Wonderful feedback all, this is super super helpful! While a little rain doesn't bother me, I guess I didn't consider the PNW climate, or that snow could block bike lanes. Guess i figured the local CO gov'ts would have snow sorted? everyone complains about the "cold" here though to me it's nothing.
You guys do make a good case for DC but I hoped other areas would be better. It seems there are other considerations that need to be accounted for.