How far are you willing to drive to meet someone new?
"Do you ever get to Seattle?" a Seattle man asked today. It's a six-hour, round-trip drive over a dangerous, icy mountain pass in winter. To meet a strange man? Forget it.
Men from Seattle always come to Wenatchee to meet me. They stay in a bed and breakfast. They are happy see blue skies and sunshine. My reply was a bit of a rant about Seattle.
Bill,
Men from Seattle always drive to Wenatchee to meet me.
The last time I drove to Seattle was in 2017, to see the Northwest Coast Native Art and Sculpture exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. It was a Friday morning in May. My daughter and I planned to go together (she lives in Lake Stevens). I hoped it would be a bonding experience.
"I'm not going," Claire said when I arrived to pick her up. "I hate going downtown. There's no parking and there's an accident on I-5 in downtown Seattle."
But after driving three hours, I stubbornly decided to go. She was right. For 2-1/2 hours, I did an excruciatingly slow grid-search in downtown Seattle. Every parking lot and garage said "FULL." The waterfront, my usual backup, had no parking due to tunnel construction.
People clogged crosswalks, making turning impossible. I couldn't even pull over to pee. drink water while driving. At 2:00, I aborted the mission, deeply disappointed. The first place I could stop to pee was at a Denny's restaurant an hour away.
I never got to see the native art exhibit. "To hell with Seattle," I thought. My middle finger was twitching. Have not been back.
10
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That's a very loaded question for me. I struggle between my desire to be sociable and meet someone, ie. a lady who might have similar interests, and not really enjoying a long trip regardless of what I'm doing. I guess I've gotten "set in my ways". I'm one of those people who take a while, usually, to warm up to someone so will I be disappointed after making the trip a few times? I've been told that I'm isolating myself living away from the nearest town/city (about 11 miles); which I can see on some level. I do have a weekly activity about 20 miles away which I enjoy very much due to people there with whom I have cultivated their friendship. Say, IF I drove into the New Orleans area from my house (approximately 50 miles, at least, and a large portion of that trip is a boring, sometimes dangerous, 24 miles over a lake), would I be expected to make the trip all the time or would there be a reciprocal agreement, would she drive to my area to meet me? I don't know what else to say.
I_dont_know
Level 7
Jan 14, 2020
1
I do not drive... but as long as the person is willing to meet halfway, and where we agree to meet is accessible by my public transit, it's a go. Only if we have been dating for some time will I venture across the city or to the next city (I live in a giant city and going from one end of the subway to the next can take itself over an hour) to visit him. But typically the guy will do that travelling for me.... so far majority of people I have dated either also didn't drive or they took Ubers (that is a type of taxi service) to see me, if we live far away.
demifeministgal
Level 8
Dec 6, 2019
1
For 2 years I was rarely invited to 28 states I was passing through....now I am staying home with my 2. cats....If I was not welcome so mobile then I am going to be the welcome wonderful host now....if she likes her first visit I shall resume my mobile ways for her
Larry68Feminist
Level 7
Dec 5, 2019
1
I travel a lot, and normally will meet someone for the first time with a slight detour, however the longest detour was about 1000 miles. But like you Seattle is a no go, been plenty of times, but that was in the 70s and 80s and I understand it is much worse now.
glennlab
Level 10
Dec 3, 2019
1
Blind dates, I give up one hour of travel. For someone that the feeling are deeply invested One and a half. If we are both in love, geography doesn't matter.
Castlepaloma
Level 8
Dec 3, 2019
1
Were you born in Wenatchee? How did you come to be there? I live in the suburbs of Raleigh a 200k person city named Cary. As part of mybsales travels I cover the northeast New York and Boston. I do ok traveling and driving in mid size to small big cities. New York and Boston are nightmares.
Bigwavedave
Level 8
Dec 3, 2019
1
I can handle just about any city but I hate Boston.... rude!
