Time spent in your car can be absolute hell on wheels or floating bliss, depending upon the traffic. The worst jam I ever experienced came on a road trip with my mom to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. For miles and miles we crawled into the tourist mecca, lined with pancake houses, knick knack huts and ski chalets.
Most people expect heavy traffic when on vacation. However, if everyone where you live is obliged to drive everywhere all the time in your hometown, the resulting congestion can seem analogous to moving parking lots filled with out-of-townees. In my hometown of Crestview, Florida and college town of Tallahassee, Florida, I had to drive everywhere. When I did choose to walk, the distances to the grocery stores and other daily destinations were often too far. In Florida, the humidity breeds discontent throughout most of the year.
After learning about the
Congress For The New Urbanism, and their advocacy of walkable living, I began to research places I might live that embraced car-free lifestyles. In the past I had visited some model communities that strive towards walkability, such as Seaside, but I found them gentrified and white-washed.
In addition to living a walkable life, I wanted to gain a new perspective, in a new culture. I felt the Pacific Northwest offered walkability (with great transit systems), better politics and moderate weather. Additionally, Seattle Pacific University offered a swell MBA program, for which I'd been searching.
Since moving to Seattle, I've taken residence in both the Wallingford and Phinney Ridge neighborhoods. Before I'd only lived in "neighborhoods," housing developments separated from any retail or nightlife nearby.
Now, instead of having to spend money on gas, which pollutes the air, I can walk to most of whatever I need in life. When I can't, I take the bus to whatever I need, which is affordable and more friendly to the environment. Additionally, I get to see a lot of new and ongoing sights daily. The cats in the neighborhood greet me on my way to work and I get some morning exercise walking up a hill every morning.
One of the biggest changes has been a lack of the same chains I was used to back home: Cracker Barrel, Chili's, Longhorn, Publix, Wal-Mart (the list goes on forever). However, I don't miss them all that much because the quality of the food and products in my local retail matches or exceeds that of big box stores and national chains. Also, I've had to change from buying tons of groceries at once to a few items every day or two (whatever I can carry in my canvas bags). Again, not a headache, because I usually don't know what I want more than two days out anyhow.
In the coming weeks you'll hear more of my tales making the switch to a walkable life, but for now, I hope this serves as a brief overview. Please stay tuned in the next few days for Kirsten's post on her transformation to walkable living as well. After that we'll be covering how to get around in Seattle by walking and using public transit.
-Jimmy
