Just Moved - First Impressions (Seattle, Bellevue: transplants, house, neighborhood)
Seattle areaSeattle and King County Suburbs
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My family just moved here last month and I had spent a lot of time on these boards beforehand so I wanted to check in and let everyone know how it is so far - especially since there are always so many people thinking about relocating here.
First a little background - before moving here I spent my entire life on the East Coast, primarily New York (in and around NYC). My husband and I got tired of the lifestyle and the fact that he was never home during the week to spend time with our newborn son. In an effort to improve the quality of our family life, we decided to start looking at opportunities in new locales. We focused primarily on Austin and Seattle - Seattle because my husband already had some job connections here. I was pushing for Austin since I already had a friend there and honestly, I never thought in a million years I would want to live in Seattle - all I knew about Seattle is that it's gray and rainy "all the time."
As luck would have it, the husband got a great job offer in Bellevue and I agreed to give it a shot, so here we are. I will tell you that after reading the threads on these boards, I was extremely worried about the weather and the so-called "Seattle Freeze." Now I have only been here for a month, so you can take all of this with a grain of salt and think that things may change in a few more weeks or months. But here it is:
I love it here! It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (and I'm quite an avid traveler). Every time I drive out of my neighborhood and I see the mountain ranges, I think, "This is not a place that people live, it's a place where people vacation." While the weather has definitely been wet and somewhat gray, we have had our share of sunny days - more than I expected. On top of that, it is so mild. The fact that it is already December and I have yet to break out my winter coat (or any of my winter apparel for that matter) is amazing to me. I don't really mind the rain since the temperature is so pleasant. It's still cold enough to know it's winter but not so cold that you don't want to be outside. And keep in mind, this is after a week of abnormal rainfall to the extent that the flooding around here has been on the national news.
We also had a pretty big snow storm last week, which was the type of snowfall I'd expect in NY, but thought was extremely rare out here. The best part about it was that it was beautiful to see, but thanks to the rain which followed, I didn't have to shovel my walk, clean off my car, or walk through dirty slush for the next few days - something I had become accustomed to in NY.
I had also read a lot about how horrible the traffic is here. Personally, I don't see it. I will admit that when it snows, a lot of people don't know what to do and I've seen more than a few wrecks. In addition, 405 is pretty bad. But that's why we chose not to live in Redmond, where we'd need to get on 405 every day. We live off of 90 and there is NO traffic. The only time I have ever seen traffic is on the few occasions I needed to get on 405 to go somewhere and even then, it was nothing like I've experienced on the LIE.
As far as commuting, we live in Snoqualmie Ridge (which everyone thinks is "so far out" but it really isn't) and my husband commutes to Bellevue. It takes him about 1/2 hour at the most. He's home every night in time to bathe our son and put him to bed, which is exactly what we were hoping to achieve by moving here.
Finally, I have found the people here to be extremely nice. Even before we moved out to the house in Snoqualmie, we were in temporary housing on Mercer Island and every single person I had to interact with was extremely friendly and helpful. It was almost too much - like sometimes I just wanted to go out and run my errands, I didn't want to have a conversation. I know a lot of people complain that it's a surface friendliness and that it's hard to make lasting relationships. Maybe that's so, but in my case, as much as I would love to have a ton of close friendships, I just don't have time for it in my life. I don't have the time it takes to nurture a lot of friendships the way I would expect to, so if I can find a few close friends and the rest of the people I interact with on a daily basis are polite and friendly, then that's fine with me. It's more than you'll find in a lot of other areas.
In terms of lasting relationships, it's too early to tell - we've been so busy unpacking and getting settled that it's been hard to meet new people. But I think that living in a new development helps a lot. Everyone is eager to meet each other and the few people I have met have been friendly and genuine and made just as much an effort to make plans with me, as I have with them (if not moreso, since we've been so busy getting settled). And this has been the case with both transplants and natives.
It is also an extremely family friendly area. I expected that from the development we moved into, but I have found it throughout the East Side. Everywhere you go, people are out with their kids. And there are so many activities for the little ones that I've had a hard time deciding what to get involved in.
The bottom line is that I think Seattle is a great place to live and it seems to have been the right decision for us. If anyone is considering moving here, don't let the boards scare you. It does not rain all the time and you will not get the cold shoulder from everyone you meet here. And if this is how I feel in the middle of the winter, I can't wait to see how things are when the spring/summer finally arrives!!!
(I don't have the energy to go back and proofread, so please excuse any typos!!)
Last edited by hunter_mom; 12-10-2007 at 06:53 PM..
What a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing and for your refreshing insights.
I love the ridge, I find it absolutely beautiful, and the outdoors access you have up there is fabulous! Welcome to town, I hope that you and your family continue to find joy here!
My family just moved here last month and I had spent a lot of time on these boards beforehand so I wanted to check in and let everyone know how it is so far - especially since there are always so many people thinking about relocating here.
