Northwestern Laurelhurst

Another nice day, perfect for a long walk to fill in streets I had missed and small enclaves separated by nonresidential properties. I walked streets between Sand Point Way NE and NE 41st Street from 36th to 47th Avenue NE as well as an apartment complex west of Sand Point Way. This 6.5 mile walk included lots of doubling back but the streets were so pleasant, it wasn't a problem.

This is a neighborhood squeezed between the UW and Children's Hospital plus, it includes 18 acres occupied by Talaris Conference Center.

The west edge of this neighborhood has views of Husky Stadium and Lake Washington and is just across NE 41st Street from the Center for Urban Horticulture. Laurel Village UW student housing occupies the area west of here from NE 42nd to NE 45th Streets. I think it is housing for married (or domestic partnership) students with children. These streets restrict parking on Husky football game days.

Children's is doing a huge expansion and one of the streets on my map no longer exists because Children's bought all the homes that were on it; now a nicely decorated fence hides the large construction site. There are guards posted at all entries to the site and I was approached by friendly guards as I walked by each entry.

Sand Point Way near NE 45th Street is a commercial area with restaurants, two bike shops (the Burke Gilman Trail runs parallel to Sand Point Way here), a nail salon, an antique shop, a butcher store, a coffee shop, a frame shop, a gym, medical offices and a cleaners.

There is a beautiful new sidewalk north of Children's on the east side of Sand Point Way but I was the only person walking along it.

The Burke-Gilman Place Apartments are west of Sand Point Way and the other side of a lovely median strip. This complex is extremely neat and includes Burke-Gilman Park, a pea patch and a Children's Center.

I finished my walk in back of Children's by Laurelhurst Elementary School. There is an overpass across 45th Street connecting the school to the Laurelhurst Park, a good idea because the hilly street impacts visibility on this sometimes busy street.

I saw lots of people on my walk today, workers near Children's, young women with preschoolers near Laurelhurst Elementary and gardeners.