Scary Style!

Thought it might have been a great idea to take an evening trek today, this being one of the latest sunsets of the year. Well, a friend and I left a little late and it turned into pure darkness. Note to self, most of the Queen Anne staircases are not lit!

We started on Bigelow and went up and over and down the secret elevated sidewalk. I love this neighborhood, where else would there be a secret elevated sidewalk?

On the map there is a walkway that says "great path down to Aurora" which sounded like a great idea, we were going to take that, look at the McLean Overlook (not on the map) and then do a loop over Aurora and all the way back up to the S8 staircase group.

The great path started out a little overgrown but ok. Then all of a sudden trees closed in and it became night, almost instantly! We both freaked out and ran back up the path. We looked at each other and said "we will come back in the daytime!" So we backtracked (taking a little extra three little streets, just to get em in. Stopped and smelled the roses and tried to locate S8.

We went down the street where the map said they come out but it was just a loop to an apartment. Why were we being lied to!? We gave up and decided that we would again find them in the day. We came across Trolly Hill Park and it was gorgeous, even at night. Then we found the stairs! The illusive S8! But, yet again, they were ominous and dark and scary!

We gave up and went back to the car.

Lessons learned today: night time is a little scary down dark paths. Remember to stop and smell the roses. My friend made me stop a couple of times to smell the roses and they were just perfect!

Sorry, no pictures from tonight's jaunt, just too dark and scary!

On a side note we discovered that the eastern side of Queen Anne hill, where the greenbelt is now used to be the site of a golf course and before that a farm! Who knew!?

Cross Hill Extravaganza!

The start of the Cross Hill Extravaganza!

On my mission to do all the twisty streets first I headed across the hill. I did not go for a walk today, I went for a Cross Hill Extravaganza! I just love the way that sounds. My boyfriend joined me today and we drove across the hill to a maze of streets on the NW slope of the hill. We parked right by the cemetery and made our way around to the Cross Hill Extravaganza, or so it was marked on our map. If you blinked you missed it.

The Extravaganza starts on Dravus and 11th and goes up and over the crest of the hill, across Etruria and down this tiny little path. If I didn't have my trusty map I would have thought it was a private walkway. But, no, in reality it was the Cross Hill Extravaganza!

We even did a dead end street that was not on the map.

My knee was twinging a little bit more than normal so it was a relatively short walk, but we covered a lot of the circular roads in that little section of the hill.

What I learned today - I want a house with multiple balconies and lots of windows and I would like to add the paths of the cemetery to my walk list. I have never wandered in there, despite running by it on my normal run route. Also I should be taking more pictures. Today we saw this great fire hydrant painted in a really nice purple hue. I wish I would have snapped a photo. Next time!

This is going to be a long trek but at least I have gotten the Cross Hill Extravaganza out of the way!

Getting Lost

I had my trusty map with me today, thought I was at one staircase, I really was at another. What to do? I had already marked off the staircase I thought I was on.

What I did was explored the dead end street I found myself on. A great little street right off of 10th, with a series of tiny staircases leading to this hidden sidewalk.

So, huffed and puffed back up Lee staircase, up 8th street, passed a nice older lady who was slowly trekking up the hill (in truth that is what I felt like, so out of shape from not doing anything for so long) and down the Galer staircase where I thought I was originally.

Lesson learned from today, really look at the map, know where you truly are and then you won't have to backtrack.

As a side note, I walked down a road I have been on before, its sort of a hidden lookout spot on Galer and 11th. But, upon further looking, I saw a hidden walkway, of course I went down to discover a tiny little patch of a grass park. Its not on the map, I don't even know if it's an official park but it was delightful! Falls into that, 'who would have thought' category!

I love this neighborhood!

This house was on W. Kinnear Pl, are we lost in the woods, trying to find Hansel and Gretel!?

Forcing Change

One of the reasons I love this Queen Anne Trek challenge is that it is forcing me to change my normal behavior and it's always a good thing to get out of our ruts.

Today I was coming back from a big event at the stadiums and I took a bus most of the way back and walked back from lower Queen Anne. I started out on 1st Ave (my usual way) but then veered off as I climbed the hill, hoping to hit some new streets. I only hit a few new ones but still, it got me out of my walking rut and that felt great.

The highlight today was the cute little pea patch just above Roy St. Things were just starting to pop up. Of course I did not have my camera. Next time, I promise!

Happy summer and happy walking!

Start of a crazy quest!

Here is a photo of the progress so far. I still have a lot to go!

I am starting a new quest that I would like to tell the world about and also journal for myself. I recently tore my ACL (knee) and am not running at the moment. I will spare you the long details but I am allowed, and in fact encouraged, to walk. So, me being a runner, motivated by goals have decided to create a spectacular goal for my summer. That is to walk every single street and public staircase in Queen Anne.

I do not yet know how long it will take me and I am not counting any previous walks I might have done before this date.

Today was my official first day (this being the first day of summer, officially). Well, I sort of cheated and had to do some errands in the neighborhood yesterday so I counted those streets as well. Shh!

I thought I had a strategic plan. I was going to do all the north-south streets, then do all the east-west streets. But, there are more than a few streets that curve around, or loop or go not in a straight line. So, I decided to tackle those first.

What a gorgeous day for a walk in the neighborhood. I started from my apartment on Queen Anne Ave and went up to the Bigelow loop (a sore spot for me as this is my normal running loop) and I took my handy-dandy Queen Anne Public Stairs map (such a great map) and had a route planned out but before you know it I was off my plan. I spotted a street with a park at the end, Bhy Krake Park. Who knew!? I had run past it for years. Note to self: A great place for New Year's Eve fireworks. It wound me down to Taylor and I sort of wandered around that part of Queen Anne. Up to the Lee street maze.

I did feel quite silly a couple of times going down dead end streets, just to turn back around, just so I could mark them off on the map.

Things I discovered today:

• Seattle is gorgeous in the sun. Well, I knew that one already, but what a glorious way to start the summer.

• Tomorrow I will bring a highlighter with me to mark off the streets I do. I had to figure out where I had gone after the fact.

• Tomorrow I will bring a camera to document some of the hidden treasures around this great neighborhood.

• Tomorrow I will bring a bag and pick up trash that I see. Why not do something good for the 'hood while I am out there?
  

• Stairs are a great workout, especially when you have been sitting on the couch for a month!

• There are a lot of great homes in Queen Anne, all of which I would like to live in. Anyone want to give me the keys? Hey, I house sit too!
  

• Walking through Queen Anne sometimes is a step back in time. I can really imagine how these streets looked back in the day.
  

• There are a lot of streets in Queen Anne!