I am posting a reminder about the January 27 Seattle area travel group meeting (organized by Randi) for the benefit of all who did not see it earlier. Hoping that RS tour alumni who are coming to the reunion will be able to make it, as well as locals. The Redmond location should be easy to reach if you are staying in Edmonds.
I have suggested we make it a book and map exchange as well, so watch for updates on that.
. The Redmond location should be easy to reach if you are staying in Edmonds.
Well maybe. Since Seattle will likely be in total gridlock with viaduct closed and with tunnel not yet open, everyone will try 405 as the workaround.
I wish you well and send kind thoughts, but hibernation seems a saner alternative.
Happily the reunion activities are much easier to get to.
Thanks Lola! Looking forward to meeting everyone. Hope we have a great turnout. The location is perfect for us.
By the way "Go Hawks!!!"
Joe raises a good point about getting around the Seattle metro area. For those not paying close attention, a major highway through the city will be closed for weeks (actually they're tearing it down), starting January 11, and the replacement won't open for a while - projected opening is around February 4th or so, but with any project around here things rarely happen on time.
What is nearly certain is that with this highway unusable, the entire region will immediately go to complete gridlock, with travel times between most points going off the scale. Anyone planning to casually get from one place to another during this outage is in for a shock.
I expect that the city will grind to a complete halt, with people stuck in their homes, unable to get to work or anyplace else, with commerce and almost all movement essentially freezing. I have to get to the airport for a flight during this time, and I'm planning to go in the middle of the night and allow 4+ hours to get there (without traffic the drive takes just about 20 minutes).
It's going to take weeks (maybe months) for the transportation system to start loosening up a bit (my fear is that free movement around the region will never return, and this is actually by design, but maybe that's just my low expectations about the charlatans and religious zealots that rule over the city).
Bottom line: don't count on being able to get around this region very well for an extended period from early January until sometime in February (at the very earliest and most optimistic). Stock up on supplies and anything you might need to survive for a couple months before the roadpocalypse starts around January 11. Good luck.
David, I am laughing at your post! To get from Edmonds to Redmond you don't even need to go through Seattle. I'm guessing you were being very tongue in cheek!
I'm sorry I'll miss this, driving down the coast next week. Just as glad not to have to deal with Seattle area traffic which is always bad. But so far, based on what I've heard on the radio, the current Seattle Squeeze hasn't been as bad as many feared. And of course it won't be a problem between Edmonds and Redmond.
Have to say, as far as traffic, I went to Seattle Tuesday am and the traffic heading south on I 5 expressway was lighter than usual! I am carpooling next week to Seattle. We hope for the best. So far it seems people are looking at other options to navigate potential traffic jams. Fortunately, there are other options from Edmonds to Redmond. The Redmond Library is a lovely facility.
