A Hike in Southeastern Ballard

Dear Diary,

It looks like putting time between pages isn't going to work for me, so I'll try to get the last three pages about yesterday's hikes done as soon as I can.  This one concerns three places, as the title says, in southeastern Ballard proper, as opposed to Ross.

EDIT 5/11:  Map:

We left off at Leary Way NW and NW Bright St.  You may remember, dear Diary, that long ago, in the page about Ravenna Boulevard, I explained that streets not named "Street" or "Avenue" put their directionals before or after their names on the basis of whether they go mostly east-west or mostly north-south.  Leary Way, for much of its length, is strictly east-west, but another long stretch goes southeast-northwest; that's actually the definition of a "way", in Seattle, a street that changes direction.  But in this case, there's a place along it that probably could happen elsewhere, but I hope only Seattle is actually stupid enough to post a sign at the intersection of Leary Way NW and NW Leary Way.  Really.  I didn't take a photo, but if you go there, you'll see it.

A short distance after that, at 14th Ave NW, I reached

Leary Substation Site

Apparently this is no longer needed by Seattle City Light and is being rented out.  I wasn't sure while I was there, and noticed a huge, stately building in the middle of the block with a rather graceless wooden entrance tacked onto its north end (away from busy Leary, that is); I figured maybe that was full of electricity generating machinery.

But part of what makes that building inaccessible is a huge construction site surrounding it on three sides, and this is what the explanatory sign says:

 

Nickelsville in Latona, a food bank here - Seattle City Light just seems to be doing good all over the place, doesn't it?

Greg's Garden

As further evidence that southeastern "NW" isn't all one neighbourhood, here's another P-Patch.

Notice that unlike Ross's P-Patch, this one can be navigated on the level.

Gilman Playground

This park and the surrounding sidewalks were recently swept of many tent campers, and when I visited yesterday, none had returned, although quite a few of the vehicles parked nearby looked inhabited.  Instead the park was full of baseball players; one game seemed wholly adult, another partly, although there was definitely coaching of children going on in that one too.  I'd taken a bunch of photos in this park in January, so stuck to business this time.

Rather to my surprise, the restrooms, which had been closed due, said the signs, to "vandalism", had not re-opened as soon as the campers were gone.

There are now even more "sanican"s there than I'd found in January, presumably because baseball players outnumber campers:

The water fountain, thank Heaven, still works; I took a long drink that enabled me to finish hiking this region last night, and the water was good.

Although I wasn't here during February's snow, as far as I know this water fountain has run throughout the pandemic.  It's one of two in Ballard of which this is true; the other is a few blocks further north and quite a few further west.  Not coincidentally, the two parks in question have been repeatedly full of campers.  Imagine that, human beings needing water; what a strange concept, isn't it, dear Diary?  Anyway, while I'm personally as well as civically glad this water fountain is still running, my point is that it doesn't refute my hypothesis that the city is re-enacting its water fountain approach from last year, no doubt as part of some arcane ritual that unfortunately seems all too likely to culminate in human sacrifice, if only indirectly.

I hope to consume some water showering tonight, and then write the last two pages about yesterday's hikes.  None of the places I'm going to tell you about in those two pages have water fountains or restrooms, dear Diary, so anyone who's reading primarily for those can skip those pages if they wish.