our neighborhood

We are still blown away by the fact that we were able to buy a house in a neighborhood like Ravenna. After living is some marginal areas of cities in the past, we were expecting our limited budget to bring us there again. Instead, we are in a quiet residential neighborhood that's accessible to everything and walkable to the essentials (pub, Whole Foods, yoga studio, park, bus stop, etc.). We've met many of our new neighbors, all great and all with young children, so we've already been asked when we're having some. Answer: maybe when your kids are old enough to babysit.

"Ravenna" was apparently named after the Italian seaport... not sure why, other than it's close to both Lake Union and Lake Washington. The map to the right (from Seattle Public Library) shows Ravenna around the time our house was built. As you can see from the topographic lines, it is hilly. We've scoped out the nearest lookouts to Mount Rainier, the Cascades, and Olympics so we can 'wow' our guests (especially east coasters) on a clear day. A few blocks south of us is a particularly steep ravine that was probably impossible to build on, so the city has maintained it as a park for a long time (after cutting down all the old growth Douglas Fir in the early 1900's... which is probably where our floors came from!). For you DC folks, it reminds us a lot of Rock Creek Park. So we have a new place for a run or for a mini forest escape.

Spent some time enjoying Lake Union on a sunny day this weekend. Such a beautiful city, that's for sure... Love being surrounded by water (for A) and mountains (for J). What a perfect combo...