It's been three months since we drove 2,600 miles and arrived in Seattle to start a new chapter in our lives. In these past several weeks, we've adjusted from being lifetime Texans to becoming familiar with and appreciative of the Pacific Northwest. It's been a big adjustment, but we've handled it well and have enjoyed doing so many new things. We've really liked Seattle so far and are glad to be here.

Thinking back to our lifestyle 4 months ago and comparing it to now makes me wonder how we were able to make such a big adjustment. Whereas we both used to work outside of the home and drive a combined 30 miles each day, now Lesley walks to work and I work from home and we walk or take the bus to get places the majority of the time, as I've mentioned before. It's also been a bit of a change to be living in the city instead of the suburbs, which is part of the reason why we can walk so many places. The weather has been great, too, so we've been able to keep our windows open. Plus, with all of the beautiful parks, we've been enjoying the outdoors and getting exercise.

Also, everything is new to us here, so there's been so much more that we've wanted to see and do on the weekends. It has almost seemed like a three-month vacation, since we've been busy doing so many different things. We've posted on this blog about almost everything that we've done, and we enjoyed pretty much all of it, so it's hard to choose highlights. While we've done a lot of cool things in Seattle, some of the most enjoyable things were outside the city. I'd say that our anniversary weekend trip to the tulip festival and Deception Pass was the best thing we've done (click for part 1, part 2, part 3, or video). Snoqualmie Falls was pretty cool, too.

As for things in Seattle, the Savor Seattle food tour was pretty cool and helped us get more acquainted with Pike Place Market. Kerry Park was awesome. The Ferry Boat ride was great, too. And, we both enjoyed Olympic Sculpture Park and the Underground Tour. Also, we've enjoyed going to sporting events (Sonics game, 1st Mariners game, 2nd Mariners game).

While the highlights have been great, there's a lot more to the city that affects our daily lives, but in that regard, too, we've both been very happy. Overall, the city is more nature-oriented, which makes sense, since the rain contributes to lush greenery and natural diversity and the temperatures are moderate enough to let you enjoy the outdoors. There is so much more natural beauty, including several bodies of water, tons of tall trees, and accordingly, there are just so many more parks. It's not just parks, though, there are just more things to do outside; Seattle is a lot less oriented to allowing people to stay inside buildings and stay in their cars, which leads to the city feeling more active, since there are so many people out and about. It's also been nice that we've met some people and attended some social events.

There are numerous other cultural differences between here and Texas that I'm still trying to fully understand, but have already widened our perspective. We're looking forward to doing more new things in the city, and visiting some of the nearby cities and beautiful natural areas. So far it's been a great experience and we're glad to be living here. It would be nice to be closer to family and friends, but this is a special experience for however long we'll live here - whether it will only be a few years or forever, we don't know, but we'll enjoy it while we're here.