Mar. 14 #43 Georgetown

This weekend’s sojourn is to the area of Seattle just north of Boeing Field (AKA King County International Airport). The reason we chose this one is a little involved – our friend Betty told us of seeing a Big Red Hat from the airplane when she last landed at SeaTac. This triggered a faint memory of the Hat and Boots buildings that used to house a Texaco Gas Station in the area. Recently, the buildings were moved to Seattle Park property. A quick Internet Search (both Bing and Google) showed us information about the buildings, but nothing recent showing a Red Hat. One article mentioned that the boots had been renovated but the hat would be finished in Fall of ’09. The web is great, whenever it is current! Anyway, our interest was piqued so we decided to use this week’s walk to check out the situation.

We got a late start due to the Springing Forward. We also found out fairly quickly that Sunday is NOT a good day to do Georgetown. This may be an up and coming Bohemian Industrial area, but it definitely does not do Sunday; most of the non-Coffeehouses were closed. (And most of the bars/eateries opened mid afternoon.)

We started out on Airport Way and S. Lucile. The shops were interesting, but unattainable; we’ll have to come back here some Saturday. After about a third of the walk, we stepped into Calamity Jane’s. I was glad that the sun was up, because this place might be a little intimidating at night; signs boasted the power of women and warned that one should not be anxious to mess with them. Seriously, though, we stopped in and had a great, full breakfast. Amy had the Corn Cakes and I had the Calamity Plate – loaded with meat (some of which I happily shared with Amy). Calamity Jane’s is right across the street from the original Rainier Brewery, which is now Lofts, Artist Spaces, and so on.



After breakfast, we enjoyed the rest of the walk, taking in the many funky shops. This walk was interesting, but Georgetown has a lot more to offer than what is on this short bit. At the end of the official walk, we headed up Bailey, turning left onto Corson to Oxbow Park. Here, we met up with the renovated Hat (and Boots).



Thanks Betty!

In this neighborhood, we also passed by several beautifully decorated houses, including The Castle.



Georgetown does have something good going on. All in all, though, this was the first City Walk that was more or less ho-hum. I don’t recommend it for casual Seattle visitors unless you have some connection to the area or specific special interest. If you do go, I suggest you pick up a Georgetown Public Art & Culture Walking Tour Map of the area so that you can check out the larger area. It was a positive experience for us because we have never really explored this area; we did enjoy it.

Hey, we are finally caught up! We're almost reporting in real time! Thanks for your patience; subsequent posts will be more aligned with the reported post date!

Mar. 6, #49 Bainbridge Island - Winslow

When we planned the weekend, we heard that only Sunday would be nice, but early Saturday morning showed it to be such a beautiful day, we decided not to wait. This was a good choice as Saturday was a spectacular day! (And Sunday, not so much.)

We didn’t get an early start, but got out of the house before noon. We parked south of the Ferry Terminal on Alaskan Way and walked the ½ mile or so. About 5 minutes before we got to the terminal, we noticed a ferry leaving. Ah well, we’re not late, we’re early for the next one! To kill a little time we walked up to First Avenue and up the street to the Harbor Steps. Strange – no artwork was on display. The fountains were in fine shape, very pretty. We walked back to the terminal and sat and rested until the Winslow Ferry was ready for boarding (about 30 minutes).

The ride was, as usual, relaxing. I don’t know what it is about getting onto a Washington State Ferry that makes time slow down and the world so serene. Thirty-five minutes later we were pulling into Winslow and ready to debark.



The day was cool, but the sun was shining brightly. Winslow is a pretty little town. We have been through here before many times, but together have never spent any time wandering around (Amy came over here with co-workers many months ago).



It being after 1:00, our first order of business was lunch. We checked out the Streamliner Diner, but settled on Café Nola. There was a little wait, but it was worth it. I had the Crab Melt, Amy had a Hamburger. Both were excellent. There were several other options for lunch; we’ll have to come back.

