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Revisiting the traffic issue... I noticed something going westbound on 520 across the bridge that I've also noticed here in SoCal. The HOV lane merges back into the main traffic lanes prior to the actual choke point (bridge). I understand that unless the bridge was widened, what other choice is there. However, I sometimes wonder if the merging of the HOV traffic back into the regular lanes causes as many problems as it attempts to solve? Anyone drive that route before/after the HOV lane was put in place?
I can think of a similar one that used to exist on I-15 just north of the CA 163 junction. The HOV traffic merging back into the regular lanes seemed to cause as much congestion as it may have cleared.
HOV lanes helps going through Bellevue and Redmond. I think its better that way because it makes it a bit easier for people merging onto 520 westbound. But 520 would've been backed up regardless of the HOV.
Its the one thing here I don't understand, drivers slow down before getting on a bridge.
Totally agree! Neighborhoods: Have friends in Magnolia, good choice with kids. Take a look at W. Seattle too.
I drove through W. Seattle but didn't spend much time there. I mostly made my way to check out Alki Beach. The areas I drove through seemed average, but nothing spectacular. Like I said though, it was a quick drive through.
I've read some good things about the area on this forum, and I'll be checking it out further on future trips. I don't think I drove through the nicer "family" areas there. I'll do my homework better next time so that I make my way into those areas.
Pedestrians can be quite aggressive, but no more so than in other major cities I've visited. Techincally, it is illegal for pedestrians to get hit if the driver can't stop in time, according to WAC 132E-16-040 (2):
"2) Pedestrian sudden movements. No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to stop."
Not sure if this is actually enforced though.
On West Seattle neighborhoods, you should check out North Admiral (aka the Admiral District) which is the part of West Seattle above (that is, uphill from) Alki. North Admiral has nice, though pricey, houses and some spectacular views of downtown and Puget Sound. You may have driven on Admiral Way on your way to Alki, but the nicer houses are on the side streets, particularly to the north. As a general rule in West Seattle, as you go further south and east, the neighborhoods become less expensive and less desirable - southeast West Seattle, which is called Delridge, is not a great area, particularly at night.
I read you post and it almost made me cry. We were transferred in 2005 and ended up in Alpharetta, GA. We're now in Howard County MD and are headed to Dallas next Spring. I would love to live in Seattle again. You are very fortunate to be looking such beautiful areas. We lived near St. Edwards park on the east side of the lake north of Kirkland. I thought the weather in Seattle was great (compared to Hotlanta). It doesn't rain - it mists - get your Gortex on and head out to Long Beach to watch those crazy surfers in their dry suits (or do they still do that - it's been awhile).
I have found this forum to be very informative with regard to getting information on places to live. There are a lot of interesting opinions and insight on this forum. I'll try to return the favor and provide my experiences on my most recent scouting trip to Seattle.
Weather: My first trips to Seattle were planned to coincide with less than ideal weather. I'm sure I'll enjoy summer weather, but I want to know how the gray skies and frequent drizzle will impact me. In November 2008 I got fairly decent weather except for a couple days. On this trip I had perfect weather. In fact, when I returned home to SoCal it was raining and gray. I only saw a little drizzle in Seattle one evening. The rest of the visit was perfect. I'm not foolish enough to think this is normal. Maybe I'll have better luck next time. Having grown up in NH, and having lived in Germany for 7 years, I'm not expecting the weather to bother me, but I just want to make sure.
Traffic: On a recent thread, I got caught up in the whole city X has worse traffic than city Y thing. That's actually rather foolish. Most decent sized cities have bottlenecks and stop and go routes somewhere, especially around peak times. For instance, when I lived in East Orlando, it typically took me 30 minutes just driving 4 miles from my office to my house along Alafaya trail. The town of Laconia, NH only had ~17,000 people, but try driving a mere 7 miles along route 3 from Laconia to Weirs Beach in the summer. 40 minutes later you will arrive there. If you have to commute along one of these routes, it really doesn't matter where your city ranks traffic wise.
Seattle certainly has its share of bottlenecks and slow routes. I was caught trying to go westbound on 520 across the bridge one evening and it was painful. Fortunately Seattle is not very big geographically speaking. That's probably one of the major differences between the stop and go traffic there, and in LA. In Seattle the stop and go only lasts for a few miles. It might be 20 miles in LA. You couldn't drive slow for 20 miles in Seattle without circling the city. Other than rush hour I was able to move around quite easily. I drove up and down I-5, and back and forth along I-90 and 520 quite easily during most times. I was stuck in slow traffic on I-5N on Sunday around noon. I saw a lot of football banners on cars so I figured this was football game traffic (UW)? However, even that only lasted a few miles. Back to Seattle not being very large geographically, I seldom had to drive more than 5 miles to get anywhere. Even driving out to Redmond was barely more than 15 miles. That said, I can easily imagine those who must commute through and over the bottlenecks and slow routes each day going mad. For those people, they can say Seattle traffic is terrible. Like I said though, outside of select routes during rush hour, I thought it was incredibly easy and fast to get just about anywhere. My wife felt the same way. Traffic was a concern of mine so I made sure to drive around quite a bit using different routes. I'm no longer concerned...but I will be mindful of the route between work and home.
Neighborhoods: We were looking for a good family neighborhood. Our partying days are behind us. Our favorite area was Magnolia. It feels isolated, but you are still only a short drive to downtown. We took our kid to the local playground and Discovery Park. It reminded us a lot of the Sunset Cliffs/Point Loma area of San Diego that we loved. If we move there I just need to know that I won't be putting my company office on the east side.
