Most days afterwork, I head home and either jump on my bike for a ride or throw on my running shoes for a jog. Each time I head out, I try to take a different route, exploring a different part of the city. It helps me learn where I live (I like to know my area) and find things that many people don't know about... like hidden gardens or great views. Sometimes I'll even take my camera and snap a few shots. Here's some pictures from one of those trips.
I set out for Discovery Park, a park seated nicely on Puget Sound near the Magnolia area of Seattle. I had been there before on my bike, but didn't realize there was a lighthouse out on the western most point. My trek out to the point lead me down a very steep hill... VERY steep. I briefly let off my brakes and hit 41 mph before I even realized it!!! We'll just say that was a lot of fun on the way back.
I got out there and jumped off my bike to walk the remaining yards down the sandy trail to the lighthouse. The house itself wasn't quite as tall as I was expecting, but nice no-the-less.
The Puget Sound is one of the few areas that I'm aware of where when sitting on a salt water beach and looking out across the water you see mountains! And if you look to the south, you can see Mount Rainier as in this picture... look closely where the green coast on the left descends into the water in the middle, there is a faint outline of Rainier in the background.
On my way back, I stopped at the Chittenden Locks, famous for the fish ladder built opposite of the locks. Here is a picture of the locks:
And here's the fish ladder. Apparently, salmon smell the fresh water and are attracted to it. They then swim up these various ladder rungs until they are on the freshwater side of the dam.
Here's the dam! The white tubes are how fish go back to the ocean. The tubes have sensors in them for tracking/counting fish to study migration habits. Kinda cool!
As you can see, it was a great day for a ride. I think I put in about 23 miles that day! Someday soon I plan to ride around Mercer Island, that should clock in at around 30 miles... we'll save it for a weekend.
