Tracy,
Seattle has great restaurants...I hope to get to know Seattle a bit better (I have a Tri Delta friend there who just moved there). I want to get to know the little "secret" restaurants that only locals know about.

Vancouver also has excellent restaurants too (delicious sushi for one). And yes, no humidity in Seattle nor Vancouver!

As for the "Hi, I'm a DG", I did not call ahead to the UW house, only because I did not expect there to be anyone there (and I was right, there was no one there. I still thought it was worth knocking on the door though). At UW, school is still out for summer holidays, so there was no sorority girls around, just maintenance workers, etc.
However, I would recommend calling or emailing ahead, and getting a name of someone that you spoke with. For example, in October 2001, I visited amycat in LA and she took me to the USC DG house. I did email the USC DGs ahead of time, so that I wasn't a total surprise when I showed up at the door. I also find that being a Canadian helps when visiting the USA, because Canadians are sort of "unknown" or "exotic" something....(ha ha)
So...when you do plan to visit an APhi house (or any sorority house for that matter), yes, I would recommend contacting them ahead of time....

If I had seen some sorority girls (of ANY chapter) around their houses, I would have said hello and hoped for a tour. Alas, there were not many students around.

Sigrid

PS I just discovered this website for Greater Seattle Alumnae Alpha Phi:
http://greaterseattleaphialumni.home...com/index.html

Hi valkyrie!
 

OMG, it's been awhile since I last heard from you!

I just wanted to wish you well on your job search. That'd be awesome if you got a job in Seattle. Of course, like cutiepatootie said, what about Southern Cal?:D