Why Seattle?

"Why would you move up here to the rain?" This is the question I am constantly asked every single day at work, school, and everywhere else. Here's my story: I am from Miami Florida and felt like I never belonged (blah blah blah). My only brother left his wonderful five sisters to go be a man in the Army. He was stationed at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Wa. I decided to come visit him to try a new place.

I have to admit that even though I was so excited to leave Florida for the summer after a month Washington became a living hell. I packed my bags and hopped on a greyhound back to Florida. After a while I realized that I didn't really give Washington a shot. I based all of my negative opinions from Tacoma and not Seattle. At the same time I kept comparing Washington to Florida and I should've just appreciated Washington for what itself.

I moved back to Tacoma about eight months ago through a transfer at work. I still hate Tacoma but I love Seattle. Seattle has all the things that I love like indie music and films, great food, relaxed atmosphere, safety, four seasons, and good people. I spend my weekends in the city soaking up the good vibes and waiting until my lease is up so that I can finally live that Seattle life. Moving to Seattle will finally keep me in one place. I fit in here wonderfully. This city now excites me as I learn more about it and it's little neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, and Ballard. I love Ballard.

I'm currently signing a lease for a place in Queen Anne and am excited to FINALLY be living in the close vicinity of downtown Seattle. 

I found my happy place in Seattle and I think I am finally going to commit to one city...for now!

The Outdoors

I was a city girl that had never been on a camping trip let alone go on hikes. Living in Seattle I noticed that Washingtonians love the great outdoors! Learning this was exciting but I didn't know where to start with trying to even go camping on my own. How would I build a tent? What can I eat? I was clueless.

Fortunately my boyfriend had friends that wanted to get away for a few days to go camping by a town called Eatonville. It was finally happening; I was going to spend a few nights in the middle of nowhere. OK I had a million questions like would there be toilets? Would we have Internet access still? BEARS? Oh and how would we cook because I really hoped we didn't have to really build a fire. 

We drove to the town and upon arriving everything changed. We were in the this small town that had one building for each type of business: one grocery store, one bar, one liquor store, one diner, etc. Craziness. We went from big city to where the heck am I the twilight zone? 

Anyway my boyfriend's friends were great. They taught me how to build a fire and build my own little tent. What a blast! The weather was beautiful that weekend to so we swam and wrestled in the lake and  walked some nice trails. 

In the end I was thrilled that I tried something different and I didn't have to travel far to do it. I love how the people here are both city and outdoor cultured; it just gives me a broader perspective of Washingtonians. I'm impressed by how Washingtonians can really dip into city life and outdoor life so easily like it's all in the same. It's not something people can't do where I'm from so this was an experience for me and appreciate the open mindedness of the people here and the sense of community no matter where you are.