Green Lake near Latona

The weather was beautiful as my friend and I took a 6 mile walk near Green Lake. We walked all the streets from N 60th Street to N 65th Street from Latona Avenue N to Green Lake.

This is a tidy neighborhood with sidewalks, a few shops (including the Latona Pub where the food is excellent) and some nice views of Green Lake.

We started our walk at Green Lake Elementary and looked at the garden along 65th Street.

We passed by a beautiful church On East Green Lake Way N, the Green Lake Seventh Day Adventist Church.

We ended our walk near the Green Lake Methodist Church, noting its distinctive architecture.

There is a certain amount of whimsey in this neighborhood;

we saw a vegetable garden with a chicken coop,

a parking strip decorated with a pyramid-like sculpture and a "castle for rent" sign.

January was a month full of pleasant discoveries on every walk and this last walk of the month was no exception.

Windermere

Yesterday, my husband and I walked along about half the streets of Windermere. Our 5.5 mile walk took us through this lovely neighborhood along Lake Washington, north of the University.

We started our walk by Sand Point Elementary School, this is one school that the district had closed and leased out but reopened this year. It is in a lovely location near Magnuson Park.

We passed some UW student housing and a few streets where the houses were modest and utilities were overhead. Then we reached the area closer to the lake where the lots were large, the utilities underground, the houses impressive and the views great.

Windermere has a private park with lake access. It is also a neighborhood where the street numbers and avenue numbers overlap which can be confusing.

We wound our way back to our starting point, discovering a staircase taking us down to Sand Point Elementary.

We met a few people along our walk and saw a family playing basketball in their well-sized driveway. It was a pleasant walk on a beautiful day; I'll be happy to return some day and finish walking this neighborhood.

Meadowbrook

Starting today's walk, we experienced moderate rain which tapered off during our short stroll. My husband and I walked 3.5 miles on the streets bordered by Ravenna Avenue NE, NE 105th Street, 35th Avenue NE and NE 100th Street.

This neighborhood is hilly and includes ravines as well as some pretty flat areas.

The area includes the Maple Leaf Lutheran Church which is currently hosting a tent city in its parking lot. This was a miserable day

to be living in a tent.

The Waldorf School is also located in this area and its parking lot is the site of the Meadowbrook Farmers Market on summer Sundays. While passing the school, we saw a tree trimmer cutting limbs away from utility lines. This area has overhead utilities; some street have sidewalks, some sidewalks and curbs (only a few of which were swept; most were slippery on this rainy day and it didn't always appear clear who should be maintaining these walkways). There are a number of open drainage ditches and parking strips varied from very neat to very muddy with deep ruts where heavy vehicles had driven through.

Homes are mostly modest with the exception of what, I think, is the original farmhouse for this entire area and some newer homes built along 100th Street on the site of the old Maple Leaf Elementary School. Unlike other schools which were repurposed when they were closed, the Maple Leaf School was demolished, I don't know why.

Meadowbrook Pool is on the north side of 105th at 35th.

We spotted a steep slab stairway up to a house on 100th and a beautifully landscaped garden. I suspect that this neighborhood is pretty impressive in the late spring and early summer when the gardens are in bloom.

Lake City and Olympic Hills

The sun was shining today when my husband and I and I took a 5.7 mile walk through the Lake City and Olympic Hills neighborhoods.

We had walked parts of Lake City after a snow storm and returned to fill in the missing streets. We walked streets between 20th and 30th Avenues NE from 125th to 135th Street and included the park behind the old Lake City school.

Starting near the Lake City Library and Bank of America, we passed the Seattle Gymnastics Academy and some newer multiple family housing on our way to NE 133rd where we turned west and discovered a stairway at the end of a dead end street. This stairway and a footpath took us around to Olympic Hills Elementary School (this school is still operating and serves approximately 270 students). It's amazing how often dead end streets have footpaths which allow walkers to take short cuts that cars can't take.

Streets are wider and lots are bigger here than in some other neighborhoods and a few streets have sidewalks; some streets with newer housing have curbs but neither is the norm. The neighborhood is treed but not densely. It does have quite a few churches (North Seattle Church of Christ, Lake City Baptist Church, St. George's Episcopal and Lamb of God Lutheran Church) many with associated preschools and we saw one adult family home and quite a few home day cares. It also has some park space including the Albert Davis Park behind the Lake City Library and Community Center and the Park behind the old Lake City Elementary School which now houses businesses.

Walking along 125th Street, we saw a home with a big outdoor swimming pool and another on a large piece of property with the garage on 125th and the house separated from it by a creek but accessible by a footbridge. This creek ran through the neighborhood and a few properties had footbridges.

Capitol Hill North and West of Volunteer Park

Maybe it didn't rain but the sun didn't shine either as I returned to Volunteer Park intending to walk the neighborhood north of the park.

Stairways leading down to Lakeview Blvd E were too tempting and I wound up changing my intended route to follow a few of the staircases.

I started and ended my walk in Volunteer Park; the map below shows the loop I took.

I started north along 15th Ave. E and turned west onto E Howe Street where I discovered a Civil War cemetery, called the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Cemetery, just north of Lake View Cemetery.

While walking the street where Howe dead ends just west of 10th, I noticed a staircase leading down to Broadway. A winded runner was recovering from ascending the stairs so I decided to take a walk down and discovered that the stairway continued on the other side of Broadway.

I decided to walk the Broadway dead end before heading down and was delighted to happen upon Streissguth Gardens. Some of the trails were open so I climbed the steep hillside and was rewarded with great views of Lake Union.

I took a long staircase on E Blaine Street down to Lakeview Blvd E where I passed St.Mark's Greenbelt and the Egan House.

The noise from I-5 was ever present as I walked by condos and other homes along Lakeview (noticing a garden protected against the possibility of a slide) but was a little muffled once I turned up Belmont Avenue E and around to Summit Avenue E.

Summit is the home to a small park which is a gift to the neighborhood from a private owner.

I wound my way to E Prospect Street and back to the park, viewing many large and beautiful homes along the way.

This 4.2 mile walk turned up so many new surprises that I couldn't believe that I have lived in Seattle so long and never known about them before.