Frederick Olmsted | Robert Payne

When I first settled in the Wallingford-Fremont area in Seattle back in 2019, walking or running around Green Lake became my go-to. I’ve done that loop more times than I can count. I’ve also circumnavigated it on a stand up paddleboard (SUP), as well as a kayak on several occasions. I still do it, but I needed more variety.

Now I often mix it up with long walks and runs on the Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop, which I can pick up just a few blocks from my house on the Burke-Gilman Trail. Sometimes I will add additional flavor by cutting up the Queen Anne Galer Steps, over to Kerry Park, and then down to the waterfront and the Myrtle Edwards Park and Centennial Park corridor. Other times I will head straight downtown to Pike Place Market. Or you can walk on to the Seattle Ferry Terminal on Alaskan Way. The variations are endless, and if I get tired I can always get on the 62 Bus line back to my neighborhood, or grab a Lime bike or scooter.

Other times, I will go East and over to Capitol Hill via the East Howe Steps or Blaine Street Stairs past the Streissguth Gardens. You can walk all the way up to Volunteer Park and enjoy some of the remarkable Capitol Hill mansions along the way. After getting your steps/climb in, it is a long and easy downhill descent towards Cal Anderson Park, and the variety of places – and people watching – between.

My other big realization has been how accessible Seattle is via bike. I am frankly blown away with what you can experience in a day via 2 wheels. I highly recommend this route.

Seattle in a Day by Bike

You will enjoy gorgeous views of Lake Union, Fremont, the Ballard (Hiram M. Chittenden) Locks, Magnolia, Elliott Bay, downtown Seattle, Seattle Aquarium, Alaska Way, Lumen Field, T-Mobile Park, Chinatown-International District, Lake Washington, City of Bellevue, Washington Park Arboretum, University of Washington, and so much more! I guarantee you will feel like you’ve been on urban adventure at the end of the day. Special call out to the City of Seattle for the awesome dedicated bike lane that runs all the way through town on 2nd Avenue.

Thanks to early visionaries, Seattle has an abundance of parks and beautiful vistas, many designed by the Olmsteds. This is a plaque in the Water Tower Observation Deck in Volunteer Park.

“Landscapes move us in a manner more nearly analogous to action of music than to anything else…Gradually and silently the charm overcomes us: we know not exactly where or how.”