Just moved to Washington, my first impressions. (Seattle, Tacoma: job market, university)

[ShadowXOR]

Now mind you I may be incorrect on some of these because as I said, they are my first impressions. I've only been here a week and I haven't been outside too much.

Tons of trees, very wet.

Traffic is HELL.

All of the jobs are in Bellevue.

Lynnwood is a dump (besides the mall). Hopefully my friend just lives on the wrong end of Lynnwood and it gets a lot nicer...

Seattle looks cool but haven't been able to go yet. Paying to park sucks.

The layout of streets are very confusing, and I wish my damn Verizon GPS navigator recognized HOV lanes!!! I have an option on it to specifically avoid HOV lanes (I mostly drive alone) yet it often sends me to HOV ONLY exits and entrances! By the time I realize what I'm doing it's too late to turn back. This damn thing better not get me a ticket, it costs $9.99 a month already!

And people say the job market is tough but I already got a job that pays just as much as my job in Southern California was paying...

[scirocco22]

Sounds like pretty much what we've been telling you, Shadow!

So you got a job? Are you talking about the Verizon one or an interim one?

Once you get a little bit used to where you'e going and more familiar with the area, maneuvering in traffic will get easier. It's that way for anybody going to a city where they're not familiar with where the exits are, the street names, or how the streets relate to one another.

The Seattle street system is actually pretty easy and once you understand it. Since the city is hourglass-shaped, it's not as simple as a city that is spread out where streets run fairly straight but the NW, NE, SE, SW, etc. designations will set apart what area of the city it's in. The numbering in the north end will make sense once you see it. The eastside is laid out very logically ...except in the north Kirkland area where it'll get a bit confusing as a result of the logic in that you'll actually have the intersection of 124th AV NE and NE 124th ST, or 132 AV NE and NE 132nd St. ...that gets really confusing in the Totem Lake/Kingsgate area of Kirkland. New people can't believe that there's an intersection of 124th and 124th! ...and it's a big intersection.

Anyway, you probably won't be dealing with the eastside much right now nor Seattle proper for that matter. We'll leave that for another time!

Continued good luck. We'll see what you think after you make it through the first cold, wet, dark, winter.

[Ultrarunner]

Glad you arrived safely!

Don't forget to post early and often. It is always interesting to hear first impressions seen through the eyes of a newcomer.

Good Luck!

PS We want to hear the good and bad...

[ShadowXOR]

I found a job that wasn't Verizon for now until that falls into place. I hope it will because it has a lot of benefits but we'll see.

[mayfair]

Welcome to Washington. I agree with sirocco- traffic will not seem QUITE so bad when you learn the easiest routes to get where you're going. Good luck!

[CityGirl72]

Actually Lynnwood is nice but not swanky of course like the East Side

You are just used to California housing etc - up here I will admit (also being from Calif) that it seems "rustic" or more "back country" - this is not a bad thing - it's just s different view of life here

[41Willys]

Originally Posted by ShadowXOR

I found a job that wasn't Verizon for now until that falls into place. I hope it will because it has a lot of benefits but we'll see.

So what are you doing? The money's decent? Your timing is perfect, your starting off in a Seattle summer!!! Yes please keep us posted of new encounters and turn offs! Good luck!

[Vagus]

Originally Posted by ShadowXOR

The layout of streets are very confusing, . . .

Ooooh this drove me insane, especially in the Tacoma/Lakewood/University Place area . . .

just you wait until you have to find "85th St Ct Av Ln Dr Cir SW" some time . . . .

[georgeious]

the streets still confuse me all the time; i'm more used to grid or wheel type street systems, so this is weeeeeeeird and the traffice totally blows until you figure out more alternate routes to take. then it still blows, but just slightly less. i know what you mean about the GPS. ours freaks out because of the "urban valleys" and cloud cover on a regular basis.

but i am hepped up on this summer weather.

[nwraider]

You'll get used to it (traffic), just learn you're way around, find some alternate routes and you'll be good to go.. Been here almost three years and I can get around almost anywhere I need to go now, WITHOUT a GPS... Just takes time and patience..

and yes, the traffic blows, but come on.. You're from SoCal (as I am), this ain't NOTHING compared to the 91 or the 10 or the 405 or any of the myriad of parking lots/freeways down there...