Ravenna

Getting back to walking streets in a single neighborhood, today my husband and I walked 6.5 miles through the Ravenna neighborhood. We walked the streets between NE 65th to NE 70th Street from 15th to 25th Avenue NE plus the streets around Ravenna Ravine (between Ravenna Avenue and 25th NE from 60th to 65th).

This stretch of 65th has lots of restaurants and a few other businesses.

Ravenna Eckstein Community Center, Full Life Senior Apartments and Daycare and Ida Culver House are located in this neighborhood but the rest of the area is residential with some lovely tree-lined streets and charming single family homes.

My camera batteries died during the walk but I will return and take pictures of Breen Park, the Community Center, the private road near the ravine and the Presbyterian Church.

Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods

More chores brought me back to the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown core today. I walked 8 miles through First Hill, Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, the Cascade neighborhood, the downtown business district and even entered the Denny Triangle.

It was humid but cool and very windy and I saw some people in shorts and others in boots and jackets. I filled in missed streets as I walked from one chore to another and spotted a few new points of interest.

I walked up the stairs at Freeway Park and noted an oriental bell, I had not seen before.

Walking along Broadway on Capitol Hill, I spotted a statue of Jimi Hendrix,

Central Seattle Community College,

the construction site of the future Capitol Hill station of the University leg of Light Link system,

and Tango instructions embedded in the sidewalk.

In the Denny Triangle,

I passed the West Precinct Police Station

and Fare Start restaurant, a culinary job training and placement program for homeless and disadvantaged individuals.

In the downtown core, I noted a YWCA amidst expensive hotels.

A "good stretch of the legs" and lots of chores accomplished made this a rewarding walk.

First Hill and Downtown

A few chores took me to First Hill and Downtown today so I filled in missing streets in these neighborhoods. Counting the distances to and from the bus, I walked about 8.7 miles but didn't actually cover too much new territory. This was a pretty hilly walk and I got a better workout than on yesterday's flat terrain.

My walk on First Hill was mostly along the streets near I-5 from James to Pike. This area houses medical-related, church-related and residential establishments. There appear to be a few retirement high-rises for the seniors who can afford to live downtown.

I passed Freeway and Plymouth Pillars Parks,
Trinity Episcopal Church and the Cherry Street Food Bank (which, sadly, was doing a booming business, the line was quite long).

I discovered the Freeway Park Garage which I didn't even know existed and noted that I would never park on the street outside the garage because I saw a lot of broken glass (which looked like it came from smashed car windows).

I noted that the upscale M Street Grocery on Madison had closed and that apartments/condos could have beautiful gardens even if they were almost under the expressway.

Discoveries in the downtown area include a new sculpture being erected near the convention center,

a private road at University and 7th,

and Christ Our Hope Catholic Church (recently opened to accommodate the numbers of people moving to the downtown area).

This walk didn't really cover a neighborhood but did fill in streets I had missed on prior walks and it's always energizing being downtown.

South Interbay

Back from vacation and missing our Seattle walks, my husband and I took a 6.3 mile walk in the Interbay neighborhood.

We walked along the Elliott Bay waterfront through Centennial Park, Myrtle Edwards Park, the Olympic Sculpture Park and up the Pike Street Hill Climb to the Pike Place Market then back along Pike Place, Western Avenue and Elliott Avenue W to Kinnear Park.

Adjacent to Kinnear Park is the Wine Outlet where we stopped to do some wine tasting and buy some wine. Richard, the owner, is very friendly and helpful.

We crossed the Amgen Helix Bridge back to the waterfront.

Along the way, we saw some pretty big cruise ships,

a great view of Mount Rainier,

the Elliott Bay Public Fishing Pier, a totem pole,

the old PI globe,

salmon net pens where the Muckleshoot and Suquamish Tribes and the Port of Seattle raise Coho Salmon for "delayed release",

a rose garden,

the sculpture park pocket beach and the Seattle Aquarium.

The waterfront has great views and lovely park space.

Western and Elliott Avenues are homes to newer office complexes; some have very nice outdoor spaces and sculptures.

This was a great return-to-Seattle walk on a beautiful day.

Downtown

Today's walk filled in some of the downtown streets I have not yet walked. It included Eastlake (just west of I-5) from Minor to John and Stewart Street from John to 5th Avenue plus a few random streets I had missed on prior walks. Including walking to and from the bus and repeating streets, I walked 3.4 miles.

This Cascade neighborhood includes the Metropolitan Park office complex with its three towers and nicely landscaped property,

Market House Corned Beef and the Re-bar,

a colonial-looking apartment house in the middle of new high-rise condos,

the Greyhound Bus Terminal,

the Federal Courthouse,

the Monorail, an endpoint of the South Lake Union Trolly route, the memorial statue of former Washington Governor John Hart McGraw,

the Mariner store, the tree that is decorated and lit every Christmas season, department stores and hotels.

As always, downtown Seattle is an exciting place to walk.

Pinehurst

Today, a friend and I took a leisurely 3.1 mile walk through the Pinehurst neighborhood. We walked many of the streets between 19th and 26th Avenues NE from NE 113th to 120th Street.

This is a residential area of single family homes with lovely gardens and garden art.

The edges of many of the streets near 23rd Avenue and 115th Street, have been landscaped and paved very attractively and really add to the eye appeal of this neighborhood.

This neighborhood is home to the Pinehurst Pocket Park.

We stopped to talk with a woman who had a beautiful garden and saw others out enjoying their outdoor spaces.

This neighborhood was a pleasant surprise. There is definite pride of ownership here and I wish that the city would provide such lovely street edge planning for many more neighborhoods.