Lakeside

BREATH OF FRESH AIR: Increasingly, it has felt like the walls are closing in around us as the COVID era persists, especially as the days are getting shorter, the weather is colder, and we're even more cooped up than ever.

So, when I saw blue skies this morning, I decided we were absolutely going to get outside for awhile. I opened a map of parks not too far from us and decided we'd head to Seward Park. I have no idea why we've never gone there before! It's less than 5 miles from home and is absolutely marvelous.

Turns out we weren't the only ones who thought going there would be a good idea today, so we had to park a few blocks away. Of course, that was OK, because our primary point in going there was to get a good walk in. 

We headed down the hill to the park, which is a peninsula jutting out into mammoth Lake Washington, and were treated to the view below upon entering. We decided to follow the pathway leading north, not knowing where it would take us or what we'd see. 

On our way back, we saw the map/marker below. That would have clued us in to some of the park's paths. 

There is a swimming beach and some steps near the entrance of the park. I'll bet the place is packed on hot summer days!

We walked along the shoreline. There was a nice, wide paved path. There were lots of people in the park, but it's so big and the path is so wide, it felt absolutely safe. Fortunately, almost everyone was social distancing and wearing a mask, which was good to see.

There are lots of towering trees in the park. Annabelle noticed a sign way up high on a couple of them. The weather-beaten sign looked to be decades old. It warned readers that "beer and other intoxicating liquids" were prohibited in the park.

Annabelle speculated that when the sign was initially hung, it was at eye level, and that it has traveled upward along with the tree's growth. I'd estimate the sign's currently at about 20 feet off the ground.

We also saw more than one tree on its side, including this log, hosting a whole bunch of mushrooms.

As we made our way up the west side of the peninsular park, we came to a forlorn-looking swimming hole. All of the diving boards and stairs to platforms had been removed. 

Here's what Annabelle had to say about our excursion today. ...

Seward Park is a Seattle city park near Mercer Island. The park takes up the entirety of the small peninsula there, with dozens of hiking trails and 2.4 miles of walking path around the perimeter. While we didn’t visit any of the hiking trails during our outing to the park, we did walk a good portion of the outside area.

One of the most notable features of the park is the variety of incredibly tall trees, some of which are even growing on exposed cliffs in a manner that allows you to see their roots snaking downwards. The wildlife in particular is also very diverse – we saw dozens if not hundreds of American Coot birds in massive groups along the waterfront, diving underwater and feeding.

On the park's website, there's a neato high tech feature that is a companion to walking the loop around the peninsula. The park features an environmental learning center and 

The park even has an Audubon Center! Unfortunately, it's closed because of *&^%$ COVID. We look forward to visiting it in better times. After our visit, I found a PDF on the center's site that has a birding checklist for the park. We'll have to print it out and take it with us on our next visit.

I also found an really informative blog post on Scientific American's website about the geology of the park. So we'll have to scope out those points of interest on a future visit, as well.