I was in love with the place at first sunshine-drenched sight. Those three straight sun-filled days I spent on my first trip to Seattle last Spring cemented the city on the Sound as one of my favorite American towns. What’s shocking isn’t that I fell for Seattle during the 40% of the year that it’s not cloudy and grey but that I stayed in love with her after experiencing the 60%.
My most recent trip to Seattle this winter was more like it: steady downpours, crispy forty degree temps and a consistently overcast hue. As odd as it might sound, instead of taking the shine off the place, the gloomy weather kind of suits her, lending a veil of mystery that invites you in. More comfortable than L.A., more relaxed than D.C., more accessible than New York and more cosmopolitan than the mid-Western or Southern spots, Seattle is a real charmer.
From the sparkling waters hugging the Olympic Sculpture Park to the iconic Space Needle and the vintage apartment buildings of First Hill, the city’s best feature is her eccentricity. Seattle reminds me a bit of Toronto in this way, an eclectic mix of natural wonder, historic icons and modern marvels. But really any town could claim such a mix.
What really sets Seattle apart is it’s progressive spirit, one that’s distinct from other socially conscious meccas like San Francisco. To call it “granola” is under-cutting the influence that entrepreneurs like Gates and Bezos have had. But to say it’s just the next San Jose or Palo Alto is under-valuing the broader sense of purpose the place exudes.
Seattle somehow balances tech with nature and business with community in a way that other big cities just don’t. I could play a game of what came first, the vibe or the people, but ultimately i suppose it doesn’t matter. The city now is a bona fide, self-reinforcing combo of socially aware energy and busy, smart people with mountains pinning in the edges for good measure.
What I like most about Seattle is how it makes me feel. I feel engaged, like in Manhattan, but relaxed like in San Diego. I feel awed by nature like in Denver and driven to innovate like in Silicon Valley. I feel concerned about the men sleeping on the street as they do in San Fran, but somehow sense that the locals are more compassionate to them than in the Bay.
These are only my observations based purely on the way Seattle makes me feel. But in someway that feeling that any place gives us is the only thing that really matters. It’s any person’s or place’s vibes, the energy, that complement our human spirits, helping or hurting us along. An industrious energy can drive me to invent something while a humane one can drive me to think about how to solve world hunger.
So strong is the effect, it makes me wonder what I’d be like if I actually lived there. Seattle me would create a billion dollar business that sold a product whose double bottom line provides clean water to remote African villages and local kids in Gary. Once wealthy, Seattle me would buy a solar-powered mansion on Bainbridge Island which would be opened as sleeping quarters to the homeless during the winter. Seattle me would wear a Rolex and drive a Subaru.
Staring out across the Puget Sound near dusk, this was my first visit’s daydream and it’s stuck with me all this time. How can I hold on to that special energy that compels me to be a more conscious version of myself without abandoning my ambition. I don’t know if I’ll ever be a resident, but I think I will steal a bit of the vibe to carry with me wherever I go. I don’t think Seattle will mind.
