By Bryan Glant | Follow Bryan on LinkedIn, Instagram, and about.me
People sometimes ask why I love Seattle so much, especially when the gray skies roll in each fall. My answer is simple: few cities make it this easy to live the way I want to, which is mostly outdoors.
Within an hour or two of downtown, you can be standing on a ridge in the Cascades, walking through old-growth forest, or looking out over Puget Sound. Even inside the city limits, there’s room to breathe. Discovery Park has miles of trails and bluffs overlooking the water, and a walk along the shoreline at Golden Gardens can make a Tuesday evening feel like a small vacation. If you’re new to hiking here, my guide to getting started on Pacific Northwest trails covers the basics.
The ferries are another underrated perk. Hop on a boat to Bainbridge Island and you get a scenic ride across the Sound, with the skyline behind you and the Olympics ahead. It’s one of the cheapest ways to feel like you’ve traveled somewhere without really leaving.
Then there’s the food. Seattle sits on some of the best ingredients in the country: salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters, wild mushrooms, berries in summer, and apples in fall. Pike Place Market gets crowded, but it’s still a great place to wander and pick up something you’ve never cooked before. The neighborhood farmers markets are just as good and a lot calmer. I’ve also written about how I turn ingredients like these into dinners for friends in my post on cooking for friends without the stress.
What I appreciate most is how these pieces fit together. A morning hike can turn into an afternoon at the market and an evening in the kitchen, cooking something that came from just a few miles away. That rhythm suits me.
Yes, it rains. But the rain is why everything is so green, why the mountains hold snow, and why the rivers run full. Bring a good jacket and you’ll find that Seattle has a lot to offer in every season.
About the Bryan Glant:
Bryan Glant writes about hiking, cooking, and travel in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Visit Bryan Glant’s website to read more.