After lunch, we set out again to follow the City Walk. We took a quick loop through Waterfront Park where we witnessed an unfortunate occurrence. While we walked up Bjune Drive, an elderly lady came out the back parking lot entrance to the Town & Country Market. She placed her cane on a metal grate and it slipped; she toppled over. Another couple was closer to her and they were calling 911 by the time we got there. The lady complained that her hip hurt, but then said it felt better and wanted to try to get up. We tried to comfort her as much as possible, but kept her on the ground until the Ambulance and Fire Engine came. Once the EMTs were on the job, we weren’t needed, so got out of the way. We saw from afar that they took her away in the ambulance. She was 89 years old and living by herself. She had gone the Store to get some things for her daughter who was very ill. I thought of my Mother, who isn’t quite so old, but does live by herself.

We got back to our walk, proceeding to and along the water’s edge and then back up Madison Avenue. Along the water, we enjoyed the rock sculptures.



We stopped in at a Fudge Shop, bought some truffles, taffy and chocolate-covered raisins. Continuing, we passed BICycle (Bainbridge Island Cycle – clever, no?) We checked out a neat Toy/Game store. Besides having a above-average wares, it had a great sign near some demo items out front: “Children left unattended in this area better have a very large allowance.”

We also checked out the Eagle Harbor Book Store. This is a most excellent independent book seller and I encourage anyone who finds her- or himself wandering around Winslow (say you have some time to kill before the next ferry), check it out!

About this time, we were running out of energy, so we just headed back to the Ferry for the return trip to Seattle. A ferry coming into Seattle on a sunny day has the best views of downtown Seattle. We walked a total of 5.5 miles while spending 4 hours walking, waiting and eating. A most enjoyable trip. I'm really happy we are doing taking this opportunity to get really close to all these wonderful Seattle neighborhoods/areas.

Feb. 28, #13 Crown of Queen Anne

Sunday turned out to be better than Saturday, so we decided to get out again and maybe catch up a little on our walks. The one we decided to do was the second closest walk to our house - the Crown of Queen Anne. The walk is actually an abbreviated version of the Crown, which Amy runs every weekend day (and I do, too, on the 3 or 4 nice days of the year that we get outside the summer). We didn't expect to see much new on this one, but that didn't matter, as the views from this walk are among the most wonderful in the city. We don't have a lot to say about this walk - we just have pictures.

From 7th Avenue West, looking west over Interbay:



From Betty Bowen Viewpoint toward Elliott Bay and West Seattle:



Mt. Rainier and Downtown from Kerry Park:



Oh, and Happy Birthday, Eliot (tomorrow)!

Feb. 27 #45 California Avenue

The next selection can be blamed on, er, was inspired by, Sheldon and Laura. Our dear cousins gave us a gift certificate to some random bakery on California Avenue in this, their corner of Seattle. Since the City Walks Deck includes 4 walks in West Seattle, we figured we may as well kill two birds with one stone. (More on the Bakery later.)

California Avenue is very neighborhood-ly. We got an early morning start on a fairly grim day. It wasn’t raining, there was just a casual mist. While on our way to the starting point near the Admiral Theatre, we stopped in at an appliance store to check out some steam-powered washer/dryers. (This may turn out to be the deck’s most expensive walk for us! We’ll see.)

We did a quick turn around the intersection of Admiral Way and California before heading south for a serious stroll past Hiawatha Playfield and through the neighborhood. In other areas, there is some draw; funky shops, interesting restaurants, unique sights. But in this area, the establishments are for the locals; this is Seattle with its sleeves rolled up ready to do what is needed to get to the end of the day. We were struck by the number of Nail salons (not hardware; I mean the places where women go to get their fingers and toes pampered). And the stores weren’t just sitting there; every one of them was open and had at least 1 customer. (I thought there was a recession going on.) There must have been a half dozen.

This neighborhood is much less photogenic than Fremont. Still, there are some interesting sights. The local pubs seem to fill a valuable niche, with lots of new ones opening up very soon. (But maybe that’s due to replacements for the ones that recently failed?)





If you visit this area, keep your eyes open, for crosswalks (above) and murals (such as below). There was a really cool mural on the US Post Office near Genessee Street, but I couldn't get the right angle to capture the effect (which involved a church a block and a half away).



