Exploring on Foot

Posted by Rae Schwarz Mar 21, 2007

For the twelve years I lived in SF, I negotiated and navigated a lot of the city on foot. I guess you can say I appreciated how small it really is for being a big city. Seattle is a lot larger, and it's hilly, and it's got these huge waterways to cross which are all over the place. I'm really getting to know the city more by bus here overall.

I've got a cute neighborhood, with plenty of boutique shops and restaurants within what I consider easy walking distance. (3-6 blocks) There are zero "corner stores" as I experienced them in SF. I always lived in apartments in SF, whereas I'm in a house in Seattle. But there is a great community center with classes and cool art programs. I never had anything like that in SF. And I'm within walking distance of the city zoo. I haven't gone and checked it out yet but I should. We did "win" a slot in the drawing this past fall for "zoo doo" which is compost created by the zoo. When you won, you got as much as you'd asked for when you applied. We got a pickup-truck-bed-full, as that's what we had available to do pickup. It took care of our entire back yard garden.

I live near Greenlake and this city park has an amazing walking/biking track that runs around the lake. When the weather is clear, brisk or warm, it's a fantastic break that really minimizes the feeling of being in a city. It reminds me a bit of living near Golden Gate Park. I am also adjacent a solid bus route that directly services downtown, a feature that every single neighborhood I lived in SF also had. That's definitely one of my constants. Moderately late night service is also available on that line, another feature of transit I consider key.