So why Seattle?
Seattle is not a perfect city, nowhere is. As a family, we have lived in a few different cities across US and Canada, from the east coast to the midwest and now here in the pacific northwest, and here are just a few reasons why we chose to move to Seattle, and think we have found our forever home.
I’m going to dare to mention Weather as one of the reasons we love Seattle—alright alright if you strongly disagree with this because you absolutely hate the rain, you can close your browser now and I won’t take it as a personal attack on my writing. We had previously lived in places where extreme weather events take place—frequent snow storms, single digit temps plus wind chills, or hot and humid summers that just don’t seem to end. As parents to a little one, we know the benefits of being outdoors as much you can—and you can do that in Seattle comfortably pretty much all year around as long as you have the right gears (this is so important, and it makes so much sense that some of the best outdoor clothes companies are based in the pacific northwest—REI and Arc’teryx just to name a couple)
Since I mentioned the weather and being outdoors, it’s obligatory for me to now talk about the Natural Beauty. Seattle is called the emerald city because it looks like a piece of emerald from above—the evergreen trees, surrounded by fresh water on one side (Lake Washington) and salt water on the other (Salish Sea), the hilly streets, and the 3 national parks all within a few hours driving distance (Olympic, Mt. Rainier, and Northern Cascades). You can’t make this stuff up—the location is just magical. I know all experiences are personal and some may complain about how depressing constant rains make them feel—you know what I consider depressing? Bare trees in the wintertime—and that is not going to be one of your problems here in Seattle.
Seattle is the best definition of Nature meets City. People often say “I want to get out of the city and experience nature”—those people must not be Seattleites. You can easily experience nature without leaving Seattle, you can also access world-class professional sports, performing arts, and everything else the city life is there to offer. The perfect Seattle weekend is spending one day in nature either in the forest or by the beach, and the other day attending art galleries, have a coffee at one of the many local cafes (or Starbucks, it’s ok you are forgiven) while enjoying the city skyline at a park, eat authentic international foods, and maybe end the night with a professional sports game.
The last factor that made us fall in love with Seattle is its Economy. Ok, if you have achieved financial freedom already maybe you don’t need to worry about this and oh wow you are reading my tiny little blog—I’m flattered. But for most people like us, it’s important to live in a place where the economy is diverse and scalable. I am no economist (the actual profession nor the magazine) but Gabriel and I each have an MBA so hear me out here. Look at Seattle’s top employers—Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco, Boeing, the Port of Seattle, Nordstrom, Fred Hutch, and University of Washington—they cover sectors across technology, retail, aerospace, manufacturing, academia, biotech, and transportation. And as we know just from our experiences growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, how easily scalable tech and biotech industries can be. As Gabriel likes to often say, “Seattle has always punched above its weight”.
Don’t get me wrong—Seattle has flaws, a lot of them are growing pains—the homeless crisis, the lack of affordable housing, and so many more. But it would be absolutely foolish to say the city doesn’t have a lot going for it.
I once heard a quote on Youtube (yes I’m a millennial and Youtube eats off a lot of my free time), it goes something like this “you don’t need to live in the biggest place or the nicest place, but make sure you live in a place where there is exceptional dynamism”—and that my friend is what Seattle is all about.
