Walking Seattle Again

  Yesterday, a friend and I walked in Wallingford. We encountered businesses along 45th and mostly quiet streets south of this busy area. Many had lovely gardens, one featured well tended grape vines. This sculpture was outside the Wallingford Center on 45th. This mural was on the side of an Afghan restaurant. These steps on a quiet street ... ... led to this staircase. This sidewalk art ... ... provided a posting spot for this poem. On Corliss Avenue, north of 42nd, we spotted this "Art in the Yard." The artist, Brooke Borcherding, displays a different piece of art every day. She will be having a Studio Show August 30th to September 1st with over 100 paintings in the yard. On this 4.5 mile walk, we spotted one Little Free Pantry, two churches (Wallingford United Methodist and First Church of the Nazarene),  one play tree (with a swing and climbing devices), and six Little Free Libraries. They contained  children's books, cookbooks, in addition to books on diet, health, s...

  Today's walk took me to the varied streets of Wallingford. Some of the streets were quiet, tree-lined and included mostly single family homes.  Other streets saw single family homes being replaced by two homes  or abutted I-5 (or both). 45th is a busy street with lots of shop, restaurants and businesses and quite a few murals. The area is home to John Stanford International School housed in the old Latona Elementary School. This sign (across from Westward Restaurant) lead me to ... ... this spot. It looked as if a brew pub would be opening adjacent to this beach area. The Burke Gilman Trail runs through this area. This staircase along the trail gives just a sample of the lovely flowers I admired during this walk. This new building along the trail (and across from Dunn Lumber) includes a plaza area available for public use. Its lower level is a Dunn Lumber Warehouse and it appears there will be offices and a restaurant on the upper levels. This sign lead me to ... ... th...

  A friend and I were dressed for rain this morning as we walked the Wallingford neighborhood but we stayed dry. Our walk started near Lincoln High School and quickly passed by ... ... a lovely traffic circle dedicated to "Lita" Byrnes. Decorated rocks reminded us to "be kind." We admired a colorful street mural and ... ... and some street art  before coming to the Wallingford Presbyterian Church and ... ... Hamilton Middle School. We also passed the old Interlake Public School which is now apartments and the Wallingford Center. We walked through Wallingford Playfield Park  and ... ... along some quiet streets populated by single family homes, mostly modest but ... ... some with lovely architectural detail. We spotted a  "Bigfoot Xing" sign and ... ... a tree stump decorated with birdhouses before stopping for a delicious lunch at Grand Central Bakery. 45th is a busy, commercial street and we had been surprised to find such quiet streets south of 45th and ...

  It was a lovely day for a walk and the Green Lake and North College Park neighborhoods were at their best on this Spring day. Resisting the urge to walk around Green Lake, I stuck to the streets which were mostly residential but did house some cafes and restaurants along Green Lake Way. Bishop Blanchet High School and its football field took up almost the equivalent of  three city blocks. Northwest's Child Aaron's Place run by the Washington Autism Alliance abuts the school property. Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church is nearby. Here is a mural from Cascadia Elementary School which abuts the area. There were quite a few dead-end streets where the neighborhood hugged I-5 and busy N 85th Street but most of them were quiet and lovely. All the streets had curbs and sidewalks were present alongside most properties. Many of the streets were cement. One property owner had interestingly landscaped the parking swag. Here and there, I glimpsed views of the downtown skyline. This pictu...

Finally back walking again, this dreary May day found me in the North College Park neighborhood around North Seattle College. Part of the walk was through the campus which was very quiet this Saturday morning. This Proposed Land Use Action sign was at the corner of N 92nd Street & College Way N. The college will be leasing the property to a low income housing organization which will build 200 units of affordable housing.  Just east of the proposed building site, the Licton Springs P-Patch was busy this morning. Here is a view of the John Lewis Memorial Bridge from the campus which is now connected to the Northgate Light Rail station. Before exiting the school, I spotted a cooperative preschool and a sign noting that part of the campus is a wetland critical area. I was able to walk south from College Way N to Burke Avenue N but this pedestrian path prevented cars from doing so. Spotting this sign at N 88th, I proceeded to find ... ... this stairway up to Meridian Avenue N. Walki...