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

[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/t...ington-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!]

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! 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]

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!

[emily_in_nc]

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! 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!

[Trek420]

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!