We move in to our Seattle apartment next Wednesday, but I’m already getting a very good feeling about this location. I knew it had a good walk score (see http://walkscore.com if you don’t know what a walk score is), but in the past few days I’ve learned:
- It’s a 7 minute walk to a classic-style movie theatre that is independently owned, doesn’t show commercials, limits its trailers to 8 minutes total, and has real butter for the fresh popcorn.
- It’s a 7 minute walk to a health club that has a month-to-month rate of $55, which includes unlimited classes (like yoga) AND unlimited sessions with a personal trainer.
- It’s a 7 minute walk to Cupcake Royale, Starbucks, a sushi restaurant, a Thai restaurant, etc. Is it coincidence that the cupcake shop is right across the street from the health club?
- It’s a 7 minute walk to the practice facility of the Rat City Roller Girls, called the Rat’s Nest.
- It’s an 8 minute walk to a supermarket that specializes in local organic food that customers rate 4.5 stars out of 5.
Update: Since I wrote this on August 12, we’ve moved into our apartment in Seattle. It’s now August 21, and we’ve been here 4 days so far. I’ve found a lot more things that I just love about the Ballard neighborhood.
- The practice facility of the Tilted Thunder Rail Birds, Seattle’s flat track roller derby team, is only 3 blocks away from our apartment. I did some interviews there today and was able – for the first time ever – to walk to a video shoot.
- There’s a great farmer’s market every Sunday only about 5 blocks away.
- I discovered an awesome game store and associated cafe/bar, right here in the neighborhood.
- There are 3 pho restaurants within walking distance.
- I can easily walk to the FedEx Office store, which is a convenient place to print, copy, and fax stuff (we’re not traveling with a computer printer).
The only downside is this:
- Our apartment doesn’t include parking, so we have to park the car on the street. And street spaces fill up fast since we’re across the street from the hospital. It’s weird having to struggle to find a place to park where you live.