It's definitely worth travelling some time. The Pacific Northwest has some really great beers, but they don't own American brewing.
I completely agree and would never want to imply such a thing.
However, this region's beer culture is unique. It's tied to the land. The hops are grown here.
This sort of thread always up being a war of attrition, with different regionalist trying to out-do each other in thinking of someone who brewed this first. Look, if it all comes down to "who made a hoppy black beer with thin mouthfeel," then it's a Burtonian Dark Ale. Yup, the guys who invented IPA also invented Black IPA... as early as 1888:
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/03/black-ipa.html
Let's not get into the war of attrition and say "I remember in NOVEMBER of 1982 a guy was brewing in North Carolina almost TWO MONTHS before another guy was brewing in Oregon!"
However, if I were to play that game, I'd point out that the Independent Ale Brewery (Red Hook), Hale's, Bert Grant's (RIP), and McMenamins all pre-date Geary's. Also, Maine is so small in population, that if I opened a brewery tomorrow in Maine, I'd increase the number of breweries by 5%. How many commercial hop farms are there in New England? Hmmm, let me guess... how about ZERO?
Portland, OR has more breweries within its city limits and more breweries per capita THAN ANY OTHER CITY IN THE WORLD.
I like good beer. No matter where it comes from. I am super excited that the Brew Ridge Festival in Virginia has a collaboration ale made by all the local breweries... and it's a Cascadian Dark Ale!