I think this native Southerner would like Seattle. What say you? (Bellevue: condo, day care)

[redhead]

so citygirl are you from sacramento???? that's were i was raised, considered going back but gets to humid and hot......

[rebelwoman]

I think all of Washington in general is pretty to look @ & visit, but it's been my experience that unless you were raised there, or you're willin' to make some big addaptions, you'd better prepare. I wanted to get the hell out of Colorado, my homestate, because it started to fill up with crime & bad people overall. I just moved up north one state to Wyoming, & now I'm not too bothered by the weather. Basicly, the PNW is nice, but movin' straight up there from the south is gonna be one hell of a change. I agree with what was said above: get the day-in day-out experience & visit out there in a hotel every once in a while in order to really get the feel of it.

Jessie

[funyoncity]

From my experience, people in Seattle are mostly polite. People do get awkward if you try to hold an extended conversation with a stranger. Most people have friends from work or school they've known for awhile. I was even guilty of being reserved about making new friends when I lived there. Joining clubs or interest groups helps to break the ice, especially if other people are new in the group. In Seattle I tend to have friends in seperate 'groups'. If two 'groups' were at one place, they wouldn't talk to people in the other group. It's weird.

I've been to Kentucky and Kansas, people seemed to be more outwardly nice. I really like southern California in terms of meeting people, I've made many friends just on visits. Arizona is pretty friendly also. I'm moving soon from Arizona to Las Vegas, NV (should be interesting), and I've had people in Arizona start conversations with me just to talk and joke around. Never had that happen in 25 years of being in the Seattle area. I didn't even know my neighbors. I suppose personal experiences are always subjective though.

[redhead]

Originally Posted by funyoncity

From my experience, people in Seattle are mostly polite. People do get awkward if you try to hold an extended conversation with a stranger. Most people have friends from work or school they've known for awhile. I was even guilty of being reserved about making new friends when I lived there. Joining clubs or interest groups helps to break the ice, especially if other people are new in the group. In Seattle I tend to have friends in seperate 'groups'. If two 'groups' were at one place, they wouldn't talk to people in the other group. It's weird.

I've been to Kentucky and Kansas, people seemed to be more outwardly nice. I really like southern California in terms of meeting people, I've made many friends just on visits. Arizona is pretty friendly also. I'm moving soon from Arizona to Las Vegas, NV (should be interesting), and I've had people in Arizona start conversations with me just to talk and joke around. Never had that happen in 25 years of being in the Seattle area. I didn't even know my neighbors. I suppose personal experiences are always subjective though.

yap that's what i'm talking about

[JesseJB]

Originally Posted by funyoncity

In Seattle I tend to have friends in seperate 'groups'. If two 'groups' were at one place, they wouldn't talk to people in the other group. It's weird..

Oh man! This happens ALL the time here. Even at my parties (which are fun) and pretty much any other party I've been to. I learned to just keep most of my groups of friends seperate. It's worse with the native Washingtonians outside the city. You can NOT get them to socialize unless the new guy can show documented proof that they went to high school together.

For example, my girlfriend and I rented out a whole bar for our collective birthdays and invited all our friends. Her friends stayed on one side and were mostly quiet, shy yet entertained by my friends who were standing around laughing and getting blitzed. It was so funny how defined the dividing line was and no matter what we did, we could not get the two parties to mingle! It was weird but SO SO typical of a Seattle party!

But here's the kicker: all her friends (the shy ones) are transplants to Seattle for medical, tech and education fields and all mine are natives. (And mine were doing all the mingling attempts).

[baystater]

Originally Posted by redhead

ya but when someone is smiling and saying good morning at the check out line, I'm not looking to make a like long buddy; it's just the simple politness that makes coexistance more enjoyable. and you don't get those type of pleasentries or manners from many people in the pnw. maybe you say well it's "real", then give me the artifical niceties of the old days and old south ways any time. and honestly are you telling me that people in seattle/tacoma/bremerton or any of the big cities on the west coast are approchable and hosipitable????? through all my travels you'll only find these types of people in the flyover parts of the us.

I just got back from a trip to Seattle and being raised as a Baystater (Massachusetts) I found the people in Seattle friendly and pleasent in general. Where I was born and raised it was considered rather rude to bother people on the street you didn't know and start having a conversation about rather frivolous things. Really I don't need to know about you kids or grandkids or how you day is going. I'm sorry if you find that rude...but that's the culture in general from where I'm from (I will say it a little friendlier in the city of Boston, mostly because of transplants to the state.) So those niceties that you speak of are an annoyance from my cultural views.

