Seattle's good to live in without a car.........?

HUh.

Seriously though: Aside from downtown Tacoma, the asnwer to your boldface title question is "Small ones":
Easton, Roslyn, Fairhaven, Friday Harbor, Long Beach. Fairhaven's likely the closest to what you're seeking, but it's still boring (ad getting more pretentious every year).

The answer to your detailed & qualified question:
You're thinking of a place in another state. A town with 5 boros, perhaps...

The Big Orange Splot, Daniel Pinkwater
"Our street is us and we are it. Our street is where we like to be, and it looks like all our dreams."

The Ordinary Princess, MM Kaye

Pedro, the Angel of Olvera Street, Leo Politi

Make Way for Ducklings, Roberty McClotskey

Where the Wild Things Are / In the Night Kitchen

and my personal hero of creativity and child-led learning,

Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4671937

then,
Shel Silverstein was probably my leading gateway drug to real literacy: Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends

As I got older (3rd grade thru 5th), the Three Investigators, Calvin and Hobbes collections, and the Narnia Series were well-loved/well-worn, as was anything I could talk my mom into buying me from the Troll book club.

???

Pioneer Square. Start at Elliot Bay Books, and you may not need to go elsewhere. Magic Mouse for toys.

10-20%, like most other full-service tips.

Dirt? Under the power lines in Skyway.
around 68th Ave S & S 118th St there's a short stretch of dirt/gravel/dust.

But a proper 4x4 testing? Not in Seattle. You know, because how it's a city and stuff.

Close to Renton shouldn't be too hard to find a 4x4 enthusiast zone, though - head up Cemetary Road for a few miles and turn let or right at some dirt trail with motocross tire tracks in the mud.
Or head north over to May Valley and work your way up the south side of Cougar Mountain into one of the developments-to-be: surely there be dirt roads there, no? May Valley and 162nd used to a be a spot for such BS.

I had a number of lights in a yard once and they snapped from a combo of cold and wind. (The wire looked stretched / was longer than the sleeve, which looked clean-cut).

Or, you might have a aggressive-passive-aggressive neighbor who's subtly commenting via vigilantism on how the light ruins his telescope view of the stars at night.
Wouldn't be the first time here, I'm sure.

The crows around here are also total dickheads.

Hard to say.

Try hotels: edgewater, sheraton, etc.
Charlie's front room maybe, but only quiet during certain times of day.

I'm having as much sex as I want. It's the orgasms I don't want to stop...