First a little background - before moving here I spent my entire life on the East Coast, primarily New York (in and around NYC). My husband and I got tired of the lifestyle and the fact that he was never home during the week to spend time with our newborn son. In an effort to improve the quality of our family, we decided to start looking at opportunities in new locales. We focused primarily on Austin and Seattle - Seattle because my husband already had some job connections here. I was pushing for Austin since I already had a friend there and honestly, I never thought in a million years I would want to live in Seattle - all I knew about Seattle is that it's gray and rainy "all the time."
As luck would have it, the husband got a great job offer in Bellevue and I agreed to give it a shot, so here we are. I will tell you that after reading the threads on these boards, I was extremely worried about the weather and the so-called "Seattle Freeze." Now I have only been here for a month, so you can take all of this with a grain of salt and think that things may change in a few more weeks or months. But here it is:
I love it here! It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (and I'm quite an avid traveler). Every time I drive out of my neighborhood and I see the mountain ranges, I think, "This is not a place that people live, it's a place where people vacation." While the weather has definitely been wet and somewhat gray, we have had our share of sunny days - more than I expected. On top of that, it is so mild. The fact that it is already December and I have yet to break out my winter coat (or any of my winter apparel for that matter) is amazing to me. I don't really mind the rain since the temperature is so pleasant. It's still cold enough to know it's winter but not so cold that you don't want to be outside. And keep in mind, this is after a week of abnormal rainfall to the extent that the flooding around here has been on the national news.
We also had a pretty big snow storm last week, which was the type of snow fall I'd expect in NY but thought was extremely rare out here. The best part about it was that it was beautiful to see, but thanks to the rain which followed, I didn't have to shovel my walk, clean off my car, or walk through dirty slush for the next few days - something I had become accustomed to in NY.
I had also read a lot about how horrible the traffic is here. Personally, I don't see it. I will admit that when it snows, a lot of people don't know what to do and I've seen more than a few wrecks. In addition, 405 is pretty bad. But that's why we chose not to live in Redmond, where we'd need to get on 405 every day. We live off of 90 and there is NO traffic. The only time I have ever seen traffic is on the few occasions I needed to get on 405 to go somewhere and even then, it was nothing like I've experienced on the LIE.
As far as commuting, we live in Snoqualmie Ridge (which everyone thinks is "so far out" but it really isn't) and my husband commutes to Bellevue. It takes him about 1/2 hour at the most. He's home every night in time to bathe our son and put him to bed, which is exactly what we were hoping to achieve by moving here.
Finally, I have found the people here to be extremely nice. Even before we moved out to the house in Snoqualmie, we were in temporary housing on Mercer Island and every single person I had to interact with was extremely friendly and helpful. It was almost too much - like sometimes I just wanted to go out and run my errands, I didn't want to have a conversation. I know a lot of people complain that it's a surface friendliness and that it's hard to make lasting relationships. Maybe that's so, but in my case, as much as I would love to have a ton of close friendships, I just don't have time for it in my life. I don't have the time it takes to nurture a lot of friendships the way I would expect to, so if I can find a few close friends and the rest of the people I interact with on a daily basis are polite and friendly, than that's fine with me. It's more than you'll find in a lot of other areas.
In terms of lasting relationships, it's too early to tell - we've been so busy unpacking and getting settled that it's been hard to meet new people. But I think that living in a new development helps a lot. Everyone is eager to meet each other and the few people I have been have been friendly and genuine and made just as much an effort to make plans with me, as I have with them (if not moreso, since we've been so busy getting settled). And this has been the case with both transplants and natives.
It is also an extremely family friendly area. I expected that from the development we moved into, but I have found it throughout the East Side. Everywhere you go, people are out with their kids. And there are so many activities for the little ones that I've had a hard time deciding what to get involved in.
The bottom line is that I think Seattle is a great place to live and it seems to have been the right decision for us. If anyone is considering moving here, don't let the boards scare you. It does not rain all the time and you will not get the cold shoulder from everyone you meet here. And if this is how I feel in the middle of the winter, I can't wait to see how things are when the spring/summer finally arrives!!!
(I don't have the energy to go back and proofread, so please excuse any typos!!)
I hope I'll have your attitude with my new city if I ever move away. You're right about 405...it sucks big time. I know...I'm on it every morning.
This part of your post made me chuckle..."I can't wait to see how things are when the spring/summer finally arrives!!!" "Finally" is the right word to use, that's for sure.
Snarkiness aside tho...it's great you like it here...welcome!
My family just moved here last month and I had spent a lot of time on these boards beforehand so I wanted to check in and let everyone know how it is so far - especially since there are always so many people thinking about relocating here.
First a little background - before moving here I spent my entire life on the East Coast, primarily New York (in and around NYC). My husband and I got tired of the lifestyle and the fact that he was never home during the week to spend time with our newborn son. In an effort to improve the quality of our family life, we decided to start looking at opportunities in new locales. We focused primarily on Austin and Seattle - Seattle because my husband already had some job connections here. I was pushing for Austin since I already had a friend there and honestly, I never thought in a million years I would want to live in Seattle - all I knew about Seattle is that it's gray and rainy "all the time."
