Yeah, Kelly, all of us who ride here in the PNW know we have a landscape that just screams extremes. It's not totally unlike the other Western States, except that we have more rain and the winds that come with storms. Our topography is way more mellow than the Sierra, but the weather at 3,000 at Snoqualmie Pass is consistently worse than the weather at 7,000 feet in the Sierra. And the winds in the Gorge and the Columbia near Vantage are epic.
I think of my Connie as a sort of all weather/terrain assault vehicle for pavement. And here in the NW, if you ride year round, you have to get good at riding on all types of roads in driving rain and darkness at 42 degrees. Don't get good at that in Santa Monica.
But this is all made OK by the fact we have such beautiful country and when not raining, perfect weather and the best summers. Just love it.