Today's walk had us returning to the Cedar Park neighborhood by walking along the Burke Gilman Trail. We headed north until we reached a staircase at 130th Street. 

Along the way, we met walkers and cyclists and even saw a giant spider Halloween decoration. Riviera Place NE runs along the lake side of the trail. We noted many remodels (or maybe knock downs and rebuilds) had been completed in the twelve years since my old blog entry. Houses here all have lake access but are very close together.

At 130th, we spotted public lake access at what, in 1937, was a bathing beach with a life guard provided by the WPA. A sign posted nearby provided the history and noted that the Lake City Coordinating Council had conducted a Dollar Drive to pay for equipment. A former Coast Guard member gave free swimming instructions. Twelve years ago, the property ownership was in dispute and local residents were trying to get it back as public property. It looks as if they were successful.

Directly across the trail from the beach is a staircase. 

A Little Free Library sits at the top of these stairs. It was also there 12 years ago.

We walked north on 42nd Avenue NE to 135th Street and came to...

... another staircase which we climbed to a third (shorter) staircase. My husband counted over 275 steps!! We passed a gentleman who was running up and down the steps.

Walking west on 135th Street took us to Cedar Park Elementary School. 12 years ago, this may still have been an artist residence or perhaps it was already being used to temporarily house elementary schools that were being renovated. At any rate, it is now its own school.

We walked south on 39th Avenue NE, noting some nice homes on large lots. Some of the lots have lake views. Some lots appear to have been subdivided years ago and and have houses behind those fronting on 39th Avenue. Looking west at 130th Street, we could see some of the large apartment buildings which have gone up in Lake City. We proceeded south and crossed busy125th Street. Walking south on 40th Avenue NE, we came to Lake City Presbyterian Church which is also the home to the Lifetime Learning Center. We passed a number of narrow houses that appear to have replaced older ones that would have been more like the modest houses in the rest of the neighborhood.

At 120th, we walked east to Bartlett and then south to 113th where we went east to busy Sand Point Way. There, we spotted a private tennis court (which had been there 12 years ago). Heading south, we came to a sign for Matthews Beach Children's House (a half-day Montessori Preschool).

Workers were clearing a lot on the southeast corner of 110th and Sand Point Way. An older, brick home had been knocked down. The building permit for the lot shows three houses going up. One large home and two small "additional dwelling units". We proceeded east on 110th to Durland, then south to 105th.

Here, we noted another house had been knocked down and is being replaced with what appears to be a single family home which will be taller than the old house.

We did some walking to get to and from today's walk and logged well over 10,000 steps (probably 4.5 to 5 miles). We had passed through mostly quiet, residential areas but there were many signs of changes in the housing stock.