I see these people everyday on 1st Ave North-pushing their strollers and walking their dogs rain or shine, discussing “organic” and “locally grown”, admiring their small carbon footprints, and choosing to move their legs than step on the gas. If only I could live up to that! Upon moving to Upper Queen Anne, I had grand intentions walking with my groceries from Safeway and Metropolitan Market weekly, to ProRobics Club for workout classes, and to coffee shops to work like I did when I studied abroad in Italy. Now I have fully accepted to my dismay that I am a fair weather walker, and perfer to drive about 9 months out of the year, always trying to save five minutes. However, like many other people, living in a walkable neighborhood-with retail, restaurants, schools, and markets right outside my door was a huge determining factor in where I wanted to live. In fact, it was one of the biggest factors! Living off Queen Anne Avenue is a dream, if it had a gas station, it would be a fully sustaining little community up here.
If you are wishing to move to a similarly walkable area, type in a neighborhood or address to Walk Score and see how walkable it is. Walk score measures walkability by how many nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. surround your home. See if it competes with Queen Anne, who scored an 85%!
Let’s see how Queen Anne measures up to Seattle’s other delightful neighborhoods:
