ADJENTURING

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Digital Nomading Chapter 1: Seattle, Washington

8–12 minutes

In August this year, I started on a half year digital nomad trip around the U.S. My plan is to live in different cities around the U.S. for a few weeks to a month, to explore each location more in depth than a normal vacation would allow and see where I want to live long-term. Seattle is my first stop.

My Seattle scorecard

  • Food: 2.5/5, some good places and a diverse food scene but food is often a hit or miss, and price is too high for the quality / portions relative to some other cities, shoutout to some particularly great bakeries I’ll call out below, but overall food quality was below my expectations
  • Cost of living: 1.5/5, living here is ridiculously expensive, from groceries to rent to food to renting a car
  • Walkability: 4/5, hilly, hard on the knees, but most major neighborhoods are walkable
  • Public transportation: 4/5, overall good, didn’t need a car during the week, but some routes are very inefficient, cars are generally way faster and sometimes public transportation takes the same amount of time as walking does
  • Cleanliness & safety: 3/5, many neighborhoods feel decently safe but there are a lot of crazy people (very often downtown)
  • Things to do in the city: 4/5, a solid number of things to do but I got kind of bored after a couple of weeks, mostly because everything to do requires a lot of money
  • Nature access: 4/5, fantastic nature, but kind of far and hard to get to, crowded
  • Drivability: 2/5, poorly designed roads (looking at you, I-5) and hard to park in many areas
  • Weather: 5/5 during the summer, I assume 0/5 during the winter, so we’ll average it out to a 2.5/5
  • People: 3/5, didn’t try very hard to make friends since I’m only here for the month, generally people seem nice but not overtly friendly, hikers are less friendly / polite than some other states with a big hiking culture

Total score: 30.5/50. Would consider living here, but didn’t immediately fall in love with it and will keep looking / considering other places.

What I liked about Seattle

  • Very robust public transportation system, especially for a West coast city. Buses run pretty frequently and run across the city. Stops are frequent and relatively convenient, and usually there are multiple ways to get where you want to go. Decently on time, barring any major events.
  • Fantastic nature. Some of the best US National Parks – Rainier, Olympic, North Cascades – all in a few hours drive. Other great hikes and spots in the national forests, a good mix of short and long day hikes that all lead to great views. Lots of green space and some beaches in the city proper.
  • Some great bakeries and food spots. Others are real misses (Hawaiian food is pretty awful here).
  • Lovely neighborhoods with real local businesses (I think). Coming from DC where every neighborhood is the collection of the same five businesses, it’s refreshing to see a city where different neighborhoods actually have different spots and some of the local chains are pretty good.
  • Big farmer’s market culture. Every neighborhood has its own and some pretty high quality food vendors show up. The cherries are in very poor shape though.
  • Summer weather is unmatched. Sunny and temperate, doesn’t get too hot in the afternoon, air feels very fresh.

What I didn’t like about Seattle

  • Expensive. Every museum costs $30 to get in (although there are free first Thursdays for several museums). Renting a hybrid bike on Bainbridge for 2 hours was over $32. Every dine-in restaurant meal costs $30-40, fast casual / pickup places cost $20, pastries cost $6-8. Renting a car for the month was prohibitively expensive to the point where we only rented on weekends.
  • Downtown is dirty and smells bad.
  • There seems to still be a bit of a crime problem downtown. Generally, it felt safe downtown during the day, but downtown seems to be very deserted at night. At one point, someone aggressively banged on the door of my apartment in a safe neighborhood (Queen Anne) and shouted something, also aggressively (I did not answer the door).
  • Inefficient public transportation outside of some central areas. I was trying to get from Discovery Park to Ballard. Driving would’ve been 8 min, public transportation was 50 min (you take a bus that winds north and then south and then transfer to the light rail heading back north), and walking was 55 min. From Ballard to Queen Anne, you have to take a bus all the way to Downtown and then another bus heading back up. Great bus system, but only connects through a couple key connecting points.
  • Horrible road system and lots of traffic. The road system seems incredibly poorly designed. Several exits where everyone is switching multiple lanes within a mile to exit or avoid exiting. Backed up local roads to enter the highway, traffic guards make the situation worse. Tons of traffic always in downtown and on the I-5.
  • Google Maps isn’t very reliable. Frequently doesn’t find walking paths and gets confused as to where you are when you’re driving (probably because of bridges / tall buildings) but it’s awful while you’re driving and it can’t tell you where to go.
  • Nature is a bit far and hikes are very crowded. A lot hikes are a 2-hour drive (would be shorter if not for traffic) from the city. I want to live in a place where I can easily go for a hike after work, and Seattle doesn’t feel like that place. Also, maybe it was the hikes I went on, but people did not understand hiking etiquette (not feeding the animals, not leaving toilet paper everywhere on the hike, moving aside when someone’s trying to pass, thanking you if you let them cross a one-way, especially if you were moving faster than them, etc.)
  • Hilly. Hard on your knees.
  • Walkability varies. Some areas, like the Interbay, are incredibly unwalkable. Other areas (individual neighborhoods) are really nicely designed for walking.
  • Weather. Had a little taste of this when it started raining really hard one evening. Don’t think I could survive that for 9 months out of the year. Also not sure what to do in the winter here, doesn’t seem like the hikes are accessible.

