Goats or chickens anyone?

There are a few things about Seattle that have taken some getting used to (from a Midwestern girl's perspective.

First, there is water everywhere. It rains all the time, we are surrounded by lakes, ocean inlets, canals, etc (every direction from our house will lead you to water within 5 miles, and in the north or south direction within about 10 blocks). Plus, it's super hilly here so you can SEE the water from everywhere too (and mountains!!). Where I come from, this sort of thing is very unusual.

Second, you can parallel park your car in any direction on the street. This is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. Back home, if you didn't park in the direction of traffic you would be heavily fined. Here, they don't want people jamming up traffic trying to do tight U-turns to park so they just let you park on the wrong side in the wrong direction, no problem. It looks to me like everyone in the city was drunk when they parked their car, all the time. So strange!

Third, you can walk out in traffic any time you want. The cars will stop for you in the crosswalk, out of the crosswalk, no matter what, even if you just look like you might be thinking about walking out in traffic. I suspect this stems from a combination of the threat of heavy fines to any car that violates a pedestrian's right-of-way and a culture of extremely polite drivers. I've gotten dangerously used to this, and I'm not sure it's a good thing.

Fourth, and most bizarre: you can keep chickens, goats and bees in your backyard anywhere in the city. This means that all three of these are right in our very neighborhood - and I often see them as I walk around the block (chickens mostly, as the others are less popular and less visible). Our neighborhood has a 'neighborhood walk' tomorrow to get people out to see the bees, chickens and goats that people keep around the neighborhood - how exciting! Layla and I will have to miss, though - we already have plans to go see milk carton races up at Green Lake.

I hope everyone is having a fun July!