Queen Anne is also nice, but we really prefer the isolation of Magnolia. Green Lake was nice, and we would also consider it. We checked out the east side. We skipped over Bellevue on this trip, but we visited Redmond, Sammamish, and Mercer Island. They were all nice. Mercer Island is very tempting. I also liked the southern part of Sammamish near I-90/Issaquah.
Pedestrians: It seemed as if the pedestrians in Seattle were almost militant like. I'd see cars stuck in an intersection and not one single pedestrian would stop and allow the driver to pass. Look, I know that pedestrians have the right of way. I also know what I do when I'm walking. I'm still courteous. I was trying to cross a street one day and had a group of people partially on the road blocking my view of cross traffic. They seemed absolutely clueless that they were blocking my view. I had to open the window and ask them to move. Not a big deal, but it did strike me as different. Makes me wonder though if an unusually high number of pedestrians get hit by cars up there?
Seattle Freeze: Ah yes, the dreaded freeze LOL. I detected no freeze. I did detect a culture very much like parts of Europe (i.e. Germany). In Germany, don't expect strangers to say hi to each other when they walk by on the sidewalk. OK, some do, but most don't. My wife is Czech and it's the same way in the Czech Republic. She thinks it's fake and phony how Americans say hi to others when they don't even know each other. My German friends have told me much the same thing numerous times. They cannot understand why you would ask someone how they are doing when you really don't care. To someone coming from a culture where you do say hi to strangers, this appears very cold and rude. However, it merely appears that way.
It is difficult to grasp nonetheless. My wife regularly meets new friends taking our son to the playgrounds where we live now. I cannot take my son to a park or playground without talking to other parents. The only people who talked to us when we took our son to playgrounds in Seattle were people visiting Seattle like ourselves. Like I said, I don't attribute this to people actually being cold and rude. It's just a cultural thing. We are not worried about meeting friends if we move up there. She'll have her mothers groups, I'll meet people through my business, and we'll be up and running in no time. However, if I pass you on the street I will still say hi. If your kid starts playing with my kid at the playground I will strike up a conversation with you. If it's a one-way conversation then so be it. Eventually you'll get tired of me and start talking back just to shut me up.
The Feel of the City: I've read on here that some think Seattle feels like a small city. My wife and I both thought it felt every bit as big as its population suggests. In no way did it feel small to me. Small in area, yes. We loved the atmosphere. People just seemed much more genuine. We both like nature so we also appreciated the outdoorsy atmosphere. We made a trip to Lake Crescent and overheard a couple young kids planning a hike the next day. They were talking about a 15 mile hike like it was just a routine thing. I can easily imagine my son growing up in that environment. We both felt like we could call Seattle home and mean it. We just felt good about the place.
Homeless: Some people comment on the number of homeless in Seattle. Most of the west coast cities have a large number of visible homeless. Seattle is no different. Also like most cities, they tend to be concentrated in a few areas. I didn't notice any in Magnolia, or Green Lake, or Redmond, or Mercer Island, or .....
Food: I still long for my whole-bellied fried clams and New York Style chinese food I enjoyed in NH, but we loved the food up there. A lot of neat restaurants. Organic is definitely "in" in Seattle.
Nature: Where else can you sit along a body of salt water and see a mountain range in front of you, one behind you, and one towering volcano that I couldn't see enough times? We drove onto the Olympic Peninsula and did one of the Cascade loops. We were in heaven.
Bottom Line: Our three finalist areas for relocation were the Boston area, Bay Area, and Seattle. The Boston area (actually southern Maine on down to Boston) was appealing because it's my home. Some people can never put their home behind them. However, Seattle and Washington felt enough like home to me that the Boston area can be scratched off of our list. Seattle also gets placed above the Bay Area. We still have at least 3 more trips to the area before we make up our minds though. That said, it's tempting to just sell the house and move up there. We really enjoyed the place. You guys are pretty lucky to call the place home.
While my adventures in Seattle were not as expansive as yours, I largely came to the same or at least very similar conclusion myself. I do want to take a winter trip up there too due to the doom laden warnings about the cold and dark winters. I know I can handle it and my girlfriend thinks she can. She may very well be one of those that discovers she can't.
Only difference with me is that the Bay Area is my home but Seattle definitely pulls me away from it to some degree.
While my adventures in Seattle were not as expansive as yours, I largely came to the same or at least very similar conclusion myself. I do want to take a winter trip up there too due to the doom laden warnings about the cold and dark winters. I know I can handle it and my girlfriend thinks she can. She may very well be one of those that discovers she can't.
Only difference with me is that the Bay Area is my home but Seattle definitely pulls me away from it to some degree.
This won't be a good year to try to gauge the winter, because of that Il Nina thing we've got going on this year. However, you can come experience our 3 pm sunsets any winter
This won't be a good year to try to gauge the winter, because of that Il Nina thing we've got going on this year. However, you can come experience our 3 pm sunsets any winter
3PM? The sun sets at 4:17 today. Nonetheless, the days are short up there, and the clouds probably make it seem as if the sun has set at 3PM. Fortunately for me, I'm used to it. Winter days in NH are only minutes longer than Seattle, and Germany has even shorter days than Seattle. On a related note, I guess if I knew about SAD back then I might have gotten it. Since I never heard of it, I never got it.
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(or do they still do that - it's been awhile).
