7 Notes on Visiting Seattle
I spent a few days in Seattle to see Washington’s National Parks. It’s one of those American cities that, due to its wealth, business, history, and location, punches above its population size in American culture. It was fun to put eyes on it and get a brief look at the city.
Shockingly Beautiful Setting
Some cities, like Chicago and New York, are beautiful themselves. Their respective skylines make their settings (flat plains and a river inlet) beautiful.
Seattle is the inverse. The skyline is fine, but the natural setting is shockingly beautiful. In one direction is Mt. Rainier. In another direction are the Olympic Mountains. In another direction is Puget Sound. In yet another direction are the Cascades. There are evergreen trees everywhere.
The whole setting is so beautiful.
Very Close To Nature
Seattle has a big metro area but is still so close to nature. The city has maintained a lot of nature. Most of the neighborhoods have evergreen tree cover. The parks we stopped in (even far from the tourist circuit) were beautiful and dense with tree and plant species.
And of course (the reason we went), the city is only a few hours from three major National Parks (Olympic, Mt Rainier, and Cascades) in addition to all the state and regional parks, just a short drive or ferry ride away.
Much Hillier Than Expected
The city is on a natural harbor, with downtown up on a bluff. That basic geography did not “click” with me until we were there. Seattle is a hilly city. It has some serious urban hiking all over it. Ridgelines run all through the city, so moving east to west anywhere requires ups and downs.
More Car-Centric Than Its Reputation
It’s sad but obvious that a city in the US with the records for being the most walkable, having the highest bus transit use, having the best bike network, etc., is still 90% seriously devoted to cars.
Seattle has done a great job increasing density downtown and building out land that already has infrastructure and access to jobs and city amenities. But unlike Boston, which is a dense mid-size city built before the car, Seattle is a dense mid-size city built after the car. Seattle has made more non-car transportation progress than most cities. But the grid, parking, and traffic flows are still heavily biased towards cars.
Walking was pretty good, but I wasn’t about to hop on a bike and zig-zag around the city quite yet. Also, we still needed a rental car to get really anywhere except the core of downtown on a weekend.
weird Land Use Patterns
Seattle is still a working industrial city. The Port of Seattle is still right downtown. The big Boeing factory is right down beside it. And warehouses & heavy factories are right beside it as well.
Historically, the land use makes sense (Seattle started as a trans-shipment city for the Klondike Gold Rush and then again for WWII Pacific Theater supplies). But it’s still pretty random.
There’s also heavy gentrification happening right around the port, which is right next to the sports stadiums. So there’s this area full of tourists, trendy offices, massive, loud trucks, and very rough infrastructure. I loved it, but it’s just odd and unique to see.
I Understand The West Coast Vibe Now
I think it’s the nature, the size of the landscape, and the time zone that overlaps, but the West Coast really is much more chill than the East Coast. It’s obvious that it’s still a workaholic American city, but Seattle does not get going in the morning like ATL / DC / NY / BOS do. Again, some of it is just time zone overlap, but there is something about being in a city where you can see legit, expansive nature that slows you down. Then again, maybe not. I was only there for a few days.
Both More & Less Expensive Than I Expected
Like most West Coast cities, Seattle’s real estate costs are shockingly high. This trend also drives costs up everywhere else. I was expecting Seattle to be consistently expensive everywhere. But, like most cities, it turned out to have a wider range of prices than most places.
The base level price was a bit higher, but it wasn’t too bad. For example, dining at an independent Mexican restaurant was about 15% more expensive than at the same place in Atlanta. But they still had plenty of independent Mexican restaurants, which are significantly cheaper than most sit-down restaurants. Now, if you wanted to pay $200 for Mexican food in Seattle, you definitely could. But you could also get regular fajitas and service for $20.
The one cost that did consistently surprise me was Washington’s universal 10%+ sales tax. Georgia has a State Income Tax plus a 4% State Sales Tax on goods (not services). Then, local governments can top up their property tax by 3-4% on sales tax.
In Washington, there is no Income Tax. But that 10% goes on everything that is bought and sold. It’s pretty eye-watering even for someone who’s generally for increasing government services.
It was a good reminder that when it comes to tax burdens, it’s much more relevant to look at tax spending per person rather than what type of tax is collected. The money has to come from somewhere. It’s just the mix that the citizenry prefers to raise it with.
In a different world with zero local ties, I would be interested (though not 100% sold) in living in Seattle. But as it is, I was happy to visit there more often, especially as a jumping-off point for their National Parks and Alaska.
