Outdoor activities/exercise? (Seattle, Vancouver, Bellevue: power lines, rental, daycare)

[chrisstie]

Well, looking to move this year still, just have some lose ends to tie up in Florida, oh and find a job out there

I'm feeling a little dismayed despite the warmer weather we have here it feels like the only thing to do is to go to a mall, go to a restaurant, or drive quite a few miles to throw my bike on a trail and ride or walk around my neighborhood.

I'm hoping the atmosphere of Seattle and the surrounding areas are a better opportunity for outdoor activities and exercise. I know the travel/tourist sites state this very well. I know the summertime is also fantastic but I'm also wondering about activities that can be done year long. Are there trails that are easy to get to or at least don't take long to get to?

Also being from the south there are activities I'm sure I would love to try but in no way are prepared for. In the back of my head my solution to that would be a trip to REI and see what looks fun but any recommendations from the locals?

I'd love to go hiking, and maybe even pick up a sport I'm not sure that we have much of here. I'm also hoping to become scuba certified when I can afford it. I'm really big into fish tanks and I've found some of the tanks with critters from the Sound very inspiring!

I guess I just want to know if its easy to get into what Seattle has to offer or if theres a particular place thats better to live for some things versus others. Thanks!

[Ira500]

There are a million places to hike in the Seattle area. Within the city itself, you can do a little hiking in Discovery Park, Golden Gardens Park, Seward Park, Lincoln Park, the UW Arboretum, and a few more. About 15-20 miles from downtown Seattle are the " Issaquah Alps". They are not really formidable mountains by Seattle standards, but they're pretty and grueling enough. They include Squak Mountain, Cougar Mountain, and Tiger Mountan. Tiger is the largest and the most crowded. Squak and Cougar have several trailheads, and going to the top and back down again takes around 2 1/2 hours..Close to Renton is Echo Mountain, which is just as steep but shorter, a 45 minute roundtrip with some amazing views from the top.

[jenlion]

I know just what you mean! One of our chief complaints about Dallas was that all there was to do was eat and shop. You could eat quite well and shop quite nicely, but that was about it for recreation.

Here, the eating isn't as good (though it can be done on a deck on the water watching the seals play!!) and the shopping isn't as good (people are all impressed by Bellevue Square? Kinda funny), but so what? I can walk out my front door (on the Eastside) and a block and a half to a maintained trail. It's under power lines, but it's a decent trail -- I can walk about a mile to a high point with a view of the mountains! Bikers use it, runners use it, even horses use it. It connects to other trails -- one paved that runs along the Sammamish river and eventually all the way into Seattle. My next door neighbor actually bikes to work -- about four and a half miles -- regularly. There are bikers everywhere here.

A trip to REI can be expensive. It's fun to poke around, sure, but if you buy all the cool stuff you'll run out of money in a hurry. There's just so many things you can DO here! When I've gone, they are usually much too busy to help with anything but checking for a part in the back, getting another shoe size, or running a register. Maybe going midday/midweek would help

It snowed yesterday, but today the sun is out and it's mostly melting. I'm working from home and see a perfectly blue sky behind my lit-up douglas firs, and I think I'll go for another walk later. Or maybe I'll pick my son up from daycare and drive a bit down I-90 to a state park and go for a walk in the trees next to the Snoqualmie river. If I had more free time, I'd take up kayaking again -- there are tons of places you can kayak here. If I was in better shape, I'd take a bike into the mountains, but I'm not quite that masochistic. As far as scuba diving goes, you'll need a drysuit here -- the water is COLD.

It is chillier here. You'll still be wearing sweatshirts into the first part of June. But it's not cold enough to prohibit being outside -- long as you layer, you can be outside any month of the year. November, December, and January will be tougher if you work a regular shift simply because it gets dark starting around 4pm; you'll want to take up indoor rock climbing, maybe, for those months. But this February has been amazing, and I've so loved the walks under the trees with the views. Have you visited here yet? The trail near my house is lined with douglas firs and a few cedar trees. They light up in the most amazing way in the late afternoon light. We don't get that light every day -- the reputation for clouds and rain here is exaggerated, but we certainly have plenty of gray/drizzly days -- but when you do have a week or two of gorgeous weather you enjoy it thoroughly. (On the flip side, if you can't stomach the thought of riding a bike in a light drizzle.... you're not gonna like it here. The weather is tolerable, and not-too-hot-not-too-cold, but certainly damp from, say, november to may).

