Day 3: Oh the Places you'll go on a bike: Seattle Children's Hospital and Town Hall

The longer I ride, the more likely I am to chose the nicest way over the fastest way. The first of my two rides today was to Children's to pick up some paperwork.  I had decided I only wanted to brave the University of Washington section of the  Burke Gilman trail once (due to congestion) so I took a quiet detour after crossing the Montlake bridge by turning right towards the UW climbing rock, passing the waterfront activities center and Husky stadium,  the bright purple track, and the driving range (wrong turn) before picking up the Burke Gilamn again (see map below).  I wasn't sure where to get off the trail, so was delighted to see the following sign:

You are on your own from there, but it wasn't too hard for a local to figure out.  After picking up the paperwork, I headed up 40th to grab a bite at Metropolitan Market for a sunny picnic.  I dawdled a bit too much so had to ride hard to get home in time to pick up Irene from school.

Today I was struck by the things I saw that taking roadways would have bypassed. Marjorie Brant Osterhout often posts a list of "What I saw on my walk today" on Facebook, so here is a list of a few things I  saw on my ride today: A person learning to pole vault, hundreds of golf balls in a field with no two appearing to touch, a field of startling yellow daffodils, and a swampy area that did not smell.

In the evening, I rode to Town Hall to hear Maria Semple the author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette along with Nancy Pearl.  It's faster to ride then drive and park, so I made sure all three of my lights were working and headed out.  Bike Parking was tricky as there was no bike rack--hard to imagine for such a venue.  I am a fan of Town Hall nonetheless.  For $5 you can see hundreds of different programs.  Last year there were 412 to chose from.  

My date for the evening was surprised I was riding in the dark, and I suppose it's takes a little getting used to, but it seems quite natural to me.  In someways, it's even more pleasant as the traffic levels are down.  If you already ride, consider giving it a try sometime.


Map:  Seattle Montlake Bridge to the Burke Gilman Bike Path (ahem.  multi-use trail).  Do not turn right on 45th.  Cross over it and use the driveways to move right and look for the curb cut.

The dark green bulge at the top of the map is the Burke Gilman.  I cut the map off to the right because you can pick up the BG just across NE45th.  Now that I look at it, it looks like this is a short cut!