I love this city... but it's broken.
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8/1/2007
Seattle is green and beautiful. There is much to do regarding nightlife, restaurants, outdoor activities etc. There are many different neighborhoods to live and explore. It's surrounded by lakes and the Puget Sound. In a couple hours you can go to a number of places including the coast, Canada, the mountains, and Portland, OR. Mass transit is a mess here. You can always depend on a traffic mess somewhere--rain or shine. Everything has to go up for a vote which as a result, nothing ever seems to get accomplished. You're lucky if you don't have to take a vote at a four way stop sign to see who should go first. People are nice on the suface, but can be distant (aka Seattle Freeze) so making friends can take awhile. It does not rain as much as people think it does (movies depicting Seattle alway have a downpour happening). It does however get pretty grey in the winter. A beautiful Seattle summer day is worth 10 because they are amazing. But if you like your summers hot (in the 90's and above) you might not like it. Summers are generally in the upper 70's to high 80's (give and take). Unlike other regions in the country, Seattle comes alive outdoors in the city--they don't stay inside air conditioned homes. It's a great city and I've loved living here but personally I'm tired of a few downfalls like the lack of mass transit and an ever increasing housing cost. But if you do buy a place, it's probably a good investment since the housing market doesn't appear to be going down here. Worth considering, but has a cost in many other ways. Some days the city just seems broken.
Abhd | Seattle, WA