Seattle Neighborhood Map
I’m lucky enough to work with many local Seattle families as well as people moving to the area and looking for a Seattle mortgage.
For those of you who are new to the area, I know the city can seem daunting at first, though once you get to know the neighborhoods Seattle will quickly feel like home.
I’ve decided to post two of my favorite Seattle neighborhood maps to my site, to serve as a reference to both newcomers and long-term Seattle residents.
This first map comes directly from the Seattle government’s website, and is more or less the ‘official’ Seattle neighborhood map.
This next map I discovered on Pinterest. A Chicago-based company, Ork, creates these beautiful neighborhood maps of cities across the United States, including Seattle. It’s a lot more fun than the official Seattle map, and in some ways easier to read.
Do you have a favorite Seattle neighborhood map that you can recommend to new Seattle residents?
Seattle and Snow
Seattle is famous (or is it infamous?) for our weather. The average yearly rainfall in Seattle is about 36 inches, which, surprisingly is actually less than both New York City and Washington DC. However, when most people think of Seattle they imagine cool, drizzly days. And they wouldn’t be wrong.
This week we’ve experienced what I like to call Snow Panic. As a tremendously hilly city, ice and snow can turn us into one giant metropolitan hazard. Businesses have temporarily shut down, people are working from home, and the airport even closed for awhile this morning.
Although this week’s snowstorm was predicted to be “the worst blizzard in 30 years!”, it looks like we’ve gotten less snow than they originally expected.
I’m sure many of us were dreading something similar to the snowstorm that befell Seattle in December of 2008. People in from out of town were stranded for days, as the airport cancelled and postponed hundreds of flights.
If you’ve got five minutes to spare, check out this video someone took in November 2010, as cars repeatedly slid down an icy Capitol Hill street.
How are you surviving the great blizzard of 2012?
Featured Seattle Neighborhood: Queen Anne
As part of my ongoing blog series on Seattle neighborhoods, this week I’d like to feature Queen Anne, the neighborhood that I call home.
Queen Anne is a truly eclectic neighborhood, with a mix of three-million dollar waterview mansions and small bungalows, old turn-of-the-century Tudors, craftsmen homes, and new construction.
If you didn’t know you were only ten minutes from downtown, you’d feel like you were in a quaint little neighborhood in a small town near the coast.
The neighborhood is close to Ballard, Magnolia, and downtown, which makes it an ideal location. There are tons of parks and a vibrant retail district.
Some of my favorite dining establishments in the neighborhood include Top Pot Doughnuts (famous donuts!), 5 Spot (great breakfasts), Hilltop Ale House (excellent beer and food), and Macrina Bakery (check out their scones).
I would highly recommend checking out the Queen Anne neighborhood if you’re thinking about buying a house in Seattle. While it may not be the most affordable neighborhood in the area, it really does offer a little bit of everything.
