Had a socially-distanced happy hour with the people on my block last night. Wife sent an email. Everyone came out. There are 8 houses on my little dead-end, one-way street. We repaved the whole thing last year at a cost of $50k, split evenly amongst the houses. We wanted to get together and celebrate, but a neighbor's son-in-law killed himself, and we all hibernated through the winter. Then COVID. It was nice to sit around chatting, drinking slightly too much, talking about yard maintenance, and cats and dogs and kids all wandering around being peaceful with each other. It's a goddamn fucking blissful little suburban sanctuary and a I love it. We have two gay couples (one female, one male) a single mom-and-teenage-daughter, my wife and I with no kids and our roommate, and two older couples who are grandparents and have their kids and grandkids over all the time. There's one other single woman who is a bit of a loner, and one rental house owned by a complete and utter asshole, who has been renovating it and clearly is getting ready to sell. There are two black people on the street, one South African woman, two Veterans, and two single Moms. A couple more conservative types (the grandfathers, who both used to be in construction) and raving liberals. And Zero cases of COVID. We really have a nice little microcosm of Seattle culture here. I am so very, unimaginably, lucky. And I know it. And I appreciate it every day. It keeps me sane. (And staying away from Social Media, too.)
I miss Seattle (well, Bothel). Lived there as kid and remember having block parties every summer. Now I'm in New England and people avoid each other like the plague. We have cordial relationship with our neighbors, but not all neighbors have interest in meeting people from the other side of their direct neighbor. The closest thing to a neighborhood get together is when the Greek church up the road has their annual Mediterranean Festival and we bump into each other. But people will still only sit and chat with direct neighbors. Ugh. Although, I really shouldn't complain because I hate socializing.
Bothell has always been a weird spot for me ... the half way point between anywhere I'm going. I did fall in love briefly with the McMenamins they opened up there. (I'm in Burien, so Bothell is "up" to me.) But going to the other side of Seattle was always such a trudge... you gotta bring food, water, camping supplies, and disaster kits, because you never know if you will ever make it through the downtown core... so going to Bothell is off the table for me. Nowadays I just take 405 to i90, go to Snoqualmie, and north thru Carnation, if I need to go northeast (to see my brother, for example). Longer trip, but prettier, and less chance of getting eaten by zombies.
Have you spent much time in Vermont? If not, I’d give it a go! To me it’s the New England equivalent probably more similar to Portland / Bellingham, but with more of a permaculture focus. Great skiing and trails, too!
Yes. My my mother-in-law and two of my sisters-in-law live up there. We used to go monthly when the kids were younger and then spent two weeks during the summer. My mother-in-law's town is like 500 people and they view us as interlopers. The one sister-in-law lives in a touristy area and the locals also have a dim view of us. The other sister-in-law lives in the boonies, so interacting with locals is limited to the dollar store. She at least is dating a local farmer so we go to his parties, but again most locals at the parties view us as outsiders and keep us at arms length. If I ever get to retire we will most likely move to VT. I enjoy the countryside and my wife will be able to spend more time with her family.