As luck would have it, the husband got a great job offer in Bellevue and I agreed to give it a shot, so here we are. I will tell you that after reading the threads on these boards, I was extremely worried about the weather and the so-called "Seattle Freeze." Now I have only been here for a month, so you can take all of this with a grain of salt and think that things may change in a few more weeks or months. But here it is:
I love it here! It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (and I'm quite an avid traveler). Every time I drive out of my neighborhood and I see the mountain ranges, I think, "This is not a place that people live, it's a place where people vacation." While the weather has definitely been wet and somewhat gray, we have had our share of sunny days - more than I expected. On top of that, it is so mild. The fact that it is already December and I have yet to break out my winter coat (or any of my winter apparel for that matter) is amazing to me. I don't really mind the rain since the temperature is so pleasant. It's still cold enough to know it's winter but not so cold that you don't want to be outside. And keep in mind, this is after a week of abnormal rainfall to the extent that the flooding around here has been on the national news.
We also had a pretty big snow storm last week, which was the type of snowfall I'd expect in NY, but thought was extremely rare out here. The best part about it was that it was beautiful to see, but thanks to the rain which followed, I didn't have to shovel my walk, clean off my car, or walk through dirty slush for the next few days - something I had become accustomed to in NY.
I had also read a lot about how horrible the traffic is here. Personally, I don't see it. I will admit that when it snows, a lot of people don't know what to do and I've seen more than a few wrecks. In addition, 405 is pretty bad. But that's why we chose not to live in Redmond, where we'd need to get on 405 every day. We live off of 90 and there is NO traffic. The only time I have ever seen traffic is on the few occasions I needed to get on 405 to go somewhere and even then, it was nothing like I've experienced on the LIE.
As far as commuting, we live in Snoqualmie Ridge (which everyone thinks is "so far out" but it really isn't) and my husband commutes to Bellevue. It takes him about 1/2 hour at the most. He's home every night in time to bathe our son and put him to bed, which is exactly what we were hoping to achieve by moving here.
Finally, I have found the people here to be extremely nice. Even before we moved out to the house in Snoqualmie, we were in temporary housing on Mercer Island and every single person I had to interact with was extremely friendly and helpful. It was almost too much - like sometimes I just wanted to go out and run my errands, I didn't want to have a conversation. I know a lot of people complain that it's a surface friendliness and that it's hard to make lasting relationships. Maybe that's so, but in my case, as much as I would love to have a ton of close friendships, I just don't have time for it in my life. I don't have the time it takes to nurture a lot of friendships the way I would expect to, so if I can find a few close friends and the rest of the people I interact with on a daily basis are polite and friendly, then that's fine with me. It's more than you'll find in a lot of other areas.
In terms of lasting relationships, it's too early to tell - we've been so busy unpacking and getting settled that it's been hard to meet new people. But I think that living in a new development helps a lot. Everyone is eager to meet each other and the few people I have met have been friendly and genuine and made just as much an effort to make plans with me, as I have with them (if not moreso, since we've been so busy getting settled). And this has been the case with both transplants and natives.
It is also an extremely family friendly area. I expected that from the development we moved into, but I have found it throughout the East Side. Everywhere you go, people are out with their kids. And there are so many activities for the little ones that I've had a hard time deciding what to get involved in.
The bottom line is that I think Seattle is a great place to live and it seems to have been the right decision for us. If anyone is considering moving here, don't let the boards scare you. It does not rain all the time and you will not get the cold shoulder from everyone you meet here. And if this is how I feel in the middle of the winter, I can't wait to see how things are when the spring/summer finally arrives!!!
(I don't have the energy to go back and proofread, so please excuse any typos!!)
It always starts that way if you enter while you are married....everyone is nice here untill this place causes you to lose your mind and divorce your husband...then they treat you like crap...and thats if you are lucky!!
Seriously Though
Good luck!!! and welcome!!
I truly do wish you well!!
PS. There would have been a time when I would have been excited about meeting a fellow "YORKER" but they told me that its BAD to talk about it...or they will get me and turn me into......I'm sorry I should go now.....sorry,sorry......OMG Nooooooooooo!! I dident mean tooo.........
It always starts that way if you enter while you are married....everyone is nice here untill this place causes you to lose your mind and divorce your husband...then they treat you like crap...and thats if you are lucky!!
Seriously Though
Good luck!!! and welcome!!
I truly do wish you well!!
PS. There would have been a time when I would have been excited about meeting a fellow "YORKER" but they told me that its BAD to talk about it...or they will get me and turn me into......I'm sorry I should go now.....sorry,sorry......OMG Nooooooooooo!! I dident mean tooo.........
LOL Hbud you are too much. I Can't make sense of your bizarre posts.
Great Post! We are moving back to Seattle after being away for almost 10 yrs....1 kid later and we are going back.
There's so many thing we missed about Seattle....too many to list. And when we were deciding about going back, the Pro's out weighed the Con's. I can't wait to have my son grow up in Seattle.
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