50 Reasons We're Thankful To Live in Seattle
When you've just spent three hours of the previous night stuck on an icy I-5, it can be hard to focus on the positive. But that's exactly why we thought it's time for a little gratitude. Because let's face it, when there isn't a winter storm (and most years, there isn't), this is a hell of a great place to live. And in honor of Thanksgiving, we've assembled 50 reasons why. 
1. The inability to handle even a dusting of snow is charming and quirky. Really.
2. City politicians want even panhandlers to be more polite.
3. Throwing your garbage into the backyard isn't littering; it's composting.
4. Our waterfront doesn't just have tony Waterfront restaurants, but actual longshoremen.
5. For a third (and, please Lord, final) time, we saved this damn state from Dino Rossi.
6. Our beer-belly mayor wants to keep bars open all night. (Gag on that, SF!)
7. West Seattleites can watch killer whales from their bedroom windows.
8. Fine, our teams suck*. But we've showed the whole country how to be soccer fans.
[*Except the Storm! Except the Storm! Sheesh.]
9. The art scene really is about art, not commerce.
10. You can go from breakfasting in Georgetown to snowboarding on a mountainside in less than 90 minutes.
11. The biggest tourist attraction in town is a salt-of-the-earth market that locals love too. (And we saved it from New York developers in the 70s! OK, maybe you moved here three decades later, but give yourself a pat on the back anyway--you'd have done the same.)
12. Clubs, labels, talent, and rabid music geeks: We're like a self-sustaining, vertically-integrated, indie-rock paradise.
13. Every time you think your bus ride can't become more of a circus, it does.
14. August. Most years.
15. You can stumble around the ID drunk and blindfolded, and still be guaranteed to crash through the doors of a first-rate restaurant with cut-rate prices.
16. Oh, him? He's only the best bartender in America.
17. There are more dogs in this town than children, which is good because the dog is never going to demand an iPhone.
18. It's not a freeze; it's called giving people space.
19. Gray weather makes for better naps.
20. Playgrounds, low-income housing, school rehabs, bike sharrows--there isn't a city improvement project we won't tax ourselves for. (Just wondering, John Boehner, but has anyone expressed a desire to move to your shitty hometown since the opening song of WKRP aired for the final time?)
21. Even the cab drivers are listening to public radio.
22. Reclaiming and rehabbing old buildings is the thing to do (see: Melrose Market).
23. An army of fanatical, indie entrepreneurs who could be succeeding at pretty much anything in life are focused on one singular goal: providing you a better cup of coffee.
24. Police give tickets--and, occasionally, punches--for jaywalking, but most drivers can't wait to wave you ahead of them in the crosswalk.
25. Isolating oneself in nature's tranquil bosom doesn't require leaving the city; just walking to Seward Park (or a half-dozen others).
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