I have a lot of friends from Seattle. One of my very best friends and her wife live here. A friend from college. Several Foreign Service friends. They all LOVE Seattle.
I never understood what the big deal was about, but then again, I had never been here.
Okay, so now I LOVE it here! In just three days here, I have decided this needs to be added to the list of potential retirement locations.
We came in Thursday to spend a few days here before getting on our cruise to Alaska (yay! vacation!). In that time, I have done a good bit of walking around the city, and found a nice place to run along Alaskan Way on the waterfront.
And oh that run! We left the hotel around 7:30 or 8 in the morning. The temperature, for this Southern girl, was, uh, brisk. We walked down to the waterfront (man, this place has hills!) and started running. I had actually gone a little distance before I realized I had not taken out my ipod. I ALWAYS run with my ipod (down low, so I can hear people and cars around me). But this time, I just left it in my pocket. The clouds were clearing over the snow capped mountains in the distance and the sun was shining right on them. It was amazing.
I ran further than I have ever run. And when I was done, I ran up some of those hills. It was awesome.
We've also done some touristy stuff, like going to Pike Market and watching them throw the fish. And taking a "Duck Tour" with "Captain Beau Dayshush." He was hysterical.
But what strikes me most is how nice the people are. Everyone is so laid back...I had forgotten how aggressive people can be in DC. I returned to DC from Jerusalem, which made DC seem downright polite! But Captain Beau Dayshush assured us that we would be waved at, and that people in Seattle wave with all five fingers.
And he was right!
Yeah, now I get it. I could get used to this.
I never understood what the big deal was about, but then again, I had never been here.
Okay, so now I LOVE it here! In just three days here, I have decided this needs to be added to the list of potential retirement locations.
We came in Thursday to spend a few days here before getting on our cruise to Alaska (yay! vacation!). In that time, I have done a good bit of walking around the city, and found a nice place to run along Alaskan Way on the waterfront.
And oh that run! We left the hotel around 7:30 or 8 in the morning. The temperature, for this Southern girl, was, uh, brisk. We walked down to the waterfront (man, this place has hills!) and started running. I had actually gone a little distance before I realized I had not taken out my ipod. I ALWAYS run with my ipod (down low, so I can hear people and cars around me). But this time, I just left it in my pocket. The clouds were clearing over the snow capped mountains in the distance and the sun was shining right on them. It was amazing.
I ran further than I have ever run. And when I was done, I ran up some of those hills. It was awesome.
We've also done some touristy stuff, like going to Pike Market and watching them throw the fish. And taking a "Duck Tour" with "Captain Beau Dayshush." He was hysterical.
But what strikes me most is how nice the people are. Everyone is so laid back...I had forgotten how aggressive people can be in DC. I returned to DC from Jerusalem, which made DC seem downright polite! But Captain Beau Dayshush assured us that we would be waved at, and that people in Seattle wave with all five fingers.
And he was right!
Yeah, now I get it. I could get used to this.
Seattle From the Duck
8 comments:
Agree 100%. Seattle absolutely rocks.
The duck tour was fun wasn't it. Even if we didn't get the quackers. LOL.
I'm especially happy about the 'potential retirement locations'. I'll start my campaign immediately. :)
And just you wait until you can see the areas OUTSIDE of the city. The mountains...the trails...our beautiful natural parks. You'll love it. I do.
HUGS
Glad to hear you are a convert! I can't quite describe how warm and fuzzy I get when thinking of times spent sitting in a downtown coffee shop on a cold, drizzly day. Perfect.
My husband loves Seattle and his excitement for it has rubbed off on me (I've never been). Not only is it on our list of vacation and potential retirement locations, the next time the field office comes up on his bid list we're putting it at the top.
Whooo hoooooo!! I'm always happy to hear when someone finds out just how lovely Seattle is. I'm thrilled to hear you're having a lovely time there.. and have a great Alaska Cruise -
- any chance you'll be docking in Vancouver? (I can't quite figure out the polite, none weird, reach out in a FS sort of way, words to say "I'd love to meet you and buy you a coffee since I read and admire your blog, and well, I'll be at the Consulate if you swing through".. but that's what that question is for. :)
Sounds wonderful! I haven't spent much time in Washington, but am quite fond of Oregon. It's pretty out there! Enjoy your time there.
NO! Ssshhhhhhh!!! The more people that move to Seattle, the more everything lovely about it gets (to put it politely) diluted. The line you tell people is, "It rains all the time - constantly grey - it's okay to visit but don't move there because you'll get Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and the locals won't take any pity on you when that happens!" Sheesh. Talking points, woman! ;-)
Sorry for giving away the secrets about Seattle...it was just so awesome I wanted to share! And Sass, I think we will be in Vancouver...I think we are doing some sort of wine and chocolate tour.
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