Seattle folk LIKE the sounders? You don’t work downtown do you?
Re: winter. I’m a former Alaska of 41 years and I found the weather a bit colder than what I was used to when I first got here. It was a damper cold than I was used to, but I’ve pretty much acclimated after two years.
I didn’t find that Seattle people were less friendly than where I grew up, but then I’m a schmoozer, and when I’m in the mood to, I can engage just about anyone in a lively conversation.
Some things that kind of put me into “sticker shock” was the price of car insurance and parking costs. I don’t know if this is true, but my insurance agent told me that the reason my insurance went up from Alaska prices (usually one of the highest COL in the country), is that the drivers here are almost the worst in the US and that there are a lot of uninsured drivers. It seems as if that’s true, but then I am lucky enough to live near the light rail and don’t often take the highway or drive a whole lot. The parking downtown is outrageous. An average of $230 bucks a month unless you want to walk a mile or two to your office.
There is a TON to do and see around here, I adore that after 41 years basically isolated from most of the world.
I’m glad you posted this, I’m considering my next move as well, and though there are a lot of things I love about Seattle, I want to move where it’s a little warmer.
Whereabouts in Alaska? A relative lived in Ketchikan for a couple of years and the main thing I recall about the descriptions is that everything was ridiculously expensive. The idea of a place in the lower 48 that’s colder and costlier is downright depressing.
Heh! No, no, not at all. There are lots of good things about Seattle, and I’ve gotten used to the damper temperatures. And I (and I’m sure chefguy, another former Alaskan will agree) don’t miss six months of winter, AT ALL!
I mostly lived in Anchorage, but I did live in the Valley a bit (the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, where Wasilla is located), and I spent almost five years living on the Kenai, both in Soldotna, and Nikiski.
Now, if you’re a super gung ho woodsperson,…if you’re a FIERCELY independent and hardy individual, then Alaska is the place for you. The mentality of Alaskans is, just very different. Mostly in a good way.
There are a ton of things I miss about Anchorage, it’s a really beautiful city, and so nicely laid out. Even though it too, has been affected by the economy, it’s still a wealthy state, and there are lots of good paying jobs. I have to say, the primary reasons I left were:
Avoid 6 months of snow a year,
Avoid the isolation of being so far away from everything
Having access to a larger variety of things to do (a large percentage of Alaskans are happy with just the Holy Trinity of “hunting/fishing/snowmobiling”).
Be closer to family (the only family still left in Alaska is my 21 year old son, everyone else lives in the lower 48).
I don’t have enough space to list the really good things about Anchorage, but here are a few:
Beautiful city..lots of green…lots of really pretty neighborhoods
Several hundred miles (IIRC) of bike trails
Gardening…no seriously. With 19 some odd hours of daylight a day during the summer months…yeah, the gardening.
The food (I don’t know what it is, but there are a lot of restaurants there so good, I’ve not found their equal even in New Orleans).