Anyways I had a wonderful time in Seattle and the areas around it. I have to say the landscape is phenomenal. The mountains and the sea (sound) together is just awesome to a person like me who loves great scenery. Also the hiking generally in the area is challenging and interesting. I unfortunately didn't have the time to go to MT Rainer but hopefully sometime in the future I'll get that chance. the Mountain/volcano looked amazing when we were driving on the highway. It made me salivate just to think about climbing/hiking it. You guys out there are truly blessed with a wonderful natural environment.
As for the downtown area of Seattle where I was at. I thought the layout was easily navigable and actually pretty easy to walk. Though I must say that I'm currently living just outside of NYC...so I could say that about any other city. But in comparison I found Seattle for it's smaller size had a lot to offer in the way of the arts and culture. Definitely the town is hip an on top current culture in general (at least from my perspective.) The pike street market was cool and the fountains/art around the town made it a very esthetically pleasing place to be in.

So to sum up. I personally would definitely would take a chance to move to the Seattle area if the opportunity arose. In my mind it really is a great area to be.

[redhead]

baystater
i was talking about west coast. i didn't even mention the east coast. the people on the east coast are a different breed altogether. i know you'd get looked at like an insane person if you tried to strike up a conversation with someone in line or on the street anywhere in the upper east coast area. not true when you get in the southern coastal states though. so i would certainly guess that a boston bean would kind the pnw very friendly in comparison to home town. as would an new yorker or someone from jersey or philly.

[Ecovlke]

I've lived in WA off and on when I was in my early 20's and I've lived in Seattle. Seattle is my city. Period. Everything about it from the weather (yeah, I love drizzly, gray days), mild summers, and the scenery cannot be topped, IMO. I meant to return, but life took me a different direction. Now, I'm starting a M.S. in Environmental Management this fall and have an elderly mom to look after. My goal is to move back to Seattle within 3-4 years.

Everytime I return to Seattle I find the people friendly and open to me. On one of my trips I had a friend notice how friendly people acted toward me, and one guy in West Seattle crossed the street just to tell me and my friend/co-worker how much he appreciated us smiling at him. ?? I just don't find it hard to meet people in Seattle. If you like outdoor activites like hiking, biking, kayacking or just about any 'ing' you can't beat Seattle. You're only a shake, rattle and roll away from just about anything you could want to do outdoors. Winter or summer.

I live in Tulsa and there's a predominately southern attitude here. I hate the politics in the south AND I've been treaated like a scum bag in places like Alabama and Louisiana, (I'm brown since I'm Native American) but.......I think that could happen anywhere. You could not drag me any further south than I already am. Tulsa isn't bad; there's some cool people here and some cool things happening, but I loathe the summers. I simply HATE hot weather. Right now it's sticky, hot, and it hasn't been below 76 in a week. It's freaking miserable. We've had at least a week of temps in the mid to upper 90's with over 50% humidity.

Every time I return to Seattle it feels like I'm home. I'm comfortable and at ease in that city, and feel like I fit there. It's why I plan to move back. I'll be in Seattle in mid July for several days and plan to relish the nice temperatures.

For those of you who live in Seattle what area of town is your favorite? I use to live on Capitol Hill and it was suppose to be 'rough' but it's changed a lot since I lived there long ago. I've been looking around at West Seattle as an option. I've only been there once, so I'm going to check it out when I come and also check out the Madrona district.

[SeaBellevueman240]

Seattle is not a great place for Southern people ?? I moved from the south to Seattle.. The only difference is you have a good amount of people in Seattle that show you how they feel about you and a good amount of southerners wait until you have your back turned then talk about you badly.. The thing is not everyone is the same Seattle and all the areas have some amazing people that are not that way just like you have some in the south that do not have time to talk about other people.. People are people where ever you live..

[SeaBellevueman240]

Ecovlke I do agree with you ever since I moved here I like to speak and smile at people to see what they will do and more than 50% of the time I get really good reactions. Now I do not try to start a full conversation about my life story but I just smile.. This girl in Bellevue looked to be in her own little world had this little dirty look on her face and rolled her eyes when I looked her way. I just spoke to her and said how is it going with a smile on my face.. She had to smile back and ask me how I was doing.. Then she stopped me and ask me for directions because she was trying to find some place that her GPS said should be in this area but was really a few more blocks down haha. I just made a little joke about her GPS being a drug addict made her laugh. So I helped her out and she looked like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders when we found the place she was looking for. She could of been one those ladies that are used to guys trying to pick her up and thought I was going to do that instead of helping her.. See most people would of just thought she was snooty or rude. Sometimes people are just going thru things in life or they are just stressed from everyday life so they just take it out on the world. If nobody in Seattle is smiling at you then you start smiling and speaking to people first. You would be surprised at how many people are like you just looking for a friendly face.. I had the same thing that happen in a store in Seattle this guy acted like he was so much above everybody and despite his rudeness I was making jokes the whole time he was helping me and he started laughing.. Once he loosen up he started talking more and being friendly. He even asked me about the product I bought from him when I came back to the store.. .