After recently talking to friends who are living far away I decided to make a blog to tell more about our life here, in Washington, after moving from the East to West Coast of the US. What our everyday life looks like in a small town (20 minutes away from Seattle) and what we love and hate about living here. What still surprise us in Washington and things we still can’t adjust to.

Some facts about us
- Our story is pretty unusual. Many people still don’t believe us we moved to Washington just “to explore”, not because of a great job offer.
- Leonid works in IT and could apply basically anywhere here. Seattle area – a paradise for software developers. Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft are just the tip of the IT iceberg.
- The first answer you would get after asking “best places to live in the Seattle area” would be “near your work”. Traffic is insane here. Similar to what you’ll see in NY and nearly worse than in the SF Bay area.
- We decided to live 40 minutes from the ski resort so we could ski on weekdays too. The resort is “The average one” as the locals would say. Because other ski places will steal your heart away:

- We could afford the luxury of skiing on weekdays just because Leonid’s job allows flexible hours (he works from home for a company based in NJ).
- Living on the West Coast is very different from living on the East Coast. Neither good nor bad, just different. I’ll write more about it later.
- Moving from the East to the West coast was one of the most rewarding experiences for us, but it also had its dark side: I was living with depression the first year here, without acknowledging it.

- We are the average parents who tired of everyday life during the pandemic and online school for more than a year. Hugging all parents!
Thanks for reading, friends!
Read next:
Winter in Washington, What is it Like. Summer in WA.
Skiing with a toddler in Washington. Our experience and how did we start
From Seattle to Crater Lake National Park: lava fields, the trail of 10 waterfalls.