About twenty feet up, according to the handy gauge at the head of the dock we now occupy on Lake Union. Vertically, it’s not a huge leap from Shilshole Bay Marina, but in lifestyle terms, we’re in a whole different world now… bright lights, big city, baby! We’re right on the doorstep of all the cosmopolitan attractions of the downtown urban core. Sirens, the Duck Dodge, naked bicyclists… surely all this excitement must be the next best thing to a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Life out at Shilshole was a quiet and deliberate affair for us. During the long, lazy days of summer, brilliant sunsets and slow walks through Golden Gardens were entertainment enough. The convenience of casting off the lines and venturing out into the fresh afternoon breezes mostly made up for the isolation imposed by going carless in a place with minimal services.
But winters could be grim, and with the lone bus line disappearing last fall, we decided a move was in order. So, at the end of October, we headed back to the Lake before the gray days of storms and rain began again in the dark season.
At our new home on Westlake, we’re feeling pretty hip. Blocks from Fremont (the Center of the Universe), an easy twenty minute walk to downtown, on a major bus line with frequent service stretching all the way to Northgate, we hardly know how to choose what thrilling and vibrant urban activity to undertake next.
A short walk along the lake last weekend saw us at the opening of the new Museum of History and Industry site in the old naval armory on South Lake Union. A swift lift from the South Lake Union Trolley took us to the first movie we have gone out to see in nearly a year. And we are re-connecting with friends both on the lake and downtown who we hardly saw during the years we were out at Shilshole.
Winter is often a time for boat projects, and we’re in boat project nirvana, right smack in the middle between Fisheries Supply and the “big” West Marine store on Westlake, with a quick side of Second Wave thrown in for good measure. No more half-day excursions for that one lousy, inevitable missing part! The only thing I’m missing is a good hardware store nearby, but I didn’t have that before, either (although I am finding that City Hardware, in South Lake Union, is not nearly as inadequate as I had feared it might be).
So far, this winter has been, well, winter. Our expectations for how posh life would be with forced-air heat and an insulated hull were a little high of the mark. We still have to deal with chills, condensation, cabin fever, and the potential of having your water shut off at the dock during cold snaps. And boats have boat problems, no matter the size… our furnace went out during the first cold snap and had to be replaced.
Still, when I think of how this winter is going compared to the last two we spent aboard, I feel fortunate, indeed. Whatever difficulties we may still face, they’ve been rendered much easier to deal with by moving inland. We’re in well-protected waters, closer to services of every sort, and right in the middle of a hundred entertainment options. The psychological effect that has shouldn’t be understated; previous winters have enforced isolation and loneliness, making already stressful living conditions that much worse. The ability to pop out for a movie or a museum visit or just a quick bus ride to the store and back lifts the lid of seclusion.
Shilshole has its own collections of friends and attractions, and we’ll miss them all… probably more when the weather inevitably turns again and the days lengthen and the rains warm and soften.
For now, we couldn’t be happier with that twenty extra feet above sea-level.