Oh, So Pretty!

I do believe that the Seattle metropolitan area has the best views available to the masses of any large metropolitan area in the United States.

I first moved to Seattle in 1996. I paid less than $500/month for a small 1 bedroom apartment, 2nd floor walk-up, on a major arterial. I was about 5 blocks from the street the hookers hang out on, and ambulances would regularly pass under my window.

But, from my living roon and dining room windows I could see the North Cascades, from the street outside my apartment I could turn the other way and view the Olympic Mountains, and on a clear day I could sit at my desk at work and just stare at Mt. Rainier.

On the drive into the new job I can still see the Olympics. When I take my daily drive to the post office I overlook the Puget Sound and Whidbey Island. The drive home starts with Mt. Baker, and ends with Mt. Rainier again.

And as bad as the traffic may be, and as annoying as your day at work may have been, and as bitter as you may be about taxes and government and whatever else things may upset you on a given day in a given place, it all just falls away when you're staring up at a big, beautiful mountain.

Portland has Mt. Hood. When relatives would come to visit, we'd point to where the mountain was, but it was always just a big blob of grey. They used to tease us that they didn't think a mountain really existed there. Same thing happens in Seattle. It can appear to be a perfectly clear day, but due to haze and other factors the mountains are in hiding.

I suppose the phrase, "The Mountain is out today" is Northwest vernacular. And those are the days you know you can't live anywhere else on the planet.