June 6 #7 First Avenue

We live on First Avenue North. This walk is through the section of our street south of us. First Avenue covers about 30 blocks in the Downtown area, the at Denny Way, turns into First Avenue North. (We live about 25 blocks north of Denny.)

After spending an hour in the Market, then heading outside, we became aware that the weather was not really that good. It was warm, but rather gray and dismal.

There are some fairly expansive views of Elliott Bay at the intersections of this walk.

As we proceeded on our walk, we discovered that one of our favorite restaurants, The Flying Fish, has closed its First Avenue location! Whew - they just moved to Westlake Avenue North. We do not generally walk in this area, we mostly just drive through on our way to someplace else, so it was good to see all of the shops and restaurants here. Still, it is not an especially interesting area, architecture-wise. We walked up First, turned left onto Bell, and continued across the bridge over Alaskan Way. The walk called for us to enjoy the view from the Bell Street Pier observation deck. Alas, when a cruise ship is docked at this pier the dock is closed - security. We were nonetheless able to enjoy the view south along Alaskan Way.

These were a good pair of walks to do together; most enjoyable despite the overcast.

June 6 #6 Pike Place Market

(Ach, I'm over 3 months behind! We've been walking, I've just taken the summer off WRT posting about it.)

Today the goal is the second most iconic location in Seattle, the Pike Place Market.

This walk starts on Pike This walk starts on Pike and First Avenue, but we parked on Alaskan Way and walked to the Pike Place Hill Climb (the end of the walk) so that we could lunch at El Puerco Lloron. Yum; the best Mexican food in Seattle. With full stomachs, we headed up the Climb to pay homage to the Pig:

Though well attended, the market was, happily, not too crowded. This really is great fun. We stopped in at Sur La Table, shopped for vegetables, bought cheese at Beecher's, and watched the fishmongers toss salmon. We hit all the usual favorites, but having just eaten, we avoided both the Chocolate Shop and Le Panier.

The flower stalls were unusually pretty today.

We also walked around Victor Steinbrueck Park and enjoyed the views of the Sound and West Seattle. We completed a fairly leisurely tour of ther market, then proceeded immediately to another walk ...

May 15 #22 Phinney Ridge

Another lovely weekend in Seattle. Today we visit the area just north of Woodland Park, Phinney Ridge. What a happy coincidence; there is an Art Walk event in progress today! We started near the Red Mill around NW 67th and Phinney Ave. N. We got a late start, 1:00 PM so we’re thinking lunch, but we can wait – we’re barbecuing tonight and perhaps there is some cuisine a bit farther away.

Phinney Ridge is the least photogenic neighborhood we have encountered so far. On the other hand, it has the funkiest shops, even more than Fremont. Three separate independent book sellers, two game stores, lots of restaurants. This neighborhood is interesting!

We were particularly interested in the restuarants; we checked out each, but the thought of going inside on such a spectacular day just turned us off. We did cruise through some of the shops and we checked out the abundant art. But generally, we just enjoyed the gentle walk up to NW 87th and back. No murals, like West Seattle. No great views. The most visually interesting aspect was the names of the shops. New’s Noodles, Olive You (sadly a victim of the arsonist last fall, but soon to reopen), The Chocolate Shoebox, Pillager’s Pub, Tasty, Slum City Hot Dogs.





We didn’t find a solution to our lunch plans and ended up back at the Red Mill. The stars aligned to make the line short, so we ordered up some burgers, fries and drinks. We took the short drive to Green Lake to enjoy our lunch alfresco.Phinney Ridge is a nice neighborhood, but this walk was not that special.

May 8 #24 Green Lake

A spectacular spring day, so what would be better than a walk around Green Lake? A walk around Green Lake after a Sounders win over the Galaxy! Alas, the Galaxy has it going on and brought their A game while our Sounders are not quite there. Ach, I’ve got to just let it go! So it is out to another Seattle neighborhood for one of the longer walks in the City Walks deck.

We parked near Spuds and then worked our way to the start on the eastern side of the lake. After several more blocks we entered the path around the lake.



Green Lake was really hopping! It’s been quite a while since we’ve taken this walk. It is later in the day than we usually walk it. Two observations: many more boats in the lake, fewer bicycles on the path.
Green Lake is an urban oasis. This has got to be one of the top 5 or 10 walks in the deck. Walking near water is so calming, especially on such a lovely day.We enjoyed the first third of the circuit of the lake, arriving at the Bathhouse Theatre. We’ve seen a couple of really fun plays here over the years, including an excellent production of one of my favorites, The Fantasticks, about 20 years ago.