We continued south to get to the heart of “downtown West Seattle” around SW Oregon and SW Alaska Streets. There are some good shops here, including an electric train store and a branch of Easy Street Records, as well as the usual assortment of Coffee stores and restaurants. The southern end of our walk took us to Bakery Nouveau. Upon seeing it,



we were both thinking “hey, we’ve heard about this place”. The line was long, but well deserved. We were thinking lunch and afternoon snack, so we bought far more than we needed, but with no regrets.

Thanks, Laura and Sheldon!

We both enjoyed this walk. We are now 5 walks in and there is no question about turning back. I’m not completely sure why we are doing this, but I am glad we are! I hope you are enjoying our sharing. I hope you can visit Seattle and enjoy one or more of these, but perhaps you should wait until fairer weather.

Feb. 7 #21 Fremont

Another weekend, another opportunity to enjoy a walk in Seattle. The one we have chosen for today is one of the 3 walks that we can easily take starting from our house. We walked down the north slope of Queen Anne hill and across the Fremont Bridge. It was cool, gray and threatening, so of course we got stopped by the bridge being drawn up.



Into the middle of Fremont (corner of 34th and Fremont), past Costa’s Opa, past Still Life in Fremont and up to the Troll just under Highway 99 (at least the highway kept us from getting any wetter). As usual, he looked quite content, munching on his VW lunch. This is a must-see Seattle landmark; it never fails to bring a smile to the lips!

We got back onto the walk and continued on; back down to Fremont. Before City People’s moved in here, there was a small theatre space. Our cousin Sheldon did the lighting for a really cute show (it had lots of really bad jokes). On down N36th to the Statue of Lenin. Yes, a real, Soviet-made statue of Lenin.Quite an impressive likeness (whether a true one or not). It really fits well in Fremont.


We continued on, crossing N36th and around to the Rocket. This thing used to be at the Army/Navy Surplus store on 1st Avenue. Is it just my imagination, or is Fremont really photogenic?


Our next stop was under another Seattle Icon – a Ranier R at the Red Door Saloon. Lunch was delicious – AJ had a salad and I had Reuben. Yum!


After lunch, we walked down to the canal, walked alongside for a couple blocks, then back up to 36th, past a Chocolate factory. We must take the tour! We then turned right, went back over the bridge back to Queen Anne, and dragged ourselves up the hill, back to home. The covered a total of just over 3 miles. We both had a good time. Of the walks we have taken so far, this one has far and away the most interesting, iconic sights. Another really good afternoon!

Jan. 30 #4 Downtown 1

It’s been 2 weeks since our last walk. (Refer to the posts' titles, not the date of the posting of the entry!). We made a brief visit to California last week, so we weren’t able to walk in Seattle. Another thing happening this weekend is the end of the Michelangelo sketches exhibit at SAM, so we decided to combine the visit with Walk #4. The sky was the usual January gray and the clouds seemed ready to open up, but they mostly held off, with just a gentle mist toward the end of the walk.

We parked near the Paramount on Howell St. and walked the few blocks to the start of the walk near the Convention Center. Interesting and beautiful items abound (following is an image of Chihuly glass displayed in the Conv. Cntr).


This walk is my Seattle. Just about every step we take brings up memories. We walked through the convention center and into Freeway Park,

then down to University and 6th to Union Square.

Several flags were flying, including one of the Republic of Korea (I thought of Kevin). We walked past Benihana and I thought of Sarah and how much she enjoys this restaurant. We continued down University and past Benaroya Hall. Of course I thought of Eliot and the many times he performed here, and the many times all five of us enjoyed great music here.



After one more block, we ducked into SAM. (Sadly, the Michelangelo was very crowded, but the companion Calder exhibit was absolutely fun.) After SAM, we walked down 1st for lunch at McCormick and Schmick’s. Excellent crab bisque and dover sole. We finished the walk and headed back north, stopping at the SAM Store to pick up some gifts. Back to the car and the drizzle turned to rain.

We walked a total of 3 miles while spending 3 hours walking, eating and looking at the art. This was the best walk yet.

