Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I love where we live!!!

I absolutely love where we live. Yes, I want to move to Centralia or somewhere that will put us closer to family, and not just because of the kids. I sometimes get so sick of some of the issues here I want to run screaming into a wall. But at the same time, there are certain things I know I will miss about Carnation when we do move. 

The Bad:

I get lonely. Ok.. so I sometimes get REALLY lonely. It's hard when sometimes, the only adult person you talk to every day is your hubby. Especially when your hubby works nights. I tried to get to know the women in my apartment building, and well... didn't work. There are 12 units in my apartment complex, and out of the other 11 apartments, there are only 3 other women that speak (or even understand) english. I am almost positive they all work. At least, I know one of them does (nights) and the other two I see leaving in the morning and returning in the early afternoon or evening.

It's sometimes really inconvenient with only one grocery store and no pharmacy. Driving at night to Duvall or Redmond is almost worse than waking up to a child crying cause they have a fever and you discover you are out of Tylenol and the QFC is closed. Or going to the ER, and then having to wait another 2 hours to put the sick person to bed cause there is nor pharmacy close to home so you stay in the city to fill the prescription, taking longer.

It would probably help me and my quest to give up coffee if there weren't at least 5 places to get coffee in less than 1 mile. Hey, it's King County... Seattle. Really... Need I say more?

No stop signs or traffic lights down the main strip. Sometimes you can stand at a cross walk for 10 minutes before you can cross the street. And our Police Department (that we share with Duvall... the Police Department is a nice triple wide modular home down in Duvall.), well they do a very good job of making sure drivers slow down in the school zones... Middle school at one end of town, elementary at the other. 

And if it floods... well, instead of being the Town of Carnation, we become the Island of Carnation... one of a neat little string of islands that used to be towns or cities connected by Highway 203. 

Oh yeah, and we can't forget that we live in a valley at the base of the foot hills so when it gets icy... Matt hides my car keys, so no leaving the valley for me. (My refusing to drive in icky weather still hasn't convinced him I wouldn't if I got bored enough.) 

But there is a definite trade off for all those issues. So here are the good:

One elementary school with teachers who have been with the school since their children attended. (I think there might even be a few that attended the school and then returned to teach there.) 

It's one mile from one end of town to the other. Great for walking. :) I know exactly how far I have to go to reach a lovely 2 mile walk.

It's a small town that's growing. You might not know everyone's name, and they may not know you, but the feeling of community is still there. When we need to, we stick together. When your neighbor needs a helping hand, you step up and help. And they would do the same for you.

And even though there's only one grocery store, we're close enough to Redmond and Duvall. If our QFC doesn't have it, and Duvall's Safeway or Family Grocer doesn't either... Redmond's 25 minutes over the hill and Monroe 25 the other direction. OOOO And North Bend is about 30 minutes away. OUTLET MALLS! WOOT! 

We're a small town, not even classified as a city. Really. It's the Town of Carnation. We are not a city. We are a small town split down the middle by Highway 203 with the foothills on one side and the river one the other. There are a lot of problems in cities that we just don't have to deal with. (This could be one of the bad things about Carnation, but I'm choosing to make it a good one.)

The absolute best thing though, in my biased opinion, is Tolt Mac Donald Park. There are trails galore in that park. They have motor home spaces there. They used to have tent spaces, but they are doing some park renovations and wetland restoration so I think they are all closed right now. Why drive to bum-Egypt to go camping when there's a camp ground only a 5 minute walk away?! Awesome!

The Tolt meets the Snoqualmie River right there. It's got almost new baseball and soccer fields. And there are wild animals. They have signs posted as you cross the river into the trail area warning about cougars and bears. But they usually stay on their side of the river. They stay out of the sorta city small town setting on our side. It's safer, right? You would think.

I mean seriously... in a sorta city setting, how many times can you be sitting around with your family, and look and out your window, and see a deer standing on your front porch? For real! Less than 20 feet from my couch. I managed to get this picture:

I opened the door so I could get closer and the little dude (or dudette) just froze and stared at me. After a few minutes, it turned and walked away. Sweet!

But it gets better. I stepped onto my porch to watch him (or her) walk away, andwhen I looked around the corner I saw... this:


The kids loved it! They just sat there staring. Oscar.... well, him not so much. And Matt? LOL he made Lizzie cry when he said they were beautiful, but they would look oh so much better in his freezer. Meanie!

How much better can it get for a countrified city girl? I really do love where we live. Really!

SMOOCHIES!

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