Best things I did in Seattle as a digital nomad

Hiking near Seattle

  • Mt. Rainier:
    • Skyline Loop: Classic Rainier hike, nice views of the meadow, mountain, etc. Not too difficult, saw mountain goats, marmots, etc. Uncomfortably crowded near the waterfall. Road was closed for 2 miles at 3pm on a Saturday leading up to the start of the trailhead so we had to park significantly downhill and hike up.
    • Fremont Fire Lookout: Short hike, nice views, pretty crowded. Good views throughout. Pikas and marmots.
    • Third Burroughs Mountain: Less crowded, more difficult. Trail is nicely maintained, very little shade. Gets very close to the mountain, nice view. Pikas and marmots.
  • Leavenworth:
    • Colchuck Lake: Very pretty. Even though it was less gain and less mileage than I did at Fremont & Third Burroughs, it felt significantly harder (much rockier). Twisted my ankle on the way down. 99% of the hike is in the trees / not much of a view, but the view of the lake at the top is really cool. AllTrails will tell you to go beyond the lake viewpoint, but the view only gets worse from there, although it does go down to the water. Lots of people swimming. Very crowded, lack of hiking etiquette.
  • North Cascades:
    • Cascade Pass to Sahale Arm: Insane, insane mountains and a very cool lake. Saw marmots fighting, lots of pikas, a couple goats poking around campsites. First few miles are really nice, last mile is brutal and downhill is super sketchy. Road to get up is pretty sketchy, especially with all the cars parked on the super narrow road.
  • Snoqualmie:
    • Snow Lake: Nice and easy 4 mile hike, not as pretty as the others but pretty worth it. No one at the top around 7:30am, a ton heading up as we were leaving.

Exploring the city

  • Seattle Underground Tour: 11/10 experience, tour guide is engaging and hilarious. Tour itself and learning about Seattle’s history is very interesting.
  • Seattle Art Museum: Nice museum, went on free first Thursday. I wouldn’t pay the $30 entry fee though. The Ai Wei Wei exhibit was awesome, really well-curated.
  • Pike Place: Really busy at all times of the day. Lots of cool shops nearby (artist market, design shops, print shop) and a nice waterfront walk.
  • Parks
    • Gas Works Park: Cool view of the Seattle skyline. Went on a run here, lots of goose poop.
    • Discovery Park: Nice lighthouse and beach. Was a bit upset that every single water station and non-portable-toilet bathroom was closed without any warning.
  • Shops:
  • Farmers Markets

Weekend trips from Seattle

  • Bainbridge Island
    • Bainbridge Art Museum: Free! Pretty small. I liked the exhibit with the everyday Seattle scenes.
    • Bainbridge History Museum: Free! Very small, interesting history of Bainbridge Island.
    • Rolling Bay: Bike ride here was hell on the quads, but the shoreline is nice. Biking along the road is a bit scary.
  • Leavenworth: Very crowded, cute German town, gets really hot during the summer. Expensive as hell.
  • San Juan Island: Friday Harbor is a cute but small town, big brewery scene so not for me. Went ocean kayaking and did not enjoy it, but taking the ferry at sunrise was absolutely incredible.

The best food I ate in Seattle this month

Conclusion

Seattle was awesome, and I really enjoyed my month here, but I don’t think I want to live here long-term. I’m sad to be leaving (there’s so much left to do) and I can’t wait to come back in the future to visit more of Washington state.

What’s next?

I’m heading to Denver, Colorado for the month of September! Excited to spend the month hiking and exploring the city as the leaves start to turn.

Read about my experiences in other cities here:

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