Cary= containment area for relocated yankees LOL i lived in Wake Forest just north of raleigh for several years--area was nice housing cheap but people of the south--natives --too conservative --went back to socal
@Heidi68 did you mean the driving or the people? The driving is a nightmare. I remember I was driving in the tunnel and the lames split. In the tunnel. Of course my gps didnt work in the tunnel and I picked the wrong way. When I emerged, I was 25 miles in the wrong direction and had missed my flight. Hated that.
@bklynite53 yep, I hear ya. But I am from downtown Baltimore ... and Cali is way too expensive for me, so here I stay!
@Bigwavedave drivers, people, pedestrians..... I have family who live in the Salem/Lynn area so we spent many hours in Boston.....
Lived in northern VA (DC traffic), southern CA (San Diego & LA traffic), southern OK (lots of hours in Dallas, Fort Worth & OKC traffic), went to college @ NC State (Raleigh traffic), currently live in Wilkesboro (Charlotte & Winston-Salem traffic) and near Seattle (yes, I did actually drive there a few times). Also, drove up to NYC once - I would take any of them over Boston. Can you tell I don't like Boston?
After graduating from the Univ. of Michigan, at age 21 I moved to Washington State to climb mountains. Fell in love with the mountains and stayed.
My parents thought I was kidnapped by a logger.
@LiterateHiker ah that makes total sense . A life long passion!
Read my profile. I grew up on a lake in Michigan, sailing, swimming and ice skating. Sunsets filled the sky with colors, reflected in the lake and flowing into our living room windows. This fueled my love of the outdoors.
At age 21, I graduated from the University of Michigan. Moved to Washington State to climb mountains and stayed. My parents thought I was kidnapped by a logger.
In September 2019, I won $100 for writing the best story in a contest, "Why We Moved to Wenatchee" in the Good Life magazine of Wenatchee. Spent the prize money on a sewing kit for my daughter.
If I were looking, I'd be willing to go up to 500 miles or so.
sterlingdean
Level 6
Dec 3, 2019
1
That was a real bummer for you,,any way you can park on the outskirts and take public transportation in ? I quite often do that in Toronto if going downtown at really busy times,,,bummer you could not connect with your daughter also ,very disappointing for you..
RoyMillar
Level 9
Dec 3, 2019
1
As an outsider, I don't know where to park (on Capitol Hill?) and take a bus downtown. Or where/when (which bus?) to get back near my car.
It's a nightmare for outsiders.
Yes it could be a night mare for sure,Would be best to find someone that knows the buses ,commutter trains etc and do a day trip just to explore and find out the routes and where the most advantages place to park before you go on a commuter journey. even with transit maps still does not beat being with some who knows there way around
@LiterateHiker You can use google maps as a tool: you type in your starting point and then your destination and click the directions feature. Then you choose the little bus or train icon and it will give you the exact bus or subway route to take. To know specifically where to go, you zoom in on google maps and put the little person onto the map. It takes you into the real world on the street and you can make your little person walk around to get your bearings of the surroundings. This is best done from a laptop or PC and not on your smartphone or an app.
See here: [google.com]
Seattle's traffic congestion is a nightmare. I would never drive to Seattle with the hope my smartphone would save the day. The man who sent me this letter replied:
"hi kathleen - enjoyed reading your text 
...and here’s why. i routinely send emails to the seattle mayor and city council basically saying the same thing except i add in the increased crime and the homeless problem. i lived on bainbridge island for over 25 years, a couple traffic lights and no transportation issues, great place for raising kids - then moved into downtown seattle 3 years ago. the glass half full is that i knew what i was getting myself into..
i never drive my car here - walk everywhere, SAM, Benaroya Hall, art galleries and all the restaurants are within blocks of where i live - usually walk about 5 miles per day...bike ride on bike routes for miles from downtown...escape to the cascades all the time, formed my own defined volunteer group of friends and work on the mountains to sound greenway trails...glass half empty:
all my friends who live outside of downtown seattle will never drive down for the day or evening...because of what you so eloquently pointed out
@LiterateHiker well I was giving you tips how to navigate a bus or subway route in a city as a country gal.... though I don't know if wenatchee has Go buses or megabuses that go from your town to seattle.
No public transport between Seattle and Wenatchee.
Just expensive Horizon/Alaska Airline that flies between airports.
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