I was born in Texas and have lived here ever since. After an incident last year, I panicked at the question, am I going to die in Texas, too?
I want to live in a real city, which Texas does not have. Terri and I love Chicago but don't have the courage to face the winters there. New York City is the greatest city on earth, but Manhattan is too expensive and who wants to live in Queens? We could emigrate to Western Europe but are too lazy to fill out the paperwork.
So our trip to Seattle was partly to answer the question, do we want to move there? As for most questions in life, the answer is complicated.
Seattle is a beautiful city. There are lots of apartments downtown and in nearby neighborhoods like Belltown and South Lake Union, and lots of residents means lots of shops and restaurants, even shopping malls, that are not dependent on customers in cars.
It rains in Seattle. It's generally not a heavy rain, just a drizzle, but it's enough to get you wet. We never broke out an umbrella, although we used the hoods on our coats a lot. If we lived in Seattle I would lose my tan and become very pale.
Every April in Texas we close up the windows and turn on the air conditioner, and it stays on until October. In Seattle, anything over 80° is considered a heat wave, even in August. Few residences have air conditioning.
There is no Whataburger in Washington State.
We are bored in Texas. Boredom is not always a bad thing.
Chicago has the Art Institute. New York has the Met and MOMA. Fort Worth has the Kimbell, the Amon Carter, and the Modern. Seattle has, well, not so much.
There is no income tax in Texas and the sales tax is 8.25%. There is no income tax in Washington and the sales tax in Seattle is 9.5%.
We moved to Fort Worth, in part, to be close to DFW airport. We can get there via TRE train and two shuttle buses for $3.50 per person, in about one hour. We have non-stop AA flights to London, Madrid, and Buenos Aires, and connecting flights to Europe from O'Hare (ORD) and JFK. Non-stop DFW to LHR (London Heathrow) is 4,750 miles, or 9 hours.
Seattle is not a AA hub but has non-stop flights to DFW, ORD, and JFK. The train from downtown to Seattle/Tacoma (SEA) airport takes about 30 minutes and costs $2.50 per person. Non-stop SEA to LHR is 4,801 miles, or 9.5 hours.
We were surprised at how few pick-up trucks we saw on the road in Seattle. Our Honda Civic would feel more at home there, but we would have to replace the windshield wiper blades more often.
For our long walks, Fort Worth has the Trinity Trails, forty miles along the Trinity River. Seattle's shoreline has a three-mile walk along Puget Sound and through Myrtle Edwards Park.
"Liberal" is not a curse word in Seattle.
Moving is not as easy as staying still. Easier is not always better.
Our lease in Fort Worth is not up until September, so there's plenty of time to ponder this.
Here's my Flickr snaps of Seattle.
Interesting comparisons. I have to believe there are other choices, however. Having lived in Lima for an extended period of time, the whole "non-weather" thing becomes a source of boredom in itself, and when you couple it with dreary, drizzly, overcast days one after another, it becomes depressing. Having grown up in Texas like you two, I think full-blown sunshine and a crazy thunderous lightning storm every once in a while are required for mental health. Another question, can you see the stars at night?? If not, don't go there!
ReplyDeleteTotally love Seattle, EXCEPT for the three months of rain.
ReplyDeleteSpring, Summer and Fall are wonderful.
We often house and dog sit for friends who have a house in the Central District, right next to the Capitol Hill District, and then there's the Fremont District, all filled with shops, art galleries, antique shops bars and restaurants.
AND, Air France has a direct flight to Paris!
Glad you had a good time. George.
Washington has physician-aid-in-dying (assisted suicide); Texas doesn't.
ReplyDelete@Jeffee, all that you say may be true, but an advantage of being a rentalist is that there are no long-term commitments. As for assisted suicide, Texas has always been a DIY kind of place.
ReplyDelete@George, yes, we liked it very much, rain and all. Even walked all the way from downtown to Volunteer Park, in the drizzle. Lots of activity and energy everywhere.
Sounds like you kids had yourselves a fine time in Seattle, despite getting dripped on. On my blog I alleviated your concern that living in Seattle would render you pale.
ReplyDeleteRegarding museums you said Fort Worth has the Kimbell, the Amon Carter and the Modern. With Seattle, not so much.
Well, Seattle does not concentrate its museums in one area and call this area its Cultural District the way FW does. In Seattle there are museums all over town, many of them well-regarded.
If you want a cluster of museums in a Museum District you can take the Sounder train from Seattle to Tacoma's transit center where you can hop on the free streetcar for a ride to the museum district.
Below is a list of Seattle's museums. It looks, to me, to be a tad longer than Fort Worth's. The Museum of Flight and the Pacific Science Center are my favorites. At the Museum of Flight you can get onboard LBJ's Air Force One and see a lunar rover...
Alki Bathhouse Art Studio
ArtWorks
Bellevue Arts Museum
Burke Museum
The Center for Wooden Boats Maritime Museum
The Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA)
The Children's Museum
Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center
Experience Music Project
Fremont Abbey Arts Center
Frye Art Museum
Historic Flight Foundation
Maritime Discovery Center
Museum of Flight
Museum of History and Industry
Nordic Heritage Museum
Northwest African American Museum
Olympic Sculpture Park
Pacific Science Center
Photographic Center Northwest
Sand Point Magnuson Park Public Art
Seattle Art Museum
Sev Shoon Arts Center
Seattle Asian Art Museum
Seattle Museum of the Mysteries
Seattle Outdoor Art
Western Bridge
Wing Luke Asian Museum
Trying to impress us with the length of your list, eh, Mr Durango?
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to museums, it's not quantity but quality -- there is no Caravaggio in Seattle.
P.S. You forgot to mention Archie McPhee's and Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Perhaps not technically museums, but each well worth an hour or so browsing and gawking.