Olga Griswold finishes her coffee and steps out of the cafe at 8:30 a.m., checking the sky. It's misty in that not-quite-rainy, not-quite-dry weather familiar to Western Washington.

She runs up to her apartment and emerges four minutes later clutching an umbrella. Besides a comfortable pair of shoes, it's all she needs for her 25-minute commute.

Griswold, 31, is one of a small band of Washington residents who live close to work so they don't have to drive. Only 2 percent of Washington commuters walk to work, according to census estimates released today. Griswold lives in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood and walks to her job as a teacher trainer in Pioneer Square. When she needs to go farther, she takes a bus.

"I guess I'm traffic-free," she said. When she does go to Bellevue or Olympia for work, she's shocked by the congestion. "I get horrified in traffic jams! Do people really do this every day?"

Not her.

At 8:34 a.m. she walks briskly down First Avenue. A group of men waiting on the sidewalk for day labor jobs at Casa Latina stare.

"Hello, ladies," drawls an older man in a purple T-shirt, nodding his head in a courtly manner. She nods back politely.

"The most I have to deal with is those guys we passed at Casa Latina," Griswold said nonchalantly. "Sometimes they make comments, but I ignore it. I don't feel threatened at all, in any way."

At 8:45 she reaches Pine Street and the sidewalks begin to bustle. Outside in the cool morning air, she drinks in the smells, sights and sounds of a city waking up. Flower vendors set out colorful bouquets and coffee shops waft enticing aromas of coffee and muffins. She weaves her way through other walkers sporting sneakers below their business attire, and families of tourists with fanny packs.

A former New Yorker, she likes the way Seattle natives stop to help tourists find their way around in the busy summer months.

"Which is, you know, sweet," she said. "In the car, you don't notice that."

At 8:49 she walks below the marquee for the Lusty Lady peep show advertising "Chicks Ahoy." A few more steps take her past an art gallery with a window full of oil paintings of tulip fields.

On the street, Griswold doesn't take much notice of car commuters. At 8:55 she stops at a crosswalk, her eyes waiting for the walk signal as cars stream onto Highway 99. A few carpools pass by, but most cars contain a single occupant staring grimly ahead, windows rolled up.

They're the norm - recently released census estimates show that 74 percent of commuters in the state drive alone, while only 2 percent walk. The number of people walking to work has decreased 28 percent since 1990, possibly due to the rising cost of housing in Seattle.

Griswold admits her apartment is expensive - $940 a month for a one-bedroom - but, she notes, she doesn't have to make car payments, or buy insurance, or worry about the price of gas or car repairs.

She and her husband, who bikes or buses to the University of Washington daily, considered buying a house in a suburb south of the city a few years ago. But they would have needed two cars.

"I couldn't deal with it," she confesses.

The morning mist has lifted by 8:59, when Griswold arrives at the Washington Academy of Languages on Yesler Way. She straightens out her windblown hair, then climbs the stairs to her office with a smile on her face - 19 blocks and 25 minutes after she walked out her front door.