Two of my four photos are from Pfingst Animal Acres Park as the newest-to-me gem on the day. One is of a statue new to South Woods, and one is of the hidden stairs that allowed me a shorter route to Grace Cole from 25th.
My 9-mile urban ramble took me from Seattle up to and past Shoreline, and into Lake Forest Park. My route: I headed south to the Lake City library and 125th Ave NE, east to the Burke-Gilman Trail, north to 165th NE in LFP, west and meandering to a new-to-me location, Animal Acres Park near Brookside Elementary School (wish I'd taken Ajax there before he passed) where I tried to avoid street blowers shooting dust in the air.
I then continued southwest toward Grace Cole Nature Preserve where a work party was making more noise than I expected, so I didn't spend as much time there even though it was my ultimate destination, so a little disappointed about that. (My feet were getting tired so I figured it was for the best). Luckily, I found a hidden stairs short-cut west to a culdesac that saved me about .75 miles, gained 25th Ave NE and headed south past Shorecrest High School and through South Woods where I saw a new statue I'd never noticed before (pictured), and returned to 135th and 22nd NE.
This was a grief walk to process losing my dog yesterday. Cathartic and painful at the same time. Lovely overcast skies with a light breeze. 2:48 total moving time, roughly 3.2+ mph pace. A kind gentleman let me pet his exuberant Swissie, but that was about all I could handle today.
Birds were everywhere which made this a lovely cloudy, breezy walk - of the 33 species I had 4 woodpeckers (red-breasted sapsucker, northern flicker, hairy, and downy), 4 warblers, western flycatchers, and even some barn swallows on the Burke-Gilman segment. All trails are in good shape, although since the work party was so noisy I spent the least time at Grace Cole.
Perhaps my favorite spot on the morning was finding the Pfingst Animal Acres Park at NE 178th Ave and Brookside: https://www.cityoflfp.gov/307/Pfingst-Animal-Acres-Park Two of my photos are actually from that location. (The bench and lovely otter scupture which reminded me of Ajax - well, okay, just about everything reminded me of Ajax today...) So grateful for all the greenspaces in Seattle, Shoreline and Lake Forest Park that allow me to save gas and just hoof it outside my door. This was the longest urban walk I've done and I'll save longer trips for the dirt trails in the mountains from now on - cement is hard on the feet!
My nine-mile GPX track reminded me of my dog Ajax with his floppy ears and lolling tongue - LOL - my husband couldn't see it so maybe it was just apparent to me. Call me crazy...
Comments