Issaquah - The Transition Begins

Last week I hopped on a JetBlue flight for a 48 hour whirlwind tour of the eastern suburbs of Seattle to find an apartment that we'll call home for the first year of our lives on the West Coast.  My one overnight was at the Motel 6 in Issaquah, which is a community located west of Seattle on the southwest corner of Lake Sammamish.  I chose to stay Issaquah because it was one of three communities we were considering (we finally decided on Redmond, home of Microsoft, for convenience to my wife's job at the Overlake School).  Ironically, Issaquah is located directly off I90, so I felt right at home at the very western edge of the Mass Pike. 

The Run (map): I woke up in my motel room at about 3:30am West Coast time because I'm used to waking at about 6:30am East Coast time.  I waited until there was a little light at around 5:30 and headed out the door to explore Issaquah.  I first ran east on NW Sammamish Road.  Along the road I hopped on a bike path with a small sign, "Issaquah Trail System."  I followed that trail under a bridge and into a small wooded area behind some of the Costco headquarters buildings.

On that trail there were multiple warning signs about bears and cougars.  The trail ran right along I90 at one point, and didn't seem like the best place for bears and cougars to hang out.  Nonetheless, I'll admit the signs made me nervous, and the two deer that I almost literally ran into on a small wooden bridge over the Issaquah Creek made me jump!  You'll notice on the map link a little back and forth on the trail where I was trying to decide whether to challenge the deer for a crossing or just loop back around the the road.  You'll also notice the loop returning me the NW Sammamish Road. 

Off of NW Sammamish Road I turned on 221st Place SE and worked my way down to the Issaquah Front Street area, which is the small downtown shopping area.  Downtown Issaquah is very quaint with some notable local joints including XXX Root Beer, an old fashioned Shell Gas station, and the local running store Uphill Running (the day before I went into meet owner, Trey, and had a great conversation about the local running scene.)

Finally, at the Southern end of the shopping area, I took a right turn on Newport Way NW and worked my way back towards I90 to cross on the footbridge that led directly back to the Motel 6. 

Thought for the Day:  Our goal with apartment hunting was to find an apartment in a community that we felt we could also buy a house, and thus minimize he chances of making my daughter change schools twice in a year.  One remark made by my real estate agent as she toured me around made me laugh.  She would say, for a given community, that we could buy a house, but "it would be older, built in the 1980's."  In that market, 1980 might seem old, but in the Boston market it would be relatively young.  The house in which our Jamaica Plain condo is situated was built in 1880 -- 100 years older than the "old" buildings in the Northwest!  To me, a house with any insulation (we literally have none in our house) and wiring not covered in cloth would be a major upgrade.  Don't get me wrong, I love all the unique/antique architecture in Boston.  It's a beautiful city.  I would just like to be a little warmer in the winter. 

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