Seattle - Apartment Hunting
Snow loomed in southern Maryland last Friday, so the fact that I was heading to the other coast with my mother was extra sweet for that reason. For all the things I love about the east coast — and the mid-Atlantic region specifically — one thing we are not famous for is our ability to cope well with snow. Fortunately for me, it doesn’t appear that I’ll require this skill where I’m going.
We flew out the night of the tenth from Baltimore. It was a direct flight for us, with a quick stop in Chicago (we didn’t get off the plane). It went as smoothly as 7 hours on an airplane can go, except for the fact that I really wanted to get some sleep in and the chorus of screaming infants had denied my request.
I made the mistake of popping a couple of light, over-the-counter sleeping pills before the flight. The plan had been to get in a full night’s sleep before landing, to help assist in dealing with the jetlag. Instead, thanks to the complete inability for parents to control their damn poop factories, I just ended up being really drowsy for the next 24 hours. And as anyone can tell you — especially my mother and girlfriend — lack of sleep is one of the two things that can turn me into a total grouchy prick. (The other thing is lack of food, which also became a factor on this trip.)
My girlfriend, Amanda (whom I believe I have mentioned lives in Vancouver) took a bus to the airport, and was waiting for us when we landed. The whole luggage reclamation/car rental process went smoothly enough (though we ended up with a PT Cruiser, possibly the ugliest car ever created), and by about 11PM local time we were on the way to our hotel.
Plotting the route from the airport to our hotel (3 blocks from the famous Space Needle) was easy with the map I had, apart from one snag: we could see the road we needed to get to from the freeway, but there was no exit for it. This, like many of my trips to the west coast, would end up being a recurring theme throughout my visit. Fortunately we found a U-turn and caught the exit we needed coming back the other direction.
I woke up early (even for me) the next morning, not having slept a whole lot. I did my best to push the natural crabbiness down as far as it could go, and joined mom and Amanda for our continental breakfast. After that, we headed to mom’s room to Mapquest my potential apartments and plot our visits accordingly.
We hit a few places in the morning, but none of them were particularly promising.
One of the places I passed on. Mom was impressed with the pool. Personally, I’m not a fan of swimming in other peoples’ filth, but what do I know?
Another place I passed on.
And another. Or perhaps the same one.
The place I was really looking forward to visiting was called Coronado Springs. The pictures I’d already seen looked great, and the place had been very communicative with me to this point. The rent was definitely in my price range — so much so that I feared it was in a really shady part of town.
And I will admit, it wasn’t in the best neighborhood, but it was probably no worse than where I’m living right now. And, oddly enough, the actual grounds of Coronado Springs were really well taken care of, and patrolled regularly by security. So while the surrounding neighborhood was maybe not a place I’d spend a lot of time in alone after dark, the complex itself was kind of an oasis. I really liked the place quite a lot.
Coronado Springs, the place where I want to live.
The individual “cottages” at Coronado Springs.
And more.
Still more.
And even more.
This picture was on Coronado Springs’ website with the pictures of the cottages. I was understandably confused at the time, but this building is behind the others. It has the exercise room, laundry room, etc.
I spoke with some people, took a tour of the 1-bedroom place I had my eye on, and promised to come back to fill out an application after we’d been to a few more places. We drove around a bit longer and looked some more, but mom pretty much called it when she said that my mind was already made up, so most of that was pretty half-hearted.
Scenic stuff from the car.
One of Seattle’s many bridges.
Some… water stuff. I dunno, my mom took these.
Ooh, mountains!
That evening, we headed out to a casino, to give mom something more to do than stare at the back of my head from the car. By this point, I was feeling the effects of my no sleep/no food regimen, and had become quite the crabby little bitch boy. I ended up dozing in the car while Amanda and mom had dinner, saw a band and did some gambling, which was probably for the best anyway. It meant that I wouldn’t embarass myself any further than I already had, and it also gave them some opportunity to bond a little.
Sunday morning I woke up early (again) and took a walk from our hotel to the Needle and the general vicinity. For all the trouble we’d had in the car, I had to admit that the whole area made a lot more sense on foot. Also, I walked for an hour and I only counted one Starbucks, so I’ve been horribly misinformed by the hippies I know.
After Amanda woke up, we headed back to Coronado Springs. I filled out an application (the place is income-dependent, but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue), and as of this writing (a week later), I await a decision. It’s kind of nerve-wracking not being 100% sure if I’m going to be living there or not (especially since all my other plans pretty much ride on this), but I hope to hear something in the next day or two. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I tried to scope out a potential comic book shop, but I had those same damn navigation issues again. Since we really had nothing else going till that evening (mom was taking a break from us, and we were to meet up with her for dinner at the Needle later), I was content to just get lost for awhile. And I’m kinda glad that I did — the area we’d been traveling was pretty much the down-by-the-docks/industrial part of town, and it was good to actually get out and see the parks, little shops and other areas where I’d more likely be spending my free time. We saw a shop that was dedicated entirely to space paraphernelia (astronaut helmets, etc.). How could you hate a city with a space shop in it?
So, at about 6, we met up with mom for dinner at the — Needle. (I keep wanting to call it the Stratosphere, since the hotel in Vegas is modeled after the same building.) The meal was overpriced, but nice… and the view was amazing. The spinning did get to me toward the end there, but I made it out without incident.
The view (one of many) from the Needle.
No caption necessary.
I refuse to caption this one too.
You can stuff your captions in a sack, mister.
Imagine your own caption, it’s probably more clever.
Caption? We don’t need no… okay, I’m done.
Me and Amanda.
Amanda and me.
Us.
We called it an early night after that and headed to bed. Monday morning, we finally saw a little of the infamous Seattle rain (it had been sunny and about 60 all weekend). It was just a bit drizzly, and nothing like the foot of snow that was waiting at home for us, so it didn’t concern me. We got Amanda on her bus and got on our flight again without incident. Traveling back was another long day (longer for the time difference), but there were no major disasters, which is always a pleasant surprise when I travel.
So overall, it was a pretty long trip (jetlag affects me more in my old age than it used to), but productive. I got a genuine feel for my new hometown, and I hopefully got a decent place to live. I had held off making this post in hopes that I could announce my impending residence at Coronado Springs along with the pictures… but I guess most of their office is out sick this week so they’re a bit behind. So I wait.
Today is 25 days till I leave here. The excitement is definitely starting to mount.