I've noticed that whenever I go to write about an area that I've never physically lived in or visited, it's a lot more difficult and I spend a lot of time on the net searching for details about the place that you'd only really learn by having lived there.
It's usually really hard to find any such good details, and that's why I'm writing this up - for anyone else who finds them self with the same problem, and wanting to write about the coastal Washington / Seattle area.
I grew up in the Mid-West. I lived in Nebraska and Iowa, and visited Colorado A LOT (lots of family there).
For college, I moved to the Seattle area and lived there for several years.
This is a list of things I remember about the area that really stand out to me.
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Details about the Seattle area
Every few years people have to have their roofs high pressure water blasted because if you don't the moss will cover your roof. Older houses, that haven't bothered with the water-blasting/cleaning, would have their roofs COVERED IN MOSS. Like, thick and fluffy moss, everywhere.
In the spring there are huge brown slimy slugs that come out in the early mornings and at night. They were like 6 inches long, and they'd leave slime trails everywhere
We had one Slug that would come and eat out of our dog's food dish every night. We even named it. lol...
There are tiny snails EVERYWHERE in the spring and summer, that come out at night and in the mornings. It's impossible to walk along the sidewalk at night without accidentally stepping on one or two of them. They make a horrible popping noise when you crush one. It's so sad.
Even in downtown Seattle, with concrete, brick, and metal buildings everywhere, it still smells like plants and fresh rain air all the time. There is almost never anything even resembling smog in the air.
I've been to Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Washington, etc... nothing compares in clean air to Seattle. It looks like a huge city, but doesn't smell like it at all. Even Portland doesn't compare, but it's close.
In the valleys between the cities/towns you get the most amazing fog every morning. It's awesome to drive through it.
There are Rhododendron bushes everywhere and in the spring it's FREAKING BEAUTIFUL.
There are blackberry bushes growing wild, all over the place between the towns and cities surrounding the Seattle area. FYI - Blackberry bushes have THORNS. BIG SHARP THORNS.
Despite common belief it does not rain constantly. It mists. It sprinkles. It drizzles. It rarely rains. I lived in the mid-west for over a decade and when it rained it RAINED there. In Seattle, I don't recall a single legitimate lightening and thunder storm for the 4 years I lived there. We almost never got any big-rain-drop down-pours.
The air is always cool and moist. But it does NOT get humid there.
This seems to surprise a lot of people who've never been to the area. They assume that since it's always so moist there, that you'd get high humidity in the summers, but you really don't.
Almost no residential places have central air conditioning (apartment complexes, houses, etc.) This was a real shock after living in the Midwest where it was practically mandatory or you'd die come summer. It only gets really hot for about 2 months a year (July and August) in that part of Washington, and the heat is still within reason - not much humidity, so it's still bearable. We still got a window A/C unit, cuz we were spoiled and hated any heat over 90.
If it's not raining, the sky is usually gray-ish white anyways. Very commonly overcast. Just solid gray and solid white.
You get the most AMAZING rainbows when the sky clears. HUGE. And Double-Rainbows where you can see a big one with a smaller one underneath it.
It very VERY rarely snows. When it does it usually melts by the next day. It usually turns to rain and slush. More often then not, when it's 'snowing' it's slushing and melts instantly, once it touches the ground.
On some rare clear nights you can see the Aurora Borealis in the sky. I'm serious. I saw it 3 times while I lived there and it was awesome. I always thought you had to be further north, like in Northern Canada or Alaska, to actually see that.
The coast of Washington has loads of beaches and they're usually empty or only have a few people scattered around. It's nothing like California's busy sunny beaches. But they aren't really the nice sandy beaches you'd find in Cali. More gravel and driftwood, and mushy mud bottoms, but still lots of fun.
Every time I went to one, the water was FREEZING though... and it was usually still raining or overcast. lol.
Seattle is an Ocean Port City but it isn't on the state coast. (huh? Just look at a map on googlemaps and you'll see).
To the west of Seattle is the Puget Sound, which is a large body of water that connects to the ocean further north.
To the east is Lake Washington, so Seattle has water on both the East and West of it.
There are two primary ways to get across Lake Wa, the I-90 bridge, and 520. 520 goes to the Bellevue, Redmond area (think Microsoft and shiny yuppies). I-90 is further south and older, but also has more lanes. 520 Squeezes traffic into 2 lanes so it gets backed up quicker.
To get from the land on the Western side of the Puget Sound, to Seattle, there are a whole bunch of Ferries that you can drive your car onto, but no bridges (Puget Sound is too big).
Forks and Port Angeles are on the west side of the Puget Sound, Forks being pretty close to the actual Washington Coast, and Port Angeles being about mid-way between the coast and the Puget Sound. To get to Seattle you'd probably drive to Bainbridge Island and then take the ferry there. Otherwise you'd have to drive Way south to Tacoma and back up again to Seattle and that wouldd take an extra two-to-three hours.
I don't care how fast the Cullens like to drive. Once in Seattle the traffic often becomes bumper to bumper. Especially if you're on I-5 between noon and 7pm. So... All day.
SeaTac is the primary airport for the area. It's a huge Airport and I've been through it A LOT. It's actually a really nice and modern airport. SeaTac is between Seattle and Tacoma. I would guess it'd probably take about 1-2 hours to drive from SeaTac to Port Angeles.
The touristy part of the ports of Seattle has an Aquarium right on the water. It's really cool.
In Downtown Seattle, the streets get really really steep the closer you get to the water.
The Space Need requires you pay $15 to go up the elevator and look out. The top has 2 primary floors. One floor has a Starbucks, some little shops, and a bunch of tables and chairs to look out the windows. The 2nd floor is a fancy restaurant that charges too much. So you have to pay to go up, and then pay too much to eat. It's really stupid.
If you ever actually go to Seattle, you MUST visit Pike's Place Market. It's just to awesome to miss.
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