commuting from olympia to seattle, unrealistic? (Tacoma, Bellevue: homes, employment, to buy)

[allforcats]

FARMER'S MARKETS:
I just want to address this in the bit of time I have right now, because it's clearly important to you.

Pike Place Market is open daily and is for people who work in downtown Seattle to buy things before they go home, for anyone around the region who wants to shop there on weekends, and for tourists. It's hard to drive to, it's hard to park in downtown and expensive, and it's crowded and potentially a good place for pickpockets because there are so many distracted tourists there.

Many, many of the surrounding (around Seattle) towns and cities have traveling farmer's markets, as opposed to permanent, daily ones. For example, the farmers set up at two different locations miles apart in Bellevue, one every Tuesday and the other every Thursday, during summer. They set up in Redmond on another day, Issaquah another, and so on, depending on the density of population in any given place.

North of Seattle in southern Snohomish County there are countless farms. Some of them have permanent stands where they sell their produce in season. One must drive there, of course, to buy. The same is true here and there throughout western Washington, where stands appear near farms during the various growing seasons. Over time, one learns where these are through acquaintances or from driving around exploring.

Those foods that do not have "growing" seasons, such as seafood, meats and fowls: we have several truly wonderful supermarket chains here, where all year you can buy superb-quality foods of either organic or regular type, as well as organic-only stores. These supermarkets also carry excellent quality produce and fruits, both organic and not organic. I think it may be the very high quality of these supermarket foods that results in there not being a lot of permanent farmer's markets; the foods at markets would likely cost more than in the supermarkets. That's just my sense of it.

[I ♥ the PNW]

Originally Posted by lgmagone

Olympia and Seattle are two different parts of the state. 200K won't buy a house in King County (of any decency at least). It may in Olympia but then you won't be working at the VA Hospital in Seattle because it's too far to drive and too expensive of a commute. You're probably looking at two or three hours each way. There is a VA in American Falls, WA (near Tacoma) but they don't have nearly as many positions there. My wife works at the VA Hospital in Seattle and it takes her about one hour to and from work if she's a single driver and we live in Auburn, WA which is 25 miles away.

2-3 hours to travel 55-60 miles, I am in complete shock!! Never would I wish that upon my husband, that is no way to live, for sure! I can't believe it would take 1 hour to travel 25 miles either. Although we are not accustomed to driving in rush hour traffic daily, we have sure been in heavy traffic within Minneapolis/St.Paul and this still seems shocking! YIKES, this is a bit disappointing, we may have to look into the VA in American Falls or his other strong job prosepct would be a civilian job within Fort Lewis, he will be retired Army come this October. Lots of unknowns at this point. This has literally turned into a full-time job for me(researching WA & OR). Thanks so much for taking the time to respond, much appreciated.

[allforcats]

That's why I told you:

There is a car culture up and down the west coast, and public transportation as well as road construction in western Washington simply have not kept up with a fairly rapidly growing population.

[I ♥ the PNW]

Thanks allforcats for your thorough reply, farmers markets are important to us, supporting local farmers, fresh produce-preferably organic... Another option of course is member owned food co-op's, which in general, they buy from local farmers, do you see a lot of food co-op's in the puget sound area?

[allforcats]

Hi. Yes, we have PPC Natural Markets which is quite famous and well-loved for natural and organic foods produced locally, in the Seattle neighborhoods of View Ridge, Fremont, Greenlake, Seward Park and West Seattle, and in the towns of Kirkland, Issaquah and Redmond.

There's also Madison Market in Seattle on Madison St. which is a co-op.
Sno-Isle Natural Foods is a co-op in Snohomish County (north of Seattle in King County) and Island County.
And there are small co-ops in various towns on the mainland and on the islands.

I don't live absolutely near any of these, but I do have an amazing independent health food store near me, and he carries a small variety of organic foods and health foods. So that's another option.

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by I ♥ the PNW

2-3 hours to travel 55-60 miles, I am in complete shock!! Never would I wish that upon my husband, that is no way to live, for sure! I can't believe it would take 1 hour to travel 25 miles either. Although we are not accustomed to driving in rush hour traffic daily, we have sure been in heavy traffic within Minneapolis/St.Paul and this still seems shocking!

It's very common out here. I commute from the far east side to Bellevue, 24.5 miles and it commonly takes an hour each way and can take 90 minutes on a bad day. Unless you live within walking distance of work you will probably need to plan on at least a 30-45 min commute.

Heavy traffic in western Wa is NOTHING like heavy traffic around Minneapolis. I go back to MN every couple of years and it almost seems like there's no traffic at all there, even at rush hour. MN drivers seem less easily distracted than Wa drivers, a pop can on the side of the road is enough to slow traffic down out here.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by Haakon

It's very common out here. I commute from the far east side to Bellevue, 24.5 miles and it commonly takes an hour each way and can take 90 minutes on a bad day.

The DENSITY of single-passenger vehicle traffic here is mind-boggling.

Almost all households own two or more vehicles.
Most drivers seem to travel alone to commute.
More and more people keep moving here, so there are more and more vehicles that they want to travel in alone.
Many or most seem to feel it's somehow "demeaning" or inconvenient to use the wonderful public transportation available.
Residents keep voting down bond issues and tax increases to improve both highway infrastructures and public transportion options.

And then everyone gripes and screams about how long it takes for them to drive alone from one place to another.

So, the only solution for a relaxed and convenient life is to live near where you work.

[I ♥ the PNW]

Commuting from Olympia to Fort Lewis should be doable, thoughts?

I'm assuming since no one has brought it up, that there is not an Amtrak route between Olympia & Seattle that would accomodate a commuter working a typical 8/9-5 schedule? Then again, I don't imagine it is going to stop anywhere near the VA hospital either??

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by allforcats

The DENSITY of single-passenger vehicle traffic here is mind-boggling.

Almost all households own two or more vehicles.
Most drivers seem to travel alone to commute.
More and more people keep moving here, so there are more and more vehicles that they want to travel in alone.
Many or most seem to feel it's somehow "demeaning" or inconvenient to use the wonderful public transportation available.
Residents keep voting down bond issues and tax increases to improve both highway infrastructures and public transportion options.

And then everyone gripes and screams about how long it takes for them to drive alone from one place to another.

So, the only solution for a relaxed and convenient life is to live near where you work.

Wonderful public transportation?? What a joke. The nearest bus stop to my house is over 7 miles away. It takes the bus over 90 minutes to get from there to Bellevue, 2 hours to get to Seattle.

Most people don't use public transportation because they have better things to do with their time than sit on a bus for twice as long as it takes to drive. The bus works great for the people in Seattle but not for the millions of people who don't live there and have absolutely no desire to live there.

[johnnyboyandbabyblue]

It would be a nightmare!!! Yeah, it's only 55 miles and should only take 45 min to an hour BUT that doesn't take traffic into consideration. We have such terrible gridlock, it's ridiculous...it has taken me an hour and a half in traffic to get home when I am just south of downtown. You should consider somewhere just north of the city. We live in Ballard, it's about 4 or 5 miles from downtown and it only takes 10 -15 minutes to get there.