This is the area we usually start our walks, since the nearby parking lot is so convenient for us coming from Queen Anne. It was interesting to pass through this area in the middle of the walk instead of having it the start or end point. We carried along a few hundred more meters and came upon a site we have not seen here before.



Yes, in the middle of Seattle, Turtles! And not just one or two! Happily for the turtles, the logs they were sunning themselves on were a good 20 feet from the shore; there were a lot of hungry-looking dogs that seemed anxious to get to those logs, but not so anxious that they were willing to get wet.

We carried along past the southern extremity, the Boathouse.



Amy wanted me to share that this was here favorite walk when she was pregnant. There is a bathroom every ½ mile or so. We continued past the pitch and putt and uneventfully finished the loop near the Community Center. A fine walk for a fine spring day.

April 24 #11 Gasworks Park

This is an only-in-Seattle kind of park. Many moons ago, to satisfy our energy needs, the City Fathers had Gas Works constructed in a conveniently central location. Sadly, that central location was on the shores of a lake that was part of the northern border of the Downtown area. Science being what it was when the Gas Works were constructed, there are all kinds of noxious chemicals in the ground in this area. Don’t even think of passing by those chain-link fences separating the usable areas of the park from the forbidden – It Is For Your Own Good! Still, a lot of the park is usable and we have spent several enjoyable days here (especially the one when we were able to listen to Eliot's Funk Band.)

It’s surgery plus 22 days. I’ve stopped using the cane, but I still must be careful. Walking is not as easy as it was 2 months ago! (I hope I remember this in the months ahead, it will make life much more enjoyable!) We again wanted to stick close to home. We originally thought about Green Lake, but I didn’t feel up to it. Green Lake will have to wait for stronger knees.

The Gasworks Park area is on the northern shore of Lake Union, which is just north of downtown. Lake Union sites between I-5 and Capitol Hill on the east, and Queen Anne on the west. It’s a natural border. On a good day, we could walk to this walk, but my knee being in the condition it is in, we drove to N. 35th and Densmore Ave. N. (The walk starts and ends a little up the hill from the park.) Our first sight was Essential Baking. We’ve lived in Seattle for 25 years and not been in this place, though we have enjoyed its bread at various venues.

We continued along the walk to Densmore, turning right to go down to the park, but stopping first to enjoy some urban art:

We continued down the hill, encountering the Pool (not sure that’s its actual title, but it is halfway down the stairs in the last block of Wallingford). This is a really cool joint venture of local elementary students and older artists. Check it out!



A short hop, skip and jump across the Burke-Gilman trail and into the Park proper. We wandered up the hill. It was quite a blustery day, so about 2 dozen people were atop Kite Hill flying their various works of art. There were even a couple of fellows flying remote-controlled gliders. I don’t know how they kept them from turning tail and flying away to the north. But back to Kite Hill, when you get to the top, make sure to check out the Sundial (where You are the vertical piece whose shadow shows what time it is).

Great views of the city from atop Kite Hill:



And finally we were able to see some eponymous structures:



It was absolutely wonderful to walk through this park with so many people enjoying the experience. One more picture – make sure that when you take this walk, you check out the various shorelines. All are covered by houseboats.



We left the park, recrossing the Burke Gilman, back up the stairs and across N. 34th Street. Another enjoyable Seattle walk.

April 18 #11 Seattle Center

I'm on the road to recovery, but I still can’t do a lot on my legs. We decided to keep it close to home by combining a visit to the Intiman Theatre with the Seattle Center walk. This walk could easily take 10 hours if you took all of the opportunities at the interesting places along the way. We decided to just walk, so it only took a breezy hour.

First stop is the Space Needle. We have seen this often in past walks, but this is an up-close and personal view. Amy likes to remind folks that it is more of a Space Pin than a Needle. (Get it?) The line was a little long, so we skipped the trip to the top. My recommendation to all visitors is that this is on the top 3 list.

Next up was the EMP/Science Fiction Museum:



This is also a good place to while away some time. Make sure you wait outside so you can catch sight of the Monorail going through the building. (The black horizontal bar in the left half of the above picture is the rail.)

Passing by EMP, we got our first look at the liberated Fun Forest space. The Kiddie Forest is still operating, but the Log Flume, Pirate Ship and other rides for larger folk are now all gone. The area between EMP and the Center House is now ready for something else, and passing by it or through it is a much more pleasant experience without the noises. There is talk of erecting a Museum of Glass on this space. I hope they find some use for this space more open and more conducive to community.

A short distance past the Center House brought us to the International Fountain. This is my second favorite spot on the whole grounds (after the top of the Pin). When the weather is nice, there are kids (of all ages) playing in the basin. Music is coordinated with the varying jets of water. It’s a great spot to enjoy a lunch or even just a few minutes doing nothing.



Next we went past McCaw Hall (the Opera House), a short block on Mercer, then back between Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Intiman Theatre. If you find yourself in this stretch, make sure to check out the “wrong-way” fountain, in which instead of the water swirling clockwise as it goes down the drain, it goes counter-clockwise. This fountain is on the Intiman side of the alley, about 1/3 of the way from Mercer to the Fountain Grass. It was then back to the main grounds, past Key Arena and up to the Charlotte Martin Theatre (home of Seattle Children’s Theatre). The architect of this building was a fellow named Garth. Check out the Garth-goyles (I am not making this up).



A right turn at the Center House (home of the Children’s Museum), past the Mural Amphitheatre, and a left turn at the Pacific Science Center. What with the EMP, The Children’s Museum, the Science Center, not to mention at least 4 Fine Arts venues, yes, one really can spend hours and hours here.



This walk was a fun way to spend the hour. The Center Grounds are quite photogenic. This was a lot more fun than the play we saw after the walk. (Odets’ Paradise Lost – but yes, I’m still glad we saw it.)

April 4 #13 Queen Anne: The Counterbalance

It has been a while since we have been able to take a walk. Seems my left knee decided to fail me by getting a good tear in its meniscus. I either got the tear, or aggravated it, at a work morale event (bowling!) on March 17th. Two days ago I had surgery (an outpatient arthroscopy that we can all thank the NFL for funding the development of). I’ve been semi-loopy with being confined to the horizontal and could not wait to get outside, so we decided to take the closest walk to our house, The Counterbalance. I dispute the title of this walk as I think of the counterbalance is the stretch of Queen Anne from Roy up to Galer. This walk actually starts at the top. But that's OK, because the counterbalance is a chore to walk up and in my diminished capacity, I would not have been able to do it.

It was a fine April day; we got out early enough to catch some sun, though it was by no means warm. This walk is one that we take at least once almost every weekend. We are usually attending to business at one of the shops on the Ave or eating at one of the many fine local eateries. On this outing, the walk gave us time to consider our neighborhood.

We have lived in this area for 27 years and have seen many changes, but none have been as drastic as the last year or so. We had time to think and talk about it as my pace was very slow (leaning heavily on my new cane, purchased at the Bartell’s in the middle of the walk). We started in the middle of the walk, as we live on the “other” end of it. Just a quick hobble down and back, but I certainly enjoyed getting out. However, I did get pretty tired about half way through; it was weird to be telling Amy that we were going too fast.

Taking this walk made us think about QA Ave in the context of other Seattle neighborhoods. I’ll stack the shops and restaurants against any in the city, but I must admit that it isn’t the most scenic of walks. The previous “Crown” walk is much more scenic and memorable. There are, however, many good restaurants that we regularly patronize, including Flow, Sorrentino, Chinoise, Five Spot, Betty, and, Foody’s rejoice, How to Cook a Wolf. The good shops include Communique (great for stationary and sundry gifts), Blue Highway Games and Queen Anne Avenue Books. As the City Walk card says, this last is a must-visit for book lovers.



One thing I noticed was the effect of the recession. There used to be a Countrywide Finance office. It was taken over by Bank of America and once the paint dried on the new signs, it was closed. Communique Toys closed down a couple of years ago, as did Hilltop Knitting and Yarn. The corner at Boston and QA used to have 3 different coffee places, but Tully’s and Pete’s both closed recently. Teacup has moved from its smaller shop in the middle of the street to the Tully’s corner, but the Pete’s remains closed. Last summer the Blockbuster closed down. My wife would want me to mention that its closure is not strictly related to the recession, but more a sign of the times with people getting their media through the cable and internet rather than a brick and mortar store. Finally, at the end of the block is a totally Seattle change; instead of the venerable WaMu, there is a Chase!

But though the recession has affected the local restaurants, most seem to be weathering the storm and staying open. Eat Local, a shop to pick up gourmet frozen and/or prepared dinners made from local ingredients, is still open. And, happy day, Chocolopolis seems to be going strong. If you want a fun time with 6-8 friends or family members, you should look into doing a tasting there. We have done so twice and enjoyed ourselves very much.

One more plug: The Five Spot remains a special place in our hearts. Our son played on the Little League team they sponsored and often wore this cute cap. We have had some wonderful dinners there. There are two aspects to the menu, with standards that are always available and a regional American cuisine that varies every 3 or 4 months. It is always hopping on the weekend for brunch, so if you want to experience that, bring some friends for conversation or maybe something to read.

That’s a little more than I had planned on saying. The walk wasn’t particularly special or memorable, but our neighborhood is.