My visit to Seattle, WA

It's been raining all week and everyone is sneezing from all the moss that's blooming.

Subarus are very popular in Seattle and the entire NorthWest. For good reason, if you had been around last Winter. Volvo also does extremely well. In my commute today, I noticed at least 7 Prius.

 

We drove up there from So Cal in June. Not much rain, we did not go downtown, we see many more Priuses down this way, but did have a nice trip.

It was great to drive, to see some of the sights along the way, most notably Crater Lake (in Oregon) which was spectacular!)

Just for the heck of it, I attach a photo of (partial view) of blue, blue Crater Lake.

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The round trip was 3,430 miles, using up 72.932 gallons of gas, for 47 mpg overall.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(oxnardprof @ Aug 22 2007, 11:07 PM) [snapback]500803[/snapback]</div>

How fast were you driving? Hard to stay under 75mph in the freeway. Still, very affordable for a long trip.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasidetraveler @ Aug 22 2007, 11:18 PM) [snapback]500785[/snapback]</div>

Awesome. Thank you. However, I'm guessing you didn't commute anywhere! hahaha.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasidetraveler @ Aug 22 2007, 11:18 PM) [snapback]500785[/snapback]</div>

As Tom (from click and clack) said: And the Prii shall inherit the earth.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasidetraveler @ Aug 22 2007, 11:18 PM) [snapback]500785[/snapback]</div>

Half? What local told you that? It's more like 9 months. But, that's why we're the silicon forest. Everyone likes the rain - when we're inside.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasidetraveler @ Aug 22 2007, 11:18 PM) [snapback]500785[/snapback]</div>

Unfortunately, the sound will be like that soon. There are so many cookie-cutter homes that are attracting the flocks of foobars.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasidetraveler @ Aug 22 2007, 11:18 PM) [snapback]500785[/snapback]</div>

And you didn't check out the Islands? They are the real key to the Puget Sound, completing Seattle's perfectness.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasidetraveler @ Aug 22 2007, 08:18 PM) [snapback]500785[/snapback]</div>

Attention all Northwesterners - Keep up the good work! The rain stories are still working. Believe me, the Californians who visit at various times of the year will never get together and compare notes. Remember the words "It rains half the year up here!". :blink:

And my faworite Northwest Rain joke = They told me it rains a lot in the Northwest, but that is not true. Last week, it only rained twice! One shower was three days and the other was four.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Aug 23 2007, 01:30 AM) [snapback]500836[/snapback]</div>

I always tell them the truth. It only rains once............. for nine months.

 

There are also these two stories (both probably true - wink)

The first one is about a woman who moved to Seattle and it just rained and rained and rained (like normal). One day she stops and asks a boy if is -- always -- rains in Seattle.

His response? How do I know. I'm only six years old.

The second story is about a child, maybe six year old. The mother takes the child out to go shopping and the child starts screaming hysterically.

After several minutes the mom finally calms the child down by explaining that the bright thing in the sky is the sun.

The child's response? But I thought that was just make believe like Santa Claus.

A fun rumor about Seatteites that isn't true? We do NOT have webbed hands. Don't ask about our feet.

Another fun fact, or is it fiction? New York actually gets more rain each years than Seattle. NY gets it is a few days. Our is spread out over months.

There are three seasons in Seattle.
Cold rainy season
Lukewarm rainy season.
Two days of sun. It usually falls on a Wednesday or Thursday and almost never on a weekend.

Before God went to Noah he went to someone in Seattle and said he was going to make it rain for 40 days and 40 nights and flood the earth.
The Seattleite of course thought God was nuts.
His response? It's been raining here almost all the time for years and it hasn't flooded yet. Why do you think having it rain for 40 more days is going to make any difference.

True fact. The record for consecutive days of measurable precipitation in Seattle is something like 73 days.
I didn't say it rained hard or anything. Seattle rain is also known as drizzle. Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes. Wait another five minutes and it's drizzling again.
Hard rain? Our hard rain is considered drizzle everywhere else.

Another false rumor. It has been reported in sunnier climes that the oils we put on our bodies are to prevent rust. We are just trying to be prepared for the two days of summer (not necessary two days in a row) when the sun comes out. We get burned pretty badly when the sun comes out. That could be where the rumor comes from about us getting "rust tans" instead of sun tans.

 

Q: What comes after two days of rain in Seattle?
A: Monday.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(alg @ Aug 22 2007, 11:32 PM) [snapback]500814[/snapback]</div>

I tried to stay at the speed limit (which varied) much to the consternation of some drives, when I had to pass a truck. However, when I began to look forward to the hotel, I may have gone up to 5 mph above. Mostly speed limit and cruise control.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasidetraveler @ Aug 23 2007, 11:18 AM) [snapback]500785[/snapback]</div>

Glad you had a good time in our fair city. I emigrated from the Bay Area in the late 60's partly for the reasons you described and it has gotten much worse in the last 40 years. A childhood friend of mine who still lives in the house she grew up in, told me that most people here "are living on the memory of what it was like". The weather here is more of an issue than in So Cal, but it has gotten milder over the years; maybe due to global warming. To tell you the truth, I love the mist that hangs in the trees and the general feeling that this place still has an ancestral presence and hasn't been complete cemented over the way urban California has.

We hosted a friend from Virginia who is thinking of moving out here. I took him on a flight over Mt St Helens which made a huge impression.

We have our share of zany politics. If anything, Seattle is "over processed" politically to the point where one wonders if we will ever get anything done. We are the last city on the west coast to get light rail and that took two prior bond issue failures over the years. Atlanta Georgia got the light rail we voted against in the late 60's. Still, this is a remarkably casual and progressive city that finally got over feeling second rate to San Francisco twenty years ago.

You're not wrong about Subarus. They are popular I think because they have four wheel drive which is good for heading outdoors, and get better mileage than SUVs, although worse than other cars their size. The Prius is a hot item here; I stopped counting them a year or so ago.

Come back again and let me know when you do; nothing like seeing the place with a local.

 

Seattle Rain Festival August 16 to August 15.

My dad has always claimed it rained everyday the year I was born.

But really:

If you come back take the ferry from downtown to Bremerton about an hour and a half RT or if you do have a car a trip through the San Juan Islands from Anacortes. Leave the car in Anacortes. This would take a full day including travel from Seattle.

 

Yes, the least you could have done was let us all know, so we could have converged on you