I like living in woodinville. Its between seattle and the skykomish drainage and usually on the good side of the traffic jams. Housing is expensive any where close to jobs. I moved here last spring. Mauler

Hey:

I think I recognize your name from NPMB? I was back east from 05-08. Did you use to run the Dryway in a squirt boat all the time? Either way - welcome.

Do a Google search for "Professorpaddle" and "Relocating" and you may find lots of good info from other folks who have asked the same sort of questions over the years.

Traffic is one of the defining features of life near Seattle, and I think that ultimately people figure that they'll have to drive to and from work much more often than they drive to and from rivers to go paddling, so they wind up living someplace that minimizes their commuting pain much more than it maximizes their proximity to paddling.

Your best odds of maxing out on the "liberal living" score will be in neighborhoods that are north of I-90 and as close as possible to downtown. These are also going to minimize the pain of commuting to UW, and will probably also contain the highest percentage of folks who are into alternative modalities like accupuncture as well.

They will also be the most expensive. Your housing costs of will decrease (very slowly, until you get within a few miles of Snohomish county), and your proximity to paddling will increase, as you go north and east of the city. In the unlikely event that you go south of the city, housing costs will get lower, access to paddling (with the exception of the Green) will decrease.

Good luck!

I'm located in downtown Issaquah and I've found that it's a pretty good balance of commute / proximity to paddling. MM is about 20 minutes east of Issaquah and can be had after work in the spring months. Green is about 30 minutes south and the Sky is 45-1hr north. I live right downtown and I'm walking distance to restaurants, bars, grocery stores, etc... and it's way cheaper than Seattle. I work in Georgetown (South Seattle) and my commute averages about 45 minutes in the fall and winter and 20-30 in the spring and summer.

That said, there are definitely some pro-tips to keep in mind when it comes to moving to Seattle and dealing with the traffic.

1. Traffic North/South of Seattle is waaaaay worse than East/West. My buddy's commute from Ballard to South Seattle (8 miles) would often take the same amount of time as my commute from issaquah (18 miles)...

2. If you decide to live outside of the city, try to find a spot near the freeway that you'll take into the city. Some of the worst traffic in Seattle can be found on the way to and from the freeways.

3. This is kind of general advice, but if you're stoked on a spot, drive the commute at 8:00am in the morning and 5pm at night before you commit.

4. If you want to paddle everyday, you really should just move to Leavenworth and make your Girlfriend take online classes.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Cheers,
J

The Tilton is the staple run of Lacey/Olympia and there is a small but dedicated crew of boaters down there. If you move there, get to know Big Water Chris.

Edited by septimus prime - 29 Jan 2016 at 8:15pm

There is something like that on this site. Go to the "Home" page and look on the right under the "Quick Links" section for the "De PP Gmap"

Works a little slow for me but it is a nice tool.