North Roosevelt and South Maple Leaf

Last Wednesday, my husband and I returned to the Roosevelt and Maple Leaf neighborhoods for a 5.6 mile walk. We walked streets between NE 70th and 80th from I-5 to 12th NE.

These neighborhoods are close to I-5 but still have some lovely residential streets where gardening is taken seriously.

Crossing I-5 at 70th, we saw one of Seattle's many staircases.

This area is home to the Apostolic Faith Church (whose large reader board greets southbound Roosevelt travelers), the Fairview Christian Church and School, a Safeway store, a Mexican restaurant (at 80th and Roosevelt)

and a City Light substation.

At the corner of 80th and 11th, we spotted a house with lots of carousel animal decorations.

The biggest surprise was Rainbow Point Park, a small patch of greenery overlooking I-5 at 75th Street.

Maple Leaf

Today's walk brought me back to the Maple Leaf neighborhood for a 4.6 mile walk of the streets bordered by NE 95th and 102nd Streets and 5th and 15th Avenues NE.

5th and 15th Avenues have apartments and condos and Roosevelt has businesses but the rest of the neighborhood is single family homes.

5th, 15th and Roosevelt have sidewalks and curbs but the other streets do not. Trees are not as many nor as tall as on the streets closer to Thornton Creek but the area still has a country cottage feel. Some of the older homes are modest but have leaded glass windows. I had just remarked on how much they added to the appeal of the homes when I passed Glassique, an architectural glass design shop about to open on Roosevelt. This stretch of Roosevelt is also the home of the Dartmoor School, a music repair shop, a bead shop, a cake decorating shop, a travel store, and a recently closed gallery whose space is available for lease.

Some homes have alley access, some have lovely gardens

and some figure out how to compensate for less than spectacular gardens.

This neighborhood houses Olympic View Elementary School and Maple Leaf Evangelical Church.

I saw a few walkers and a few dogs (who stayed on their property).

Ravenna

My husband and I returned to the Ravenna neighborhood today for a 4 mile walk along the streets bordering Ravenna and Cowen Parks.

This is a lovely neighborhood of mostly Craftsman type homes, tree-lined streets and lovely front gardens.

65th is commercial but the rest of the area is parkland and single family homes.

Ravenna Boulevard has a wide, grassy median strip with tall trees which adds elegance to that street.

It was another pleasant walk through a beautiful Seattle neighborhood.

Green Lake and the Milk Carton Derby

The Milk Carton Derby brought my husband and me to Green Lake this morning and we tacked on a 7 mile walk. We entered this race about 7 years in a row when our kids were small so we love to see the entries and appreciate how hard it is to make those boats move and how cold the water can be.

We walked the streets east of the lake and Woodland Park to 1st Avenue NE from 55th to 60th Street and a few extra streets.

This is a very tidy neighborhood with well kept homes. The back yards are small but the rockeries and front yards make up for it. Streets are tree-lined with sidewalks and curbs (and probably parking problems when lots of people are visiting the lake.

We saw lots of people at the commercial intersection of 55th and Meridian which houses restaurants and coffee and donut shops.

This neighborhood appears to have a lot of urban farmers and joggers.

We finished our walk back at Woodland Park's lawn bowling fields. This is a great place to walk.

Maple Leaf

Today, I walked the streets south of the south fork of Thornton Creek. My 4.1 mile stroll covered streets between 8th Avenue NE and Thornton Creek from NE 100th to 107th Street.

This is a quiet, residential area with lots of streets dead-ending when they reach the creek. There are lots of trees near the creek and lots of overhead wires in other areas.

Some yards have flowers

and others are set up as wildlife habitats.

The area is hilly in spots and a new bridge on 15th spans a deep ravine.

It appears that lot sizes were large and some houses have been replaced with two new large houses (Craftsman being the preferred style).

I saw someone waiting for a bus, someone riding a motorized, handicapped scooter, a dog walker and multiple contractors working on homes near the creek.

Victory Heights

Today, my husband and I returned to Victory Heights for a 4 mile walk along those streets bordering on the the south fork of Thornton Creek. It's hard to believe that this neighborhood is so close to Northgate and I-5 because all the trees along the creek give a country feel. We walked the streets between Roosevelt Way and 20th Avenue NE from Thornton Creek to Northgate Way plus a few streets north of Northgate Way I had missed on a prior walk.

This area is residential with mostly single family homes. Most (but not all) homes and gardens are well tended and Victory Heights Play Area has a playground, tennis courts and what looks to be a preschool or children's art center.

The area is a mix of flat and hilly terrain but a nice place to walk.