Jan. 16 #47 Capitol Hill: Broadway Area

A Saturday morning in January. The sky was a little gray and threatening, so we decided we better not get too far away from cover. We took a quick shopping trip to REI on Yale Avenue N., then proceeded up to Capitol Hill (South End) near the hospitals to take the Broadway Area walk.

We parked on James and Boren, then headed north to Madison. Past Swedish Hospital, the birth place of all three of our children. Then we walked past the First Baptist Church on Boylston, where we have enjoyed the Garfield Messiah Sing many of the past several years.


Next we headed down to Pike and saw many typically interesting Broadway stores. As much as the prior walk was typically earthy and natural Seattle, this is the opposite, essentially urban.

After crossing Broadway, we passed the original home of REI. Across another street and we were walking through Cal Anderson park. This is a real gem of an urban space. Built atop a reservoir, there is now a beautiful fountain in the north end of the park.


We continued on past Dick’s (I wonder if Kevin would be jealous).


A little farther north on Broadway and we stopped in at the Broadway Grill for breakfast. This is quite a space with most interesting décor and friendly patrons.


Breakfast over, we set out to finish the walk in a slight drizzle. South to Harvard and back north. We used to spend more time in this area, but seldom get over here these days. The Broadway Market (but we stayed outside). Central Seattle Community College is looking good, with a set of new buildings across the street and much construction in the area. Vibrant Seattle.

The outing took us about 2 hours, including the stop for food. We covered about 2 and a half miles. Another most enjoyable walk.

Jan. 10 #47 Schmitz Preserve Park

Because neither of us had any strong preferences for a walk, Amy drew a card at random, selecting #47, Schmitz Preserve Park. This walk is mostly in an old-growth forest preserve in the heart of West Seattle. Neither Amy nor I had even heard of this park, let alone been in it, so it was a fortuitous pick.

The day was cool, but clear and sunny. It was as nice as January days get in Seattle. We drove 10.2 miles from our house. We took the slow road down our hill, along the Waterfront, across Spokane Street, taking the lower bridge across the Duwamish. We then turned onto Harbor Avenue SW, drove around the point onto Alki Avenue SW, and turned onto 58th Avenue SW, parking at the end of the first block.

The start and end of this walk are about ½ a mile apart, so we parked between them in order to walk it as a loop. We walked up a hill to get to Admiralty Way SW. This afforded us a capital vista of Puget Sound and the Olympics. We then walked down to the entry to the park (first image).



It was quiet in the park, but it wasn’t completely deserted; we encountered about a half dozen other groups of people. It being quite wet in the park, we decided to stay on the main paths. We only got off-track once, when we went up a trail to, I believe, SW Hinds St. It took some concentration to retrace our steps downhill so that we stayed out of the muddy patches.

The park is quite beautiful, and is very well maintained. What the CW card says about the quiet is quite true. We enjoyed it very much. About half way into the park, I glanced up to my right and noticed a dog-sized furry four-legged creature. We are now pretty sure it was a coyote. This gave us a little start, but seeing as the animal turned around and headed away from us quickly as soon as it saw us, it was quite safe. At first I thought it was a fox, but one of the locals we talked to a little later said there was a pack of coyotes that had been living nearby for a couple of years. Amazing - in the middle of Seattle!





The remainder of the walk was mostly uneventful, ending by passing Alki Elementary School and the Alki Community Center. To complete the loop back to our car, we walked a few blocks along Alki beach. Even in the middle of winter, there were several people enjoying the beach. (But there was only one person wearing a swim suit with no shirt.)



The walk took us an hour to cover about 2.3 miles; we both gave it a “very nice”. Seattle really is a lovely city; and this park is a most pleasant surprise. I wonder which will be our next walk.

City Walks Seattle - Prologue

My wife, Amy, and I love to walk, especially in interesting places. We have enjoyed using the “City Walks” sets of cards; these cards present a set of 50 walks in and around a particular city. We first used them in Paris, where we have done, or have familiarity with, about half the walks. Other cities whose walk cards we own include New York, Vancouver and San Francisco. For Hannukah, I gave my wife the Seattle version of the cards. At New Year’s, we decided to (rather, I talked her into doing) all 50 of these walks over the course of the year 2010. This weekend was our inaugural foray into the Seattle City Walks.