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loonarknight t1_itqu6zz wrote

Reply to comment by SLUer12 in For those who have left Boston, what do you miss the most? by [deleted]

If you don't mind, as someone looking into moving from Boston to Seattle, what are some of the downsides you found? Slightly warmer winters and slightly cooler summers, on average, are kind of selling me on the move on it's own, haha

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velvetmagnus t1_itsrrb0 wrote

I lived in Seattle for 8 years and have lived in Boston for the last 5. Overall, I enjoyed my time there. I met some wonderful people, including my husband, and had some of the best times of my life. But we bought in Boston because we like it better.

Some of the main reasons we left:

-The weather wears on you. It's 45 and drizzling for 7-8 months of the year. Its miserable not seeing the sun. Our first year here, my husband commented on how much happier he is even though it's a bit colder. Summers are perfect: 75-80 with no humidity. Except the one month where the air quality is so atrocious thanks to the wildfires that they tell everyone to stay inside and it hurts to breathe after a while.

-I found it hard to make friends even though I went to college there. People here are more straightforward and it's easier to know where you stand. I like to joke that "We should hang out sometime" is Seattle's unofficial motto and bailing on plans the unofficial past time. They get angry at you when you say this, but I found the Seattle Freeze to be real.

-Transit is a joke. Yes, worst than Boston. It's also such a large city land-wise that bussing from one part to another can take hours and hours and multiple transfers. They're extending the light rail, but it won't be finished by 2040. You'll be driving a bunch if you want to explore the city. Traffic is bad and parking is annoying.

-It's just not as close to things as Boston is. You got Vancouver and Portland. CA and Vegas are a short flight. It's closer to Asia, but that's still a long flight. Boston has all of New England within driving distance. NYC is also close. DC, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Philly, are all short flights. Europe is closer to Boston than Asia to Seattle and the flights are cheaper too.

-Homelessness and addiction is a real issue. I don't know the solution. More public services and better mental healthcare probably. But I know that I've been spit on, screamed at, followed, groped, someone pet my hair once, one time a man almost peed on me, and my husband was pricked by a used needle stuck between two bus seats. Mass and Cass is standard in multiple places throughout the city.

-Property crime is also ridiculous in Seattle. Nearly everyone I know who had a car had it broken into at one point (me included). Half the people I know who had bikes had theirs stolen (me included). I had so many packages stolen. People regularly prowled our parking lot and garage. Cops didn't care even if you called while the person was there. Speaking of cops, SPD had more cops at Jan 6 than any other PD in the country.

That being said, I met some of my best friends, had some of the best nights, and ate some of the best food in Seattle. Some people absolutely love it there and you might too. It's similar to Boston in a lot of ways and does some things better than Boston.

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SLUer12 t1_itus7e8 wrote

All true except schools in Seattle are still largely functional compared to Boston. It was much harder to raise a family in Boston and before we left Seattle we had moved to a Boston collar suburb because BPS was just so terrible. This means a lot of the benefits of Boston aren’t quite as applicable and accessible anymore if you have kids but can’t afford private school. In Seattle we are still able to raise three kids in the city proper. So pound for pound the amenities available to us are much greater.

You will also notice there are well maintained playgrounds everywhere across Seattle with actual kids in them. In Boston, many of these playgrounds are empty. Overall I feel the city is more family friendly.

I also don’t agree on the public transportation either. Seattle has a phenomenal bus system, way better than Boston’s and it goes everywhere including sleepy single family home neighborhoods past midnight at 15 min frequency. There are also dedicated bus lanes everywhere. The rail system is small but it is growing and really I get around faster on the bus in Seattle than I did on the green line in Boston, and most lines now with the state of MBTA. We are 15 min bus ride from science museum, pike place, zoo, three or four farmers markets, concert venues and several large parks.

Vancouver is a phenomenal city too and it’s just 2.5 hrs away. We go often for events and festivals. NYC is much farther away for Boston and not a great drive.

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AdmirableEffort1764 t1_itrm5bt wrote

I also moved from Boston to Seattle. People in Seattle are not very friendly and very passive aggressive but I’ve been lucky to find some great friends here. I miss the direct nature of the east coast. The accessibility to nature is pretty great. The pizza is garbage for the most part.

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Stronkowski t1_itqyzll wrote

I've had to spend a lot of travel time there for work, including multiple weeks at once.

I find it more boring and soulless. The food is very mediocre. Public transit is worse, and I feel much more forced to drive than I do around Boston. Lots of car parking is a bad thing. The weather is hardly ever "good", it just avoids most "bad".

I disagree that western hiking is better; the views during it certainly are, but the hikes themselves favor switchbacks far too much. They're just too easy.

Also nothing has AC. That's fine for the majority of the year, but it means when there is that one week heatwave you can't even comfortably sit in a brewery.

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BobDurham1 t1_itr87ra wrote

Mount Rainier is one of if not the most challenging mountain in continental NA. There are many things you can say about PNW but you can’t say it doesn’t have some of the best hiking in the United States

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tacknosaddle t1_itr25ie wrote

>the hikes themselves favor switchbacks far too much. They're just too easy.

A friend who has hiked/camped extensively said something similar. Trails in the east like the AT or Long Trail in VT tend to just scramble straight up and over things while out west you'll do a lot more elevation gain, but the switchbacks mean that you're almost never on a steep incline for long.

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AlcoholicZebra54 t1_itsqesw wrote

The Summer is absolutely gorgeous, way better than the East Coast. The Winter on the other hand is terrible for anyone that likes the sun. The hiking and outdoors stuff is incredible. Plenty of stuff has AC. Your other points are valid.

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SLUer12 t1_ituwr8i wrote

What are you talking about? The weather in the summer is insanely good. Also the views are what makes a hike a hike. Otherwise you can go hike on your treadmill at that steep incline you want.

And all the breweries I’ve been in Seattle have air conditioning.

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Stronkowski t1_itv5g6k wrote

No, the views are a small part of it. Otherwise you should just drive up a mountain road and take a photo instead of hiking it. A good hike is supposed to be tiring.

And not a single brewery I've been to in the area has had air conditioning. This doesn't matter for 99% of the year, but when you get a week like happened at the end of this past July every sucks because the city hvac is built assuming that's not going to happen since it's almost always 70 degrees instead.

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SLUer12 t1_itwr2z5 wrote

Maybe I’m just in less shape than you. But plenty of tough trails out here on the west. It’s comical actually that you think the Boston area within a 3 hour drive have anything remotely close to the kind of hikes you can get in Seattle with Mount Rainier, Mount Baker in the vicinity.

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Stronkowski t1_itwwjfm wrote

You probably are, as I've done multiple hikes in the hundreds of miles distance (one of which was even out there in the Rockies). If you were a more experienced hiker than I am I doubt you'd have mentioned that possibility.

I've yet to do Rainier, but if it's actually got any grade or technicality it'll be the first for me out of hundreds of miles worth of trail out there. Being high elevation doesn't make a hike difficult, and switchbacks are boring AF. They're the treadmills of hiking.

Meanwhile, yes the Green and White Mountains have been tougher than anything I've found out west yet. Going straight up rocky terrain instead of winding around on a horse graded trail is a huge difference.

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SLUer12 t1_itur6gd wrote

The biggest downside is the homeless situation. Boston shuffles all its homeless and drug addicts to one corner of the city so it is out of sight and out of mind for much of the rest of the city. In Seattle this population is more spread out. Also anti-camping laws are illegal across the West Coast due to a federal court ruling that applies to the western states.

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