Justine Olawsky

Looking forward to traveling north tomorrow for a Carolyn Arends concert in Coquitlam, BC.

This is a lovely suburb in one of the most beautiful areas on earth — the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and Canada. The funny thing about the Canadian PNW of British Columbia is that it dwarfs the beauty of Washington and Oregon states in the U.S. We drove up to Whistler this past July, and the sheer magnificence of the scenery made our own woodsy beauty back home seem tame and conventional. Everyone should travel through British Columbia at least once.

When traveling to or through Coquitlam, do not miss the opportunity to eat at ABC Country Restaurant by the IKEA. It belongs to Carolyn Arends’s parents, and it is a good place to pick up one of her or her brothers’ CDs (if you’re not lucky enough to make it up for a concert).

The picture I included was taken on Keats Island, BC at Camp Barnabas. It is not from Coquitlam, but I thought it worth while to include it, nonetheless.

I live in the Fairwood area of Renton. I really love this little suburb, but I’d never in a million years suggest that someone visit here, unless it were one of my friends coming to visit me. I would urge people to move here, because it remains one of the more affordable places to buy a house in the greater Seattle area (not that that’s saying much in terms of price — this whole area is ridiculous).

One very nice thing about Fairwood is that we were able to live out here for three years with only one family car. My husband took the car to work in the morning, and my daughter and I would walk everywhere we needed to go — e.g. library, grocery stores, dentist, doctor, bank, etc. We have two cars now, but I still walk most places, because this is a safe and friendly neighborhood.

As stated in another’s entry, Fairwood is central to a lot of cool places. It is about equi-distant to Seattle, Bellevue and Issaquah. It’s a mere jaunt to two abundantly stocked shopping areas (Southcenter and Bellevue). It’s close to Valley Medical Center and IKEA and, even, the Sea-Tac Airport. I would personally wish to switch out some of the eating places here on the Fairwood plateau (e.g. exchange Taco Time for Taco Del Mar; Subway for Jersey Mike’s; Fairwood Thai for Mali Thai, etc.) and I would get rid of Big Lots for a Barnes & Noble. But, no where is perfect, and Fairwood is pretty awesome for a wee, little suburb.