I wasn\u2019t thrilled the first few months in Seattle after having moved from Victoria.\u00a0 The timing of my move didn\u2019t help since it was at the end of summer when the sun almost totally gives way to the gloomy gray clouds.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t so much that it rained there but you absolutely could feel less energy around you due to a serious lack of vitamin D in everyone\u2019s system. Nonetheless, I was here and had signed a one-year lease in a high rise in the Seattle neighborhood of Belltown, so I had to make the best of it.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take too long to feel closed in living in the city.\u00a0 Seattle isn\u2019t a big city but what was missing is the nature that had engulfed and spoken to me over the past year.\u00a0 My \u201coffice,\u201d which I went in maybe once every few weeks to meet the team for coffee or happy hour, was in Bellevue.\u00a0 I am usually not one to badmouth areas, but instead I like to look at the positive side and its attributes. In Bellevue I couldn\u2019t find any.\u00a0 It was a suburban plastic city with nothing but cookie cutter restaurants and bars.\u00a0 It was like the Truman show, but with a \u201ckeep up with the Jones\u201d mentality.\u00a0 Everyone had expensive cars and would even move parking spaces to flaunt the material items they had become slaves to.\u00a0 When asking them what they did on the weekend it usually entailed going to Costco and dinner at a Chili\u2019s or Cheesecake Factory to wrap up a day at the mall.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, I rode my Ducati Monster M1100 out from Maine.\u00a0 This became the best way to leave the beaten path and explore the state of Washington, and boy did I explore it.\u00a0 It was a quick learning curve to find incredible roads and remote camping areas that most people not only didn\u2019t dare to explore (there were no Chili\u2019s out on the Olympic Peninsula).\u00a0 This was fine with me.<\/p>\n
Once again, every weekend was like a vacation for me as I explored Washington.\u00a0 When I went into the office my peers would gather to hear about where I went over the weekend and what I had experienced.\u00a0 There were numerous challenging hikes, remote beach camping on the Olympic Peninsula, motorcycle rides through the Cascades, numerous volcanos, and countless treasures I discovered by talking to fellow hikers and riders.\u00a0 I was starting to love Washington.\u00a0 The diversity inspired me to explore the region and it was a rare weekend when I stayed in Seattle.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long before I got over the fear of city life, built a circle of great friends, and became fully acclimated to living in Belltown. \u00a0The weekends involved traveling through the state or up to Vancouver, BC and weekdays I spent in coffee shops and bars with my new friends. Life became pretty routine (which was odd for me), but it was enjoyable.<\/p>\n
One of the cooler things I loved about Seattle is how dog friendly of a city it is.\u00a0 For years they had a dog that rode the city bus with a bus pass to the local dog park.\u00a0 Also, dogs are not only allowed in most bars but actually sit at the bar and the bartender provides a water dish and treats for them.\u00a0 I have been in bars where at times there are more dogs than people.\u00a0 This just added to my feelings for this city.<\/p>\n
Although after almost three years living in the Seattle area and exploring most of its secrets, there were a few moments that told me it was time to return to my nomadic lifestyle.\u00a0 One was during a Seattle Seahawks playoff game.\u00a0 It was on TV and I went out on my tiny balcony to get some air, I looked around at all the high-rise apartments next to me and EVERY television was on the same channel watching the same thing. It was a scene out of George Orwell\u2019s 1984<\/em>.\u00a0 It freaked me out and that was one of the seeds nudging me to move on.\u00a0 The other was the gray skies. I was beginning to become depressed from lack of vitamin D and no matter how many supplements I took I could feel I was sinking into a depressive abyss. My parents, always ones to come up with creative solutions (that\u2019s where I get it from) sent me a mood light for Christmas. It didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n That one final Seattle winter only provided the city with 20 hours of sun from mid-October until May.\u00a0 I decided to take action.\u00a0 I threw the mood light in the trash and devised a plan to leave Seattle and spend a month in Montana.\u00a0 Little did I know that this decision would morph into a series of life changing events.<\/p>\n Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n
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