Our parade before the Solstice Parade was great! We were a small but happy crew, and very honored to have Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw along for the ride. We also welcomed visiting Australian, Kerry, in town for the Bicycle Urbanism Symposium. And regulars Barbara of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Jennifer of Ballard Greenways, and Madi of Family Ride.
The Fremont Fair was already underway so we opted to leave the Burke-Gilman Trail and use N 36th Street (the parade route) to get to the Fremont Bridge. People were already sitting along 36th, several hours early for the parade, so we dinged our bells and waved as we pedaled by. The sidewalks of the Fremont Bridge (the regular route for bicyclists) were full of incoming pedestrians so we took a lane as we crossed the ship canal. And then it was clear sailing.
The fish ladder at the Ballard Locks was full of sockeye salmon:
While the large lock hosted a playful (and hungry) sea lion–not a regular sight here!
Then we rode along the NW 58th Street neighborhood greenway to check out its progress. Work is just getting started, but we found several new speed humps and lots of markings for street repairs, more speed humps, and paint.
At the intersection of 15th Avenue NW we encountered new concrete islands leaving space only for bikes to continue eastbound on 58th. Unfortunately, the signs haven’t been installed yet and a station wagon followed us through, scraping along both sides. It’s hard to tell just from looking that cars shouldn’t enter so I don’t blame her. Hopefully the sign goes up soon!
We headed back towards the Burke-Gilman Trail on 6th Avenue NW, a lovely and quiet street. The jog right on 43rd requires a push of the pedestrian crossing button at Leary, which is a bit awkward, but we had four kids along and let the three big ones take turns hopping off and pushing the various crosswalk buttons necessary for our routing.
The Ballard Greenway will have an unveiling party in a couple months. Meanwhile, we’re working out a ride for next month with the Rainier Riders. Stay tuned!
Check out all this ride’s photos on our Flickr.