City Life

[Sir Henry]

I drove into Seattle today and went to the Pike Place Market.

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The city is okay to visit once in a while but I wouldn't want to live here. These are mostly apartments and overlook the market. If you look close you can see the new buildings have balconies.

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[daytime dave]

I've never been a fan of cities.

Nice photographs.

[JEBar]

the last time I was in Seattle was in the late '60's .... no doubt its nothing like what I remember .... I don't mind towns but sure wouldn't want to live in one .... with that being true the, its pretty easy to see how I feel about cities

[BrokenolMarine]

Yup, know what you mean. I have to go into the city now and then to run errands, see the docs at the VA, etc. I try to leave as soon as possible. Our little town is so small...

"How small is it?"

It's so small we don't have -

A red light.
A McDonalds (or any other fast food restaurant)
A bar (Nope... not a single one)
Grocery Store
A walmart.

Yup... small town
Like it that way.

We don't have much in the way of crime waves either.
Traffic problems.
Pollution..

The kids say it's sometimes boring. I say,
It's peaceful.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

Like I was just saying on one of the other gun sites, I live at 22 and Plum.

22 Miles out of the City and Plum way back in the Woods.

[The Wiz]

I was there at an industry awards convention on 9/11. I could not get a plane out for five days. Got to know the city pretty well under very sad circumstances.

[RanchRoper]

Not for me. I can't parallel park my horse.

[BigAl52]

Ya but Badger could get some good eats at the market RR they have everything there. Been there quite a few times. Quite entertaining inside there to. Those boys at the fish counter can really entertain you with there throwing the fish around. But Im not a city guy either. Seattle traffic isnt for me and there is just to many people there for my liking. Al

[North Country Gal]

I've lived in the big city, before, for the sake of jobs and career. Do sometimes miss the music, cuisine, entertainment, art and shopping, but if I never see another big city, again, it's fine by me. Have always been a country/small town girl, even if it means having to go a long way to find a good coffee shop.

[Henry88]

I think what most people like, is an environment that looks and more importantly "feels" country, but is a short drive from city like convieniences and culture.

Usually property like that goes for $$$$$$$$$ though.

[BrokenolMarine]

When I left the Corps, I moved into a suburb of the metro area for the first six months. Then farther out, into the country on a single acre lot, 45 minutes from my job for the first couple years. Then an hour out when we got the shot at the farm. As adjoining parcels became available, we kept adding to the property to increase the distance from "folks" and insulate ourselves. More privacy. It was all wooded except for a small home lot and an isolated pasture. At one point we had 20 acres, then sold the rental house on the 3 acre minimum lot, and cut off a corner for the father-in-law when he retired: on the far side. He later sold his and moved to Texas. We still have 14.59 or so mostly wooded acres and have let the 4 acres of pasture return to nature. I have no intention of making any further changes unless the NJ guy who owns the 13.5 acres adjoining on the other side of us realizes he'll never get Jersey prices for the country property he owns ever decides to accept our more than reasonable offer.

Everyone used to ask why I would drive an hour each way to work. It was my way of separating work and family. What better way of buffering your work and family life than having an hour to separate the goings on, each direction. Have a hard evening or midnight shift? Driving home at 1 a.m. after evening shift, or 6 a.m. after a tough midnight shift worked great. Plus for what I would pay for a condo in the city, we had a sweet 15 acre farm surround by a state park and the state forest... the drive was beautiful, and until just a few years ago, the first half of the drive didn't have a single traffic light. When we first moved to the area, the Sheriff's Office went off duty at 10pm during the week and the county was covered by a lone state trooper. They had a deputy "on call" for backup. It wasn't until about ten years ago that that changed.

The area is still "small town in both size and attitude, and it's still heaven.

I took a ride a couple summers ago on my Catrike Recumbent, and headed to town.
Here is the road running from my farm toward town:

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Here is the main drag thru downtown...

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... all 1.8 miles of it. No stop signs, no stop lights.

On the ride, Garfield had my back.

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Why would I leave?

[North Country Gal]

Love that recumbent! Oh, yeah, I'm better known around here as a shooting nut, but I'm actually even more of a bicycling nut. Shooting keeps me sane, but bicycling keeps me sane AND healthy.

[clovishound]

"Green Acres is the place to be. "

[BrokenolMarine]

Love that recumbent! Oh, yeah, I'm better known around here as a shooting nut, but I'm actually even more of a bicycling nut. Shooting keeps me sane, but bicycling keeps me sane AND healthy.

I haven't been able to ride the Catrike since they think I had a mini stroke while competing in a Marathon in 2014. I had trained to ride by invitation in the marathon for nine months, and two weeks before had ridden 28 miles in 2:40.00. Two miles into the marathon, I got a spike a pain in my head that was the worst ever... then my legs and hands got too weak to continue. Luckily I saw a police officer at the bottom of the hill I had just climbed and coasted over to him. I told him I thought I might have a problem, but unknown to me, my speech was too slurred for him to follow. He called the ambulance, they medivac'd me off the course. Nine months work down the drain.

I spent the rest of the day in the ER... but the Officer made sure my Customized racing trike was safe and it was returned to Miss T safely by the end of the day. I tried a couple times to ride after that, but one thing or another has prevented it. About the time I was ready to start riding again, I fell and shattered that right femur... and it's been a year. I want to get back into it, I really miss it.... but.. we'll see. If I can't get back at it... I'll just have to sell the dang thing.

This is a pic of me at the start of the race, I had worked HARD to get there... hard...

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This is the Catrike 700, low and fast. I had gotten 'er up to 37mph on the flats, and over 40 on a downhill. That low to the ground, it seems a LOT faster.

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