People here are crazy about mushrooms. And food foraging, but mushrooms especially.
Every restaurant has at least two types of mushrooms and they try to throw then in almost everything. Mason and I hate mushrooms, but we are starting to not mind them as much. When you go hiking people will actually stop you to talk about mushrooms. This is HUGE for a city that is notoriously known for being antisocial/confrontational. Which brings me to my next point...
The Seattle Freeze. I guess it's real, but in a less obstructive way than people make it seem. We certainly aren't in the South, but I wouldn't say people are "unfriendly." It usually just ends up being a great conversation starter. One bizarre thing however is that people will not acknowledge you on the street. Mason ALWAYS says "hello" or "good morning." I usually make eye contact and smile. NO ONE HERE says hello or makes eye contact if they don't know you. Just this morning while walking the dogs, at 6am, when no out else is out, a guy came walking towards us and made a gesture like he acknowledged our dogs and was going to say something. So Mason said "good-morning" and the expression on the man's face instantly turned into one of pure shock (fear almost), he looked down and scurried past us. Other transplant friends of ours have said "the Freeze" also includes terrible service at bars and restaurants, but so far we haven't experience that except for the first bar we ever went to, in the heart of the tourist area.
The Seattle Public Library System is AMAZING. Not only is there a branch in every neighborhood, but there is virtually no limit to how many ebooks you can put on hold and you can have 25 checked out at once! Every other Kindle library I've been a member of (4 now), limits your holds to 4 at a time and checkouts to 4 at a time. I always assumed it was an OverDrive system requirement, but not in Seattle! You can also check out passes to the museums around the city. For example... the EMP museum is $20 a person. Mason and I have been wanting to go, but always find something else to spend the money on. So we "reserved" passes for a day around Thanksgiving. They literally send you 2 free tickets to use on the day you requested- you can't really do it last minute and for a musem like the EMP, your choice of days is limited because everyone wants to go there. But I also requested passes to the Seattle Art Museum to see their Peru exhibition which I'm super pumped about because I was definitely planning on shelling out the money for that one before it left to reconnect to my undergrad days studying Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture.
Booze is expensive. 27% tax expensive. It's blasphemy. But you can buy liquor in Target and grocery stores. The super crazy part is that soon you'll be able to buy weed there too.
Public Transportation. Everyone likes to complain about the bus system here. I personally don't think it's that bad. At first I thought it was super expensive at $2.50 a trip. Then I learned how to work the system like everyone else- you pay cash and request a transfer. The transfers are supposed to only work for 90 mins, but you'll at least get 4 hours out of it which is usually enough time to grab a drink and dinner downtown and not have to pay parking...
Parking is a toss-up. It's definitely easier to find parking here than Charleston. No question. However, in Charleston, the parking was so terrible I never even considered driving. Here, there's always a slim chance you can find free street side parking for 2 hours and that slim chance is just enough to make me get in my car and then hate my life once I get to my destination and realize I can't find parking and end up having to pay between $6-10 an hour for metered or garage parking. I'm finally starting to get comfortable on my bike and get the hang of the buses though so this has been happening less and less. Every time I swipe my card at one of those meters I cringe at the thought of the theoretical two beers I just poured down the gutter. Parking up in my neighborhood is pretty easy though. We have a spot behind our house, but street parking in front is never a problem- thank god. There apparently aren't any rules against parking facing against traffic either- which I think is cool.
4-way stops are life threatening. Mason claims the structure of the traffic laws here is a result of being so close to Canada (he hates driving in Canada and swears that's the only reason we'll never move there). I kid you not, the city is filled with 4 (and sometimes 5!) way stops with no stop signs. It's literally an intersection with no established rule system. At least that I know of. I have yet to actually approach another car at one of these intersections to see what the right-of-way logic is, but that's because I avoid these areas like the plague and when I do actually come up on one I usually stop and wait, like I'm approaching a rail road, before I dare to inch forward. I'm slowly getting used to them, but it really freaked me out the first few weeks of driving around. The "life-threatening" description is probably a gross exaggeration though because...
Seattle drivers are slow and passive. I admit to having major anxiety over driving in urban areas. It's probably the main reason I prefer to walk. I'm always worried about not knowing where I'm going and getting cut off, or turning the wrong way down a one way, but I really haven't had any issues here. For the most part the drivers are super friendly, always waving you into traffic, rarely honking, rarely speeding, and generally no one seems to be in a rush. It's actually a really nice and distinct change of pace from the East Coast. But it also makes those awkward 4 way stops more terrible because no one is willing to make the first move. I feel like a super aggressive driver here and trust me, I'm not.
So that's a quick round-up of my first month here... I'll probably keep this list going, hopefully with pictures next time.
Booze is expensive. 27% tax expensive. It's blasphemy. But you can buy liquor in Target and grocery stores. The super crazy part is that soon you'll be able to buy weed there too.
Public Transportation. Everyone likes to complain about the bus system here. I personally don't think it's that bad. At first I thought it was super expensive at $2.50 a trip. Then I learned how to work the system like everyone else- you pay cash and request a transfer. The transfers are supposed to only work for 90 mins, but you'll at least get 4 hours out of it which is usually enough time to grab a drink and dinner downtown and not have to pay parking...
Parking is a toss-up. It's definitely easier to find parking here than Charleston. No question. However, in Charleston, the parking was so terrible I never even considered driving. Here, there's always a slim chance you can find free street side parking for 2 hours and that slim chance is just enough to make me get in my car and then hate my life once I get to my destination and realize I can't find parking and end up having to pay between $6-10 an hour for metered or garage parking. I'm finally starting to get comfortable on my bike and get the hang of the buses though so this has been happening less and less. Every time I swipe my card at one of those meters I cringe at the thought of the theoretical two beers I just poured down the gutter. Parking up in my neighborhood is pretty easy though. We have a spot behind our house, but street parking in front is never a problem- thank god. There apparently aren't any rules against parking facing against traffic either- which I think is cool.
4-way stops are life threatening. Mason claims the structure of the traffic laws here is a result of being so close to Canada (he hates driving in Canada and swears that's the only reason we'll never move there). I kid you not, the city is filled with 4 (and sometimes 5!) way stops with no stop signs. It's literally an intersection with no established rule system. At least that I know of. I have yet to actually approach another car at one of these intersections to see what the right-of-way logic is, but that's because I avoid these areas like the plague and when I do actually come up on one I usually stop and wait, like I'm approaching a rail road, before I dare to inch forward. I'm slowly getting used to them, but it really freaked me out the first few weeks of driving around. The "life-threatening" description is probably a gross exaggeration though because...
Seattle drivers are slow and passive. I admit to having major anxiety over driving in urban areas. It's probably the main reason I prefer to walk. I'm always worried about not knowing where I'm going and getting cut off, or turning the wrong way down a one way, but I really haven't had any issues here. For the most part the drivers are super friendly, always waving you into traffic, rarely honking, rarely speeding, and generally no one seems to be in a rush. It's actually a really nice and distinct change of pace from the East Coast. But it also makes those awkward 4 way stops more terrible because no one is willing to make the first move. I feel like a super aggressive driver here and trust me, I'm not.
So that's a quick round-up of my first month here... I'll probably keep this list going, hopefully with pictures next time.
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