How to Prepare for Winter like a Seattleite

Winter is upon us but it’s not here yet, Seattle. See that frantic gray squirrel outside your window gnawing pinecones and burying garbage? That’s not you. We’ve still got one entire season before it’s time to mope and fuss about the weather. So, let’s keep the windows open and feel the breeze as it picks up. Let’s listen to kids playing in the park after school. Let’s watch the bird-brained wildlife march through wet grass in autumn light.

Let’s hit up some of the activities listed below and then, in the dead of winter when we’re feeling like crazed and matted rodents who should have been burying sunflower seeds and peanut shells instead of drinking beer with friends, paying a little too much for a wildly delicious bunch of carrots, and tromping through mud in search of a pumpkin to carve – we’re going to pull out our phones and look at the photographs we took as we embraced the end of warmer weather. We’re going to remember why we live in the Pacific Northwest, and THAT is what gets us through winter. Although, moping helps too.

Go to an Oktoberfest.

All out Bavaria/Munich: Leavenworth, Oktoberfest Northwest

Lowkey neighborhood vibes: Burien, Ounces

Go explore local food at a farmer’s market.

Year-round: Ballard, Edmonds, U-District, Capital Hill, West Seattle

Seasonal: (most of these close in October) Columbia City, Magnolia, Olympia

Go to a pumpkin patch.

Action-packed carnival experience: Remlinger Farms, Stocker Farms

Old-time country fun: Swans Trail Farms, Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm, Craven Farm

Laid back farm style: Jubilee, Creek House, Bailey, Fall City

Go outside.

Easy does it: Walk your neighborhood, Green Lake, Carkeek, Magnolia, Seward Park