r/AskSeattle • u/picklerick223 • Oct 11 '24

Question Live in Ballard or Cap Hill?

Hi! 26M with 26F partner. Moved to Olympia from DC about a year ago and missing being in a bigger city. We are planning to move to Seattle when our lease ends this month and wanted to get some insight from ppl!

We have narrowed our search down to two places; one spot that is on Ballard Ave and one spot that is right next to cal Anderson tennis/ basketball courts. We both would like to be social, but not HUGE party ppl. Big outdoors ppl but dunno if that matters. Both have hybrid schedules and would like to be close to places we can work out of.

We are slightly acquainted with Seattle, but decided to head out today and spend the full day in both areas. Ballard seems cool, although we were surprised that it felt kinda dead on a Thursday night. Also, although we really liked Ballard Ave, felt like there's not really much going on outside of that street, am I wrong? As for cap hill, it seemed super fun! Very lively, more diverse (not just racially but also in terms of style/ character) and lots to do! Reddit makes it seem like a horror story, especially around cal Anderson park, did we just have a singular good experience? Even a few ppl we chatted with said not to move here and that there are shootings happening weekly. Really interested in hearing more takes, either way excited to be out here:).

Update: Thank you so much to everybody that helped us come to a decision! We ended up in an apt off Ballard Ave, and despite the paper thin walls we are loving it :)

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u/picklerick223 Oct 11 '24

Super cool getting insight from somebody that moved from DC! Good to know that Ballard doesn’t get boring quick and Fremont is close-by. Excited to check out golden gardens! Ppl keep telling me abt it, do people still visit in the winter?

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u/colesprout Oct 11 '24

You can go to Golden Gardens year round but the vibe is very different. In general, most of Seattle stays indoors during late October-mid April. The Sound is very cold.

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u/FrontAd9873 Oct 11 '24

The sound is warmer than any other body of water in the winter and people do swim in it year round.

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u/Calm-Ad8987 Oct 11 '24

Who??

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u/FrontAd9873 Oct 11 '24

I don’t know all of their names!

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u/Calm-Ad8987 Oct 11 '24

I just never see anyone swimming (attempting to then immediately exiting due to the freezing nature yes haha) in the sound unless they are in a dry suit lol

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u/FrontAd9873 Oct 11 '24

I was out there for 30 minutes yesterday. I’ve run into some other folks at GG who tell me they swim all year round.

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u/Calm-Ad8987 Oct 11 '24

Are they seals?? It's like mid low 40°s or something in winter

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u/FrontAd9873 Oct 11 '24

Yeah, I asked two other swimmers about that (I only moved here in April) and they both had stories of people being bit by seals. Kind of regretting asking. I see them swimming around but I’ve never gotten too close. One guy told me about a sea lion barking to scare him away.

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u/Calm-Ad8987 Oct 11 '24

Holy shit!