The View from a Drawbridge

It was a beautiful day, and probably the last one for a while, so I wanted to do something outdoors. Feeling like a bit of a broken record, I went to visit yet another park. As I was driving there, I was feeling a bit ambivalent. Parks here are gorgeous. I mean, absolutely gorgeous. Kind of an embarrassment of riches. But I’ve seen several. I’m starting to feel jaded by all this beauty. I couldn’t imagine that this one would present me with anything more spectacular than the others.

On the freakin’ contrary.

Upon my approach to Seward Park, I was treated to a sweeping vista of Andrews Bay. Two things you miss out on in most cities are distant horizons and the feeling of open spaces. This view was fabulous. I sat on the rocky beach where swimming is allowed and I fully intend to take advantage of that next summer. The water is crystal clear.

After feeling my blood pressure drop considerably, I decided to wander over to the alpine-like building that houses the Audubon Center. There I had a nice chat with a gentleman who gave me some great advice about attracting more hummingbirds to my feeder. Hummingbirds live here year round. Something that’s pretty obvious but that I never thought about is that hummingbirds can’t walk. They expend a great deal of energy having to hover and fly at feeders, so it’s better to get one that has a perch that they can stand on and rest. So there will be a new feeder in my future. I enjoyed my chat with this guy. I was tempted to ask if he was single. But I chickened out, which is, if you think about it, rather apropos when talking to an Audubon guy.

After that I headed over to the Lake Washington side of the park to begin the 2.4 mile waterfront loop. And when I looked up I gasped audibly, which is what I always do when presented with Mount Rainier. I’ve only seen it three times since I’ve been here, and when I do, it stuns me every time. You don’t expect a volcano to sneak up on you like that, but somehow it does. BAM! There it is.

I sank down to the grass, which turned out to be wet but I didn’t care, and just gazed at this magnificent spectacle. I’ve seen a lot of gorgeous sights in my life, but this is right up there in the pantheon of magnificence, if you ask me. I was almost reluctant to start on the loop road because I knew it would eventually swing back around to Andrews Bay and the mountain would go back to where ever it is that mountains hide.

Incidentally, I’m itching, absolutely aching to get out into the mountains around here, but that would be no fun to do alone. Some day.

But I soldiered on, gazing at the million dollar houses that line the far shore, and briefly visiting a land of make believe where I actually some day get to live in one and wake up every morning to a view like this. How could anyone who lives in a house like that not be grateful every single day? I would be.

What I absolutely adore about this park is that this loop road is flat, flat, flat. Glory, glory hallelujah! I could walk it without having a coronary. But for the more athletically inclined, there are hilly, woodsy paths in the interior of this 300 acre park. For that day, at least, I was quite content to hug the shoreline.

Half way around, I passed an attractive older gentleman who said, “Lovely day for a walk, isn’t it?” Indeed it was, I said. I wish I could have said more without looking like a nut. He looked nice. Ah well. One has to hike before one can hunt, I suppose. 🙂

Seward Park is my absolute favorite so far. I have no doubt I’ll be back. As added incentive, there was a Baskin Robins on my route home. It wouldn’t do to burn off too many calories, after all. It was a delicious afternoon all around.