmosphere?  

It was in Sunset Magazine as one of the top 5 mountain towns in the West, and there is an emerging tech scene in the area.

Yeah, me neither and I'm in my 60's and lived in the mountains in WA for nearly 20 years.Charge them for the window. 

The mountains seem to me like a great place to stay away from this thing. 

Great skiing nearby at Powder Mountain and Snow Basin if that's your thing.

I am huge into mountain biking and Bellingham has great biking right in town and within a few hours are a handful of other world class biking hours.

I lived in the mountains of WA for nearly 20 years, so I know about freezing pipes. 

Another publication to look at for the differences, culturally, between the Bay Area and the Rocky Mountain states, is The Economist mag, which continually has insightful articles on the U.S., as well as the world.