Where you want to live will totally depend on your job because (as you'll find from reading the forums) the traffic stinks here. Pretty much everywhere is going to have either local access or at least nearby access to recreation though, and the roads are set up with bikers in mind. One street in my neighborhood was recently REDUCED from four lanes to two -- so they could add bike lines and slow down traffic. I thought it was a completely insane idea, but it's actually worked out quite well. So even if you don't live NEXT to a bike trail, you'll likely be able to get to one.

Real hiking is nearby. I don't really consider my local neighborhood walks "hiking" as there are still houses and power lines around -- they're more pleasant walks. But you can get out into the mountains for some "hiking" in no time at all. (well, under an hour). Biking is everywhere. Kayaking is convenient. Rock-climbing is common. Camping is common. This is Recreation Heaven here, that's why REI is FROM here, and if you don't mind being out in some drizzle sometimes, you have your pick of things to do!

[texastrigirl]

I lived in Dallas for 2 years and it is about the best shopping and dining you can find. But once you have had your fill. UGH. And Seattle is not big on those things and that is good IMO. So as far as things to do...take sailing lessons, go kayaking from one of the many spots on Lake Union, Lake Washington or the sound. We personally live a half block from Pine Lake so we walk down the street and pop our canoe in...glorious every time. We went a few weeks ago and it was gorgeous! We love to hike as we live near the Issaquah Alps as well and just up the hill from the Sammamish Lake Trail so we also run and cycle down there. I also love to cycle out near the Cascade foothills and trail running is a blast. One of our favorite things here is skiing. We live 40 minutes from Snoqualmie Pass and go every weekend with our kids who are in group lessons up there. One thing that is important that has been mentioned is it can be expensive to have the right gear but REI also does a good rental business so you can "try" before you "buy". The other great thing about being here is the promixity to amazing beauty. We feel like we are vacationing on weekends. Plenty of great space an hour or so from Seattle, going further to Vancouver in about 2 1/2 hours, double that and you can make it to Whistler BC. Go east and you can be in Sun Valley in a day's drive. Hood Canal and the Royal Gorge in Oregon just a few hours away as is Bend, OR. Cannon Beach, Ocean Shores, Manzanita...I could go on and on about the things to do and places to see. Just the amazing hikes within a half hour of my house make me a really happy girl. So come on out and see it for yourself

[chrisstie]

Thanks for the replies- I would easily trade shopping and eating here for more outdoors! Here its seriously chain restaurants. I can think of maybe one or two restaurants that aren't chains that we eat at. And to me shopping is going out to buy something I need and I usually get frustrated by the family crowds here on the weekends and buy what I want online.

I love being around people, however, we have an outdoor mall where I live and when you're in a college town so everyone and their mother wants to go to the same mall the parking is insane, walking around hoping to not get hit by a car from store to store, well, some days its worth staying away from the stores. I'm a plus size, anyhow, so with such a limited selection I'm not really big on shopping.

I'm hoping to change that by having more fun opportunities to get exercise. Here there are lessons for things but its more aerobic opportunities indoors - like kickboxing. Not bad, but you can do that anywhere.

The sheer amount of trails and mountains for hiking sounds SO appealing! As far as scuba I was hoping to get certified out there so that I would learn what equipment is needed for the water.

Is it any warmer in the summer? I know in the winterish its supposed to be around 55 degrees. But thats the point!

Coming from Florida I can bear heat and humidity but a nice refreshing drizzle versus my skin melting off my bones? We're looking at a trip out in April/June and to move soon after. We just had to wait for some job security on my husbands end and with the harsher winter that was there this year we wanted to wait for more mild weather. Not that we wouldn't have to live and survive in the weather thats normally there but nicer weather we figured would help our hunting for a place to live, seeing the city etc.

[Ira500]

Is it any warmer in the summer? I know in the winterish its supposed to be around 55 degrees. But thats the point!

Summer is really nice in Seattle. June is sometimes rainy, but July through September, it's mostly sunny, and often has a high in the 70's, with a few days in the 80's and 90's.
Winter? Not mostly 55. A lot of mid to upper 40's days that are rainy or drizzly or gray, but rarely snows ( except this winter).
I love Seattle's weather from around April to November...Beyond that, it gets a little old.And raw cold.