Traveling Around My Own Town – Alki Beach

I’ve lived in the Puget Sound region my entire life.  I love it here and consider it home.  My growing up years were spent in the general Lynnwood area then a stint in Seattle, back to Lynnwood and finally to Whidbey Island, where I live now.

I get asked often if I like living on Whidbey.  You see, living on an island, even in the Puget Sound, has a certain mystique to it I believe.  Further north are the San Juan Islands, a more remote group of islands Whidbey is often mistaken for.  When I was a kid we’d come over to Whidbey’s beaches on my family’s boat to build driftwood forts and enjoy a bit of escape from the mainland.  To me Whidbey has always seemed exotic and ideal, close to civilization but a world away.  And that’s what I try to convey to those who inquire about life on “The Rock”.  I really like living on Whidbey as it has a small town feel (on the south end anyway. The north end has a completely different feel for me).  It’s not my first choice of locations, but it works really, really well for this point in my life.  I have no complaints about living on the Island, except for the lack of being able to see new release movies until a month later.  But even that has its charm.

Now for ‘escape’ I travel to the mainland in a flip flop of my childhood.  Seattle is something of an exotic location and today I am visiting Alki Beach in West Seattle on a blustery winter day.  Waves wash over the bulkheads along the beach and the sun is starting to peek out from behind clouds that were threatening rain just a moment ago.  I’ve been to Alki quite a few times in the past year, more than any other time I’ve lived on the mainland.  I’ve come here to meet strangers now turned friends who I roadtripped with across the US.  I took my first SCUBA dives here and got my certificate handed to me over a beer at a bar standing ten feet above the Bay.  I’ve taken other SCUBA classes here and also met wedding photo clients.   I’ve shot a wedding at Salty’s On Alki.  I’ve gone bowling just a bit inland from the beach.  And today I met a new client for a photo shoot.  All this in the past year.

In all my years living on the mainland, I believe I visited West Seattle just once, and never Alki itself.  In summer this is a happening strip of land with commanding views of Seattle as well as the Olympic Mountains.  Ferry boats glide across Elliot Bay and the sun seems to always by high in the sky enticing the runners along the shore to wear less and less clothing.  But I’m finding out, even in the winter, this is a really comfortable place to visit.

For one thing, there is ample parking in the winter.  Whether diving, shooting photos or meeting friends, I’ve never had a problem finding parking in the winter.  In summer, parking usually takes me a couple blocks from the beach.  The coffee shops are also hot spots in the winter.  For instance, right now I’m at Pioneer Coffee and am amazed at how many people know each other.  It has that small town feel I’ve found at the coffee shops on Whidbey.  Many of us have laptops out but there is still lively conversations from the second group of Seattle fireman to visit in the last hour.   I feel totally comfortable here and would like to work in this atmosphere more.  Boardgames sit on my left and this coffee shop serves wine and beer.  An outside patio awaits the hardy in winter and the lazy in summer.

Alki is really growing on me as a great ‘getaway’ from the island life.  It has that close to the city feel, but is still a small town feel.