I went to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving weekend. They live in Spokane, Washington. Having lived in southern California my entire life, I had a slight bit of trouble adjusting to the radically different culture (although I had trouble at the metal detector in both the San Diego and Spokane airports). Some weird things about the region include:

-AT&T is also apparently a cable TV company.
-People wear shorts outside when it's sixty degrees out instead of, like a rational person, locking themselves in the house in front of the fireplace in three-inch-thick clothing.
-Sometimes, cold, white stuff falls from rainclouds, but it isn't hail. It blankets all the exposed surface areas, but melts quickly if you catch it on your bare palm.
-Basements actually exist and, even more startling, are quite commonplace.*
-Houses are actually made from brick and not just partially decorated on the outside with them.*
-I've heard that, sometimes, colored lights appear in the sky and dance at night.
-The grocery stores (or at least the one we went to) are part department store, although they're admittedly mostly grocery store.
-Weather in the high twenties ("high twenties" being ane xtreme oxymoron) is nothing out of the ordinary unless it appears in July.

And, of course, there's nothing stranger than relaxing in a hot tub turned up to 102 degrees, leaning past the edge, and seeing your breath. Truly odd.

-eric "Brr" sleator
Sun 26 Nov A.D. 2000

*This, I believe, has to do with the building codes and the fact that Washington is not all that susceptible to earthquakes.