Riding to and seeing Seattle for the first time -- by bike!

[emily_in_nc]

Me again! Finally got my blog posts for our ride into and around Seattle posted. We had a great day and just by sheer happenstance were there for the 2014 Pride Parade, which was awesome. What a fun day we had, and no worries about driving into the city!

Part 1: An Epic ride to Seattle's downtown: http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/traveling-twosome-blog/an-epic-ride-to-downtown-seattle-part-1-getting-there

Part 2: A Sunday full of Pride -- and doughnuts! http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/traveling-twosome-blog/an-epic-ride-to-downtown-seattle-part-2-a-sunday-full-of-pride-and-doughnuts

Part 3: More sightseeing and the return trip: http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/traveling-twosome-blog/an-epic-ride-to-downtown-seattle-part-3-more-city-sights-then-heading-back

[lauraelmore1033]

I loved this ride report. We live 20 minutes away from Seattle and never really ride those trails on the south end much. I find them very confusing and never have the courage to attempt any purposeful travel in that area. I didn't realize the butterfly bush was considered a noxious weed here! I guess I should have since the one bush I planted has turned into several, out of hand patches in our yard.

[AppleTree]

Love your photos and blog Emily. Very interesting to get a different perspective on our area and biking up this way. Funny how you expect things to be larger than they really are in life. I guess the Space Needle USED to be quite large in relation to the other buildings when it was built in the 60s, ha. I'm glad you got to hit the "high" points of the city, including Pike Place and the PIG... :) AND you got to experience our famous "June-uary" weather...summer traditionally never really kicks in until July 5th, at least that is the joke.

I didn't know that thing was a butterfly bush, that stuff is everywhere!

[khg]

Great to read your experiences in our corner of the world! Downtown can be...interesting...by bike--going even one block the wrong direction can turn a cross street from steep-but-manageable to "what idiot thought it was a good idea to put a street here?!?"

I'm headed to the baseball game at Safeco Field today--I may have to stop by Top Pot on the way there!

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks ladies! Glad you enjoyed the blog. I've put another one up -- this is our ride to Black Diamond and through downtown Auburn, and first sighting of Mt. Rainier (after three days in the area with too many clouds)

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/traveling-twosome-blog/exploring-black-diamond-and-auburn-washington-by-bike

I really liked Auburn. Seattle was cool, but I'm not such a big city gal at heart and prefer something more the size of Auburn with a cute downtown that is easily bikeable.

[lauraelmore1033]

The ride out to Black Diamond bakery is a popular one with various Cascade ride leaders. It is very pretty country out there. If you ever come back, check out the Green River Gorge a little farther out. Gorgeous!

[MM_QFC!]

17293 Thanks for sharing your visit to our area, Emily; too bad some of us TE'ers in the Seattle area didn't get to meet/ride with you. I'm always up for a Top Pot stop! :D Glad you enjoyed the metal sculpture of cyclists at Van Doren's Landing Park in Kent.
I took my 4yo grandson for a ride on the trail last month (our 1st trail ride together) and we started from that park, so I took his photo there; then he promptly suggested that we have one of the snacks that I packed...BEFORE we even started our 2 mile ride!
Yes, Mt Rainier is spectacular, isn't it? I'm always amazed by how it presents such a gorgeous back drop...and coming up is the annual RAMROD ride: Ride Around Mt Rainier in One Day...some of the randos on here have surely done this classic Seattle area ride: 153 miles, @ 10k feet in elevation and the 9 mile climb over Cayuse Pass comes after the century mark and during the heat of the afternoon - whew!
Happy rides and travels to you as you're now in our WA wine country, right?
Mary

[Crankin]

Emily, I walked up that street two years ago, and it was a workout.
We stayed at a hotel right above the marketplace, about 1/4 way up one of those hilly streets. We had just finished riding in the San Juans and we did not put our bikes back together while in Seattle, because it looked too imtimidating with the steep hills. I mean, I'm a good climber, but those were insane and add in the city traffic=no! If I had known about the paths, we might have done some riding. I mean, I knew about them, but not enough to contemplate a trip on them. Probably a mistake.

[emily_in_nc]

17293 Thanks for sharing your visit to our area, Emily; too bad some of us TE'ers in the Seattle area didn't get to meet/ride with you. I'm always up for a Top Pot stop! :D Glad you enjoyed the metal sculpture of cyclists at Van Doren's Landing Park in Kent.
I took my 4yo grandson for a ride on the trail last month (our 1st trail ride together) and we started from that park, so I took his photo there; then he promptly suggested that we have one of the snacks that I packed...BEFORE we even started our 2 mile ride!
Yes, Mt Rainier is spectacular, isn't it? I'm always amazed by how it presents such a gorgeous back drop...and coming up is the annual RAMROD ride: Ride Around Mt Rainier in One Day...some of the randos on here have surely done this classic Seattle area ride: 153 miles, @ 10k feet in elevation and the 9 mile climb over Cayuse Pass comes after the century mark and during the heat of the afternoon - whew!
Happy rides and travels to you as you're now in our WA wine country, right?
Mary

Yes, we're in Walla Walla now, though the wineries here are so pricey, we're really just here for the fantastic weather and great cycling. Have not actually been to a winery yet once we found out most bottles were in the $30-40 range. Ouch! There's a wine store in town that has bottles from all the wineries we might check out for sales. On our early retiree budget, we just can't spend that kind of money on a bottle, and our tastes aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate the difference anyway!

[emily_in_nc]

Emily, I walked up that street two years ago, and it was a workout.
We stayed at a hotel right above the marketplace, about 1/4 way up one of those hilly streets. We had just finished riding in the San Juans and we did not put our bikes back together while in Seattle, because it looked too imtimidating with the steep hills. I mean, I'm a good climber, but those were insane and add in the city traffic=no! If I had known about the paths, we might have done some riding. I mean, I knew about them, but not enough to contemplate a trip on them. Probably a mistake.

Fortunately we only had to ride up that one really bad hill. Most of the rest of our riding was north and south so very gentle, and the bike paths are flat to near flat. That super steep stuff is not my cup of tea either!

[Trek420]

17293 Emily; too bad some of us TE'ers in the Seattle area didn't get to meet/ride with you.

Knott, Xrayted and I were at Pride. But it's always tough to meet up in that crowd. I enjoyed your ride report.

[TrekDianna]

Let me know if you come to Oregon

[emily_in_nc]

Knott, Xrayted and I were at Pride. But it's always tough to meet up in that crowd. I enjoyed your ride report.

Wasn't that fun!?

Yeah, we only had that one day in the city anyway, and my poor DH would have been kinda overwhelmed if I'd wanted to meet up with a whole buncha TEers on our first and only time in the city. I didn't even begin to think about trying to meet up with anyone as I'm a rather shy introvert as it is. I guess we were all together in spirit anyway!