Neighborhood Hopping, Seattle Style

I am a neighborhood hopper.  I live, work, and go to school in Queen Anne, like to eat at restaurants all over the city, and go out mostly in Downtown or Ballard.  On the occasional day, I’ll find myself venturing to Fremont or Capitol Hill for entertainment or even to Green Lake in an attempt to stay in shape by running around the lake.  I love that, even without a car, I am so close to an abundance of neighborhoods that offer a wide variety of things to do and eat.  I am never bored.

Queen Anne is over to the left, kind of in the middle. See how close it is to everything?

A typical week begins and ends with grocery shopping.  Because I spend the majority of my day either at work or school, I try to get my weekly cooking done over the weekends.  For this, I head to my friendly neighborhood Whole Foods or to Fred Meyer (if I’m lucky enough to convince someone to take me shopping).  I’ve been working on remembering my reuseable bags and can finally admit that walking to and from the store isn’t the chore I once thought it was.  City Girl 1 – Paper Bags 0.

My FAVORITE breakfast spot, Skillet Diner, just opened a second location in Ballard, so I've been spending a lot of my weekend time waiting in line to feast on the Little Rob!  

For you Seattleites who don’t know what that is, do yourself a favor and order one for Sunday brunch.  Ask for the breakfast potatoes instead of the side salad.  You can thank me later. 

Most of my weekdays are spent over near the Seattle Pacific University campus in North Queen Anne.  I work out at Stoneway Crossfit right off of campus and get my caffeine fix at Tully’s.  I'm going to Thailand in a few short months and love having this gym close to home so I can voluntarily get my butt kicked as often as I want.  Now that it’s getting a lot colder, I find it harder to make it to Crossfit and easier to make it to Tully’s for a steaming hot Americano and a pastry.  I'm sure I was meant to live in Paris with that attitude.  I guess that’s the next challenge for me to face!   

This week is Thanksgiving, which means family, food, wine, and...Apple Cup!  I'll be spending the holiday on Bainbridge Island and venturing over to Husky Stadium on Black Friday to watch my beloved Cougs defend their title.  Who really wants to shop on Black Friday when Washington rivalry football is happening anyway?

Butch says it all!

From The Emerald Coast to The Emerald City

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