walking

sometimes i wish i lived in a city. so i could walk everywhere, so people don't think i'm weird for walking everywhere. i realized the other day that the reasons i was wishing we lived in a city were things that i have here. they just look a little different, for example, i wish i had a grocery store i could walk to, but there is a cute little carniceria 2 blocks from us that is way better than safeway. we call it "the pink store," because.... well.... it's pink.


i think maybe the reason i like living downtown (in the ghetto), is there is so much life. there are tons of little "pink stores" and everyone is always out on their porch (cuz they only have window air conditioners and its still too hot inside), there are a MILLION ice cream trucks (even in the winter), tons and tons of kids, everyone has a garden and chickens and dogs and cats. we also watch out for each other. last summer when there were two shootings on our street afterwards everyone was outside making sure people were ok, shaking our heads together, hoping that things will get better.  i love my neighbors, i love my neighborhood. when we lived in seattle we only knew like 3 people in our whole building (and that's kinda stretching it). this place is just my jam, my flavor, my niche. 

how did i even get on this subject? i didnt really intend to gush all over you :)

here are some pictures of my neighborhood and downtown yakima.

trees on naches, where we go when we are on an "acorn hunt"

old fire station. i secretly wish we could live here. it's such a cool building.

the larson building is so beautiful. check out this site for some fun info on it.

a park we discovered recently.

playing in the grass median.

this is the original train depot of north yakima. sadly it's empty right now.

my favorite sign.,

the pink store.

complete with animal murals.

giant zula!!