WALK FROM SEATTLE

TO KIRKLAND (ABOUT 12.5 MILES)

6-10-2012





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(Just for illustration, the walking route was pretty close.)


I took a bus to Seattle. I got off at Pioneer square and walked out of the tunnel. City of Seattle has downtown tunnel, which is used by trains and buses. Around 11.00 am. The square was occupied by homeless people and looked a bit scary. So I walked couple block towards city center. The number of tourist started to go up and I did not like it. It just did not feel right. I stood there for a bit and thought about it and decided to walk back to Kirkland. Less tourists. More sports fans. I was passing a stadium. And just normal city.

 
 Walking towards freeway number 90 and Chinatown.

Just Asian businesses, more run down streets and houses, but as well more interesting.

Somewhere in this area my map ended and I could just follow very rough map of whole Puget sound, which was not helpful. I was just hoping, that following freeway 90 across Lake Washington will be pretty easy. Street intersection. Direction for bicycle route. I guess, good enough.

Streets going up and down. Older neighborhoods, nice gardens, some parks and bicycle path pointing towards Mercer Island. And mostly freeway 90 visible from my walking path. All good. It looked like I was getting close to the lake. I found nice park close to freeway tunnels and structures. It contained sidewalk art and signs. And there was a tunnel for bicycles. And art in the tunnel as well.

In general, even freeways and other otherwise ugly structures are kind of nice. Many freeway walls, bridges and passes are covered by plants (ivy) or small gardens. Of course, there are ugly parts of city, abandoned houses, but I think it is much less then most of other cities.
The tunnel was pretty long and I saw a lot of people on bicycles. Small platform leading towards walkway next to freeway 90. Really nice view. And city of Bellevue in distance. From downtown Bellevue, I had 2.5 miles left to get home.

So ... I started walking along freeway 90. Quite busy for midday Sunday. Not bad, but ... too many people on bicycles and too much noise from cars. Next time, I would probably take earplugs. But, the view was really nice, lake around ... so ... not too bad. Close picture of freeway. And Mercer Island and Bellevue in distance.

And ... something personal ... picture of me:

It took forever to get to Mercer Island. Looked really nice, clean and green. I stopped by park, where was a map for bicyclist going towards mountains (or back to Seattle). A bit confusing (and I think I got lost a bit), but I managed to stay close to freeway and eventually got back on pathway. 

It took forever to cross Mercer Island. I was getting tired and had enough. Bud I do not give up. Finally I saw exit signs for Bellevue way.

Towards Bellevue, go through downtown (mainly upscale shopping and dinning) and heading home (finally). Some construction and detour for pedestrians (funny).

AND FINALLY ALMOST HOME ...