I’ve found my home. I love Seattle only second to my favorite European cities – Amsterdam, Prague, Lisbon. But since living in Europe isn’t feasible right now, Seattle is, by far, my #1.
Originally, we’d talked about living here for a few years and I was pushing to get back to the northeast as soon as we could – to Boston, to be nearer to my parents. But the more we discover of this place, the more it seems we won’t want to leave. I love the weather, rain and all. We just talked to a friend/former co-worker of Mr Nikki’s, who was up here for a job interview. He was asking us about the weather, saying that on the flight up here he sat next to a woman who’d lived in Seattle for 19 years. She had nothing nice to say. She told him that it rained all the time, that everyone was vitamin D deficient and depressed and had sun lamps in their houses, that it’s a miserable place to be.
*I* told him that it’s really all very subjective. I’ve talked to quite a few people who’ve lived here all their lives, or who left and came back, who love it and never want to leave (ever or again.) My hairdresser, a Seattle native, was excited to talk to me because I was eager to hear everything she had to say that was positive – she said most people just whined about it. Our favorite waitress at our favorite restaurant (all local & sustainable!) raves about it every time we see her. She’s hardcore. She’s a native, and spends weekends at a cabin in the mountains and said that when she comes back to the city, she spends the whole week dreaming of her cabin. (She has a picture of herself wearing a bikini while holding a fish knife in one hand and a fish, by the tail, in the other. She guts fish, hunts, and goes mushroom hunting. Sidenote: I went from being a vegetarian who said that “if you eat meat, you should be willing to kill it yourself” to being a meat eater who says the same thing. Next year, we’re getting a turkey chick, raising it, and then I’m going to personally kill it for Thanksgiving. Reverence and respect for the things you eat, people.)
I’m honestly surprised to hear Seattle-ites talk about how much this summer sucked. All I remember is sun and the times I complained about how I didn’t move up here for constant sunshine, I moved up here for gray and rain. I remember often feeling that it was way too hot and wishing for Fall to arrive. I remember our weekend drives, even on days like today when it’s rainy – and not noticing the rain for the breathtaking scenery. And, I hate to be a broken record, I know I’ve said this a zillion times but it bears repeating every time I wax poetic about Seattle because someone ALWAYS thinks or says, “You’ve only been here not even a year, just wait until it’s been a few years…” Not once did I bemoan the weather in Philadelphia, where I grew up – the weather in the northeast is FAR more extreme and brutal than it is in Seattle. The northeast gets slammed by heat waves and cold waves of subzero weather, ice storms, snow storms, the occasional streak of 6 month gray during fall & winter. I complained about having to shovel my car out or stand in the freezing rain, scraping off my car, or almost crashing my car on icy roads – but never the gray or the cold. I never complained about the gray or cold in Prague, which I guarantee you matches or surpasses Seattle. I lived there for 3 years and it was never the meteorology of the place that got to me. I’m just one of those people that was built for a place like Seattle.
This weekend, we showed him around our usual favorite ‘hoods and then explored more of the Capitol Hill neighborhood and went to Poppy (they also use local ingredients and even grow their own herbs.) Afterward, I debated between my usual Cupcake Royale for a salted caramel cupcake or Molly Moon for the salted caramel ice cream. Cupcakes won out, because the line was shorter. Capital Hill… what to say about Capitol Hill? Well, we thought that we wanted to move to Wallingford in a few years, but I think Capitol Hill won out. Capitol Hill is us, in a nutshell. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures this time around, so I’ll definitely be going back with my camera and a fully charged iPhone for hipstamatic shots.
Unfortunately for our friend, because he had to leave on Saturday – yesterday afternoon we finally wandered around the Fremont neighborhood and checked out Gas Works Park. HOLY VIEW, BATMAN. As we rounded the corner, we both said, “Oh my GOD.” I lost count of how many times we said, “This is the coolest fucking city EVER.” (Photos below or see all the Gas Works Park photos all here.)
On Friday, we did manage to show him our other favorite ‘hoods – Wallingford/Green Lake and Ballard, with a drive through Shilshole Bay. Last weekend we finally checked out the Locks and Salmon Ladder.
All I have to say is this: Whether you want to live here or not, Seattle is absolutely a place that you should visit. Make it a week so that you have time to explore all the different neighborhoods. I think it’s a shame that most people come to Seattle and only do the downtown area. Seattle downtown & the waterfront is awesome, but only gives you about 5% of what Seattle is all about.
