Biking from Downtown Seattle to Saint Edward State Park

Last Thursday, Anastasia, Jasper, and Joe went to Saint Edward State Park in Kenmore to attend one of their Summer Concert Series nights--this one featuring The Polyrhythmics, a group that is hard to label, but describes themselves as "original hard-driving, modern afro-beat and syncopated, horn-driven funk." So, there you go. Anyway, it's good stuff (and free!) and we love exposing Jasper (and now Joe) to live music whenever we can.

I decided to meet them there after work by biking from my office in downtown Seattle, a 19-mile ride, mostly along the picturesque Burke-Gilman Trail.

I didn't take any photos until I had left downtown behind me, skirted the bottom of Queen Anne Hill via the heavily traveled bike corridor of Dexter Avenue, and crossed the iconic blue Fremont Bridge. 

Looking out over the ship canal connecting Lake Washington and Lake Union to Puget Sound.

Passed by the J.P. Patches statue. Hi, Patches!

A view of the ship canal beneath the Aurora Bridge. The famed Fremont Troll resides under this bridge.

Lots of quaint little houseboats along here.

"Dreamer of World-Peace" statue. I was very happy to have run into this statue and plaque, given everything going on in the world today.

The plaque reads:

"Dreamer of World-Peace"

Sri Chinmoy

"O dreamers of peace, come. Let us walk together. O lovers of peace, come. Let us run together. O servers of peace, come. Let us grow together." 

-Sri Chinmoy

Fremont - Center of the Universe For World-Harmony

Aurora Bridge and Fremont Bridge panorama:

One great thing about the Burke-Gilman Trail is that there are a few bike shops positioned along the route in case you need some maintenance done, or simply a snack.

Looking back at downtown Seattle across Lake Union.

The Wall of Death, a public art installation beneath the University Bridge.

The absolutely gorgeous University of Washington campus.

Another bike shop along the Burke-Gilman trail.

Once one gets north of the University District, the trail begins to feel much more disconnected from the city itself. A canopy of trees provides welcome respite from the summer sun and an easy grade allows for a cheerful, stress-free ride.

Looking directly across Lake Washington. Difficult to make out (hence the added arrow), but up there peeking above the trees is the water tower, sort of mocking me and how far I had left to ride. Not to mention the big hill I would have to go up.

Still quite a lot of lake to ride around before heading up to the park.

Log Boom Park, the northernmost point of Lake Washington. I stopped here to rest and have a snack and some water before tackling the last part of the ride. I saw a lot of people fishing or simply relaxing. Some of the fishermen had their own bikes parked next to their tackle boxes.

Gratuitous bike shot.

Crossing the Sammamish River, looking out toward Squawk Slough and Lake Washington beyond.

Immediately after crossing the Sammamish River, it was time to get into a low gear and find the right pace to keep my heart and lungs happy because it was time to ride up Juanita Drive.

After much huffing and puffing, I had arrived. 

The dominant feature of 316-acre Saint Edward State Park is Saint Edward Seminary. Follow the link if you'd like to read the interesting history of this place. Additionally, here is a link to a fascinating video tour of the inside of the building. And here is a link to a video by our friend Josh, a lovely aerial view of the park from the vantage of his RC plane.

There's my lady! Since the event had a pretty big crowd and Anastasia and the boys were meeting up with a few other parents and kids from preschool, they made a plan to bring and meet "at the three red balloons." Genius.

It was fun seeing how relaxed and happy Joe was in this environment. I think he really likes being outside and the music didn't bother him at all. He was just rolling, sitting, playing, and doing lots of investigating. We did have to keep an eye on him because he kept scooting over to the edge of the blanket and pulling out big handfuls of grass, likely to munch on.

 Jasper and Aparna had fun dancing!

 

Anastasia packed the bike rack with her so that I wouldn't have to ride all the way home. Tired legs! I love this thing and really enjoy putting it to good use. And there's plenty of room on this rack for more bikes. I look forward to one day filling it up with mom and kid bikes!

From the office to the park: 19 miles.