Seattle

Yesterday, we went downtown right before Pike Place was closing.   (The sky was gray, it was very, very windy and it was closing in the hour – the crowds were manageable!  And I hate to say, because *I* was a tourist once, but sometimes I wish Pike Place was a “locals only” kind of place, because I love it, but I don’t love fighting the crowds.)

The day before, we took an impromptu drive out towards Sequiem.  We wound up not leaving until about 4:30p and if you know the lay of the land, that might make you laugh.  Sequiem is about 2 – 2.5 hours away.  So we drove there, got out of the car, looked around, changed Nugget, then drove back.  We’ll have to go again, earlier, so that we can check out the Olympic mountains and the Park and Dungeoness Bay, etc.  (Nugget is a FABULOUS traveler and road trip-per.)

I feel so inspired, whenever we go downtown or on drives.  Words are useless to attempt to describe how much we love it here.  Washington State is so underrated.  And that’s just fine by us.  We’d rather keep it to ourselves.  I’m already chomping at the bit for Fall, it’s going to be fabulous.  AND, even though I know everyone keeps saying that this winter was unusually mild, that’s fine.  I’m down with winter.  While Washington may be farther North than Pennsylvania (where I’m from), it’s right on par with Prague (actually, I think Prague is just a smidgen further North than Seattle) and I know rough winters. The Northeast (Philly) is all about ice storms & harsh winters.  Then there’s Prague.  Let’s talk about the cold fronts that blow in from Siberia and standing out, waiting for the tram, in 20 below wind?  When we first said that we were moving to Seattle, everyone in LA sneered and said, “Oh, enjoy the weather.”  Well, I will, thank you very much.  We are not soft.  Constant sunshine doesn’t please us and we can take the cold.  People from Seattle try to warn us how this past winter was not the norm and I appreciate their worry that “we don’t know what we’re in for,” but, baby, I’ve lived in worse.  Rest assured, we will continue to love it here.  Lately, it’s been raining a lot.  Surprise, surprise.  It goes like this: morning, wake up to sunshine.  Late morning through to early evening (4 or 5 or so), stop raining.  This is when we go for a walk.  And, since it’s not sunny 24/7, we actually feel motivated to take advantage of it.  I feel like DOING things.  I feel joyful & elated when the sun comes out.  I NEVER felt like that in Santa Monica.  I felt complacent & lazy & completely lacking in motivation and unappreciative of anything.

No rain nor sleet nor snow nor bitter cold will change our love of Seattle.  I mean, look, how could you not love it, always & forever?: