An Epic Wander

After being hunched over a computer all week and breathing stale indoor air, I had the "brilliant" idea to go for a long wander this weekend along a route I have previously only driven. My S.O. runs it pretty regularly so I (mistakenly) wasn't too daunted by its length. We started off with an always delicious breakfast at Cafe Flora and then made a quick stop next door at City People, my favorite Seattle garden store. Every time we pop in there I leave wanting to take ALL the plants and flowers with me (which is the same reaction I have when I see kittens).

The route would take us from Madison Park to Seward Park and would run mostly along Lake Washington and the swanky Madison Park, Leschi, Madrona and Mount Baker neighborhoods.

We were off to an auspicious start when we spied this couple looking for a lunch spot...

We stopped to say hello and had a brief chat...

And then off they went. In retrospect I think we should have recommended that they try a vegetarian restaurant.

Several blocks later I sensed we were being watched and I looked up to see this Cyclops giving us the hairy eyeball.

While his tentacles were otherwise occupied, we quickly scurried away. Now if you're going to have mythical woodland creatures in your neighborhood, you're gonna have to have a few castles. Here's one of those swanky places I was referring to.

The Madrona and Leschi neighborhoods began as settlements in the mid-1800's and hunting and fishing had been popular in these areas due to their abundance of wild game, bear, deer and salmon. The wild game are long gone but Sockeye Salmon still make their way into Lake Washington to spawn. Boating is a popular pastime in Seattle and Lake Washington is the gateway to tours of the estates of the rich and famous. (For example, from the water you can see the compounds belonging to Bill Gates and Jeffrey Brotman, the co-founder of Costco.) In the summer the lake is packed with party boats during celebrations such as the Fourth of July and Seafair. But since the season hasn't quite yet kicked in, the lake and small marinas were pretty quiet.

Seattle is mostly known for Boeing and Microsoft, but I'll bet you didn't know that it has another claim to fame; Lake Washington is home to the longest floating bridge on Earth. We locals call it the 520 Bridge and it's total length is approximately 15,580 ft with a 7,580 ft floating section. Every so often, if you're not paying attention to the road like you should be, you can spot Bill Gates in the car next to you on his way home across the bridge. But wait, if that wasn't enough, the second longest floating bridge on Earth is also located on this very same lake. Formally known as the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, we usually just refer to it as the I-90 bridge, and if after crossing it you wanted to keep heading East along I-90, you would eventually end up in Boston, Massachusetts.

Why are we so special that we need floating bridges, you ask, well, Wikipedia has that answer. Apparently Lake Washington's depth (108-214 ft) and muddy bottom prevent the placement of the pilings or towers necessary for the construction of a causeway or suspension bridge. Both bridges consist of hollow concrete pontoons that float atop the lake and are anchored with cables to each other and to weights on the lake bottom. The roadway is constructed atop these concrete pontoons. So how about that, you learned something new today.

I guarantee that I wasn't contemplating concrete pontoons during this point in our walk. My feet were starting to hurt and at about 5 miles in, we hadn't even reached our destination. We were now in the Mt. Baker neighborhood heading to Seward Park and to keep myself from giving up I focused on the fantastic clouds over the lake and how tiny we humans and our cities are in comparison.

If you look closely in the photo above, you can see the end of the east side span of the I-90 bridge, the growing city of Bellevue, and two tiny kayakers.

Finally, at around 7 miles, we made it to Seward Park. As a reward we shared a can of root beer, turned around, and started heading back. I seriously thought my legs were going to fall off so I dug into my deepest Zen to keep going.

 
The scenery helped too.

Six hours and fifteen miles later, we stopped walking. We were back in Madison Park and lucky for us, we immediately got outdoor seating at Cactus, a great little Southwestern restaurant. Although my feet were screaming and my knees were aching, I was happy. I love exploring new neighborhoods and taking in the scenery of this beautiful city we call home. And although today is Memorial Day and it's wet and miserable outside, I know that we owe all our lush gardens and remarkable trees to these rainy days. Grow on green things, grow on.