Hi Roly-Polies

I live in the town of Snohomish that is in the county of Snohomish. Seattle is in King County. I curently comute the 50 miles to near the airport and one way in traffic can be 2hour slog.
I have lived in Kirkland, Redmond and the sticks (Duvall&Carnation). Basically the geography is Seattle and everything else is around it. Everything east of Lake Washington is the Eastside. North end starts from the Seattle city limits at 145th. If you plan to comute to both Everett and Seattle I would sugest the north end or north eastside. When, I took a free Home buying seminar they reality world said that 85th is the center of the reality world. For the best school disctrict and all fairness in equal comuting times Bothell Mill Creek on the north end of Lake Washington is a good choise. If you can use the bus system, you really can make other choices. To get an afordable home you really have to out a ways, unless you are looking for a 500K McMansion. Everett is North of Seattle in Snohomish County. Snohomish County is cheaper than King County, Sofar.

StasiaBoo, Great info! I am looking at those areas, Bothell, Kirkland etc... I also like Mukilteo but not for a commute to Renton which could be possible. Housing is definitely higher, more than double what we find here in St. Louis.

Ok Renton. As I said I live in Snohomish. I work in Tukwila. Tukwila is neselled in between Renton and SeaTac.I just want to let you know that the trade up for living in those great comunities, in cluding Mukeliteo, is that the comute to the south end of lake washington is a night mare. It is all about timing. I try to drop my daughter off at the B&G club by 6AM so I can get to work just alittle past 7. If I drop her off later or she forget her backpack, then I get there between 730 and 8. The I405 loop around the East side of the lake is a tough comute. With that being said, not to discurage you, being in Redmond or Kirkland is a better comute, but still you would want to go in the 5 or early 6 am hour, after that it gets not nice.If I leave at 3 the comute is ok, and 330 it is tolerable. It is just starting to crowd not to mention the shift change at the Renton Plant puts a lot of presure on that area. I would recomemend Redmond/Kirkland for the Renton Everett Comute, only for the reason the both of you would have simular comutes so neither one of you would start feeling jealous of the other. I'm not going to pry, but if you have any Microsoft Conections, Microsoft has a bus service in certain areas, that is better than driving. If you are Boeing, I'm not certain about any comuting other than Metro, but they have plenty of free parking, just have to trek a ways most of the time. But they do have a parking lot shuttle. Never the less I have a 50mile comute one way, and it is one hour on a good day, and two hours on a less than good day. It is a toss up if I have a good day or not. Yes, the traffic has made me a pesimist, but then my company was located in woodinville, which is 10 miles from Snohomish, now they moved in November to Interurban, the little nitch just north of the south end I405/I5 interchange near the Airport. No mater if I drive I5 or the 405, Traffic here can suck.

Now, You have mountains just an hour out of seattle. You have the Cascades to the East and the Olympics on the Penisula. You have the Puget Sound. You have the Pacific Ocen beaches just a few hours away. BC Canada just a few hours away. By our last figure you have most of the states 4+ thousand boxes in a 100 mile radius of Seattle. I personaly planted over 300 of them. We have great sports teams, grat arts and comuity programs. We have 3 national parks, + a tiny national museum, the gold rush, National monument, Mt St Hellens, West side of the state is more green and lush, the East side of the state is more High Desert and agriculture. We have some great natural wonders, thousands of miles of trails paved and not. Hikers paradise. Water players paradise, techy, foody, artsy, heck it is paradise. You can walk, yes walk in Downtown Seattle, and see something new each time. Wecome to Washington.

By our last figure you have most of the states 4+ thousand boxes in a 100 mile radius of Seattle.

Law y'all are SOO lucky!
Today we drove over 100 miles to get a few boxes...Not complaining mind you, but dang, that is SOME letterboxing heaven you got there.

Three Flamigos

Please come visit. Though I am from Oregon, I'm sure I speak for the PNW when I say that we'd love to host an event in your honor if (when) you visit us. :)

We agree! We just moved out here this past fall. We feel guilty for not having gotten more already. They're just waiting...calling for someone to find them all! :)

Yay Renton! :) We just moved to "north/downtown Renton" in the fall. We would prefer to be further into Seattle, but given that one of us commutes to Juneau for his job and the other commutes to Puyallup for hers, Renton was a really nice middle ground between all the benefits of the city, airport, and southern/eastern regions, and slightly less expensive. (also, great starting point for many boxes in the surrounding areas) It's close enough that public transit is still a viable option for many of the places we want to go. But StasiaBoo is absolutely right. You can get caught in nasty traffic if you're not careful, especially on 405 north. Luckily for me, I avoid the traffic because I have a reverse commute - traffic coming north and I'm going south, and vice versa.