Dear Diary,
I spent several days in December making short hikes, as I told you some time ago I intended. These hikes took me to arguably seven parks owned or managed by Seattle's Department of Parks and Recreation, all south of 43rd St in the University District and Laurelhurst. And in most of them I found problems with what I've told you, dear Diary, before: some outright errors of fact, some weasel wording to avoid other errors, and plenty of omissions. So this page is my attempt to do better by these parks.
None, unfortunately, have restrooms, and only one (the only one this page isn't apologising to) has a water fountain, which I found not running today.
I discovered the hard way in writing this that it's really dumb to copy a modern web page into a Blogspot page as one writes the latter. (Because Android and/or Chrome wouldn't let me copy just the paragraph I wanted.) I think the ill effects are confined to me writing this, but I trust, dear Diary, that if anyone reading you sees, in particular, an annoying blue horizontal bar, they'll complain in the comments. (EDIT 1/1: Actually, I think I've fixed it. Let me know if not.)
December 22
Fritz Hedges Waterway Park
This park is on Boat St, west of Brooklyn Ave. Introduced May 13 in "Down by the Canal", then given full treatment October 20 in "Fritz Hedges Waterway Park". In the latter page, I wrote:
"Unfortunately, as in the expanded Christie Park, all the furniture is metal."
Nope.
See those discolourations in the long concrete benches? There are four total; in that shot, one is hidden by the shade. Let's take a closer look at that one.
I was wrong. (Heck, I was technically wrong just because of the concrete benches, even without their wooden inserts.)
North Passage Point
This park is between Northlake Way and the water under I-5. Introduced in "Down by the Canal", and I seem not to have mentioned it to you since, dear Diary. In that page, I noted that other people being around had cramped my photography. I also made a big deal out of this park having land, unlike, for example, the next one, so downplayed this park's water views.
Well, on December 22 none of that was an issue. Here's a landscape:
Now, the builders of I-5 of course chose a narrow point in the water to cross, specifically the strait between Portage Bay and Lake Union. This means that from this park, one can look at either of those water bodies, or in between, at South Passage Point across the water.
Portage Bay, seen through the University Bridge:
South Passage Point:
Lake Union:
Northlake Park
This is basically a viewpoint on Northlake, a block east of North Passage Point. I introduced it rather badly in "Down by the Canal", then never mentioned it again.
One of the things I did wrong was spoil my photo of the view with a finger in the shot. That's what I focused on fixing this time.
Peace Park
This is between 9th and Eastlake Avenues on 40th St, which puts it right next to the University Bridge. Introduced in "Down by the Canal" with the following wording to avoid saying what I just did:
"This isn't on the canal, but is essentially built into one of the bridges over the canal, the University Bridge."
I did so because the parks department page propounds the cockamamie notion that the park is actually at the intersection of 40th and Pacific Streets, and I refused to believe the evidence of my own eyes, and the street signs there. In my lists of parks, that's the address I use. So I went there December 22 to establish the real address.
(To be fair to the department, they may simply mean that the park is on both 40th and Pacific, and indeed I showed you, dear Diary, a photo of the boring Pacific Street side. It's still an inadequate and misleading address.)
December 23
Fritz Hedges Waterway Park
Yes, it's wooden.
December 29
Union Bay Boglands No. 1 and No. 2
This park, so to speak, is on Surber Drive from 41st St to a little south of 38th St. Introduced rather confusedly and perfunctorily May 13 in "Back East, Where the Gardens Are Pretty".
What I know now that I didn't know then is that from 1926 to 1966 the city had a landfill there, where about half of the university's east campus is today. My guess now is that when the city conveyed most of the land to the university, they held back the Surber Drive edge in hopes people would build more mansions with pretty gardens, hopes that were not to be fulfilled.
My further guess is that the two parcels exist because a Seattle Public Utilities pumping station is between them. At any rate, No. 1's address is "Surber Drive NE & 41st NE", while No. 2 is at "3905 NE Surber Drive".
When I first went there this time, my eyes immediately flew to a green space north of 41st. A bunch of people had parked there, but it turned out not to be part of the huge Talaris property next door. Oops: it's actually an unimproved block of 38th Ave.
(Those photos are actually from December 28.)
The best clue came from the university's own map, which stops short at 38th. And if you go into the area, differences emerge between the university's Yesler Swamp and the city's Union Bay Boglands. One is that the swamp's famous boardwalk seems never to come too close to the eastern edge. Another is that in the city side, but not the university side, there's lots of that welcome green in winter, conifers:
(Yes, I know the green up front is ivy. Look behind it.)
January 1
And happy new year, dear Diary! Did you ever expect to get so old? I certainly didn't expect it of you.
Christie Park
This park is on the southwest corner of 9th Ave and 43rd St. Introduced May 6 in "Go North, Aging Man!" and then corrected the same day in the first "Foolish Mortal" page; lavishly depicted October 4 in "Christie Park, Expanded, at Sunset". It's the furthest north of these parks, and the only one I don't (as far as I know) owe an apology to, which, yes, means it's also the one with a water fountain.
In this case, as of today I still can't find any furniture that isn't metal.
Peace Park
I continued south on 9th, which means I reached here. I decided to see whether Sadako of the Thousand Cranes had been given Christmas candies, but to my surprise found a few actual (and rather bedraggled) cranes, so took a picture.
Northlake Park
This was my main destination today. One main reason I introduced it badly is that I wanted to complain about the parks department page more than I actually wanted to introduce the park. The page's text indeed is gibberish to the uninitiated (such as me when I wrote "Down by the Canal"), and focused on things of no interest to most:
"The 7th Avenue NE Street End is not on 7th Avenue or a street end. The property is part waterway, part street right-of-way for NE Northlake Way. The site is located on the southwest edge of the University District, between I-5 and the University bridge, at the intersection of Lake Union Waterway 14 and NE Northlake Way, and across the street from the terminus of 7th Avenue NE. The upland portion of the waterway is owned by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and the remainder of the property is street right-of-way owned by Seattle Department of Transportation. The property was included as part of the 2000 Pro Parks Levy to “Develop park at 7th Ave NE street end at Lake Union.” "
I wanted to complain that Northlake Park is not on the official lists of either street ends or waterways. The writer's cute opening sentence shows that he (I'd bet this paragraph was a man's mistake) anticipated that. Most of the park is textbook 7th Ave NE Street End, but since 7th wasn't on the list the city adopted, that doesn't matter. (Now I'm probably speaking gibberish to the uninitiated. See, please, "North Seattle Street Ends: Introduction", December 20.)
As for waterways? With ashen face I discover that the map of Lake Union which, in "Lake Union's North Shore: Waterways and Street Ends" (October 8) I recommended as listing all the waterways, omits five of them: 7, 10, 12, 13 and 14. Oops.
So. I think this is the "upland" part that could have been a very steep waterway (i.e., place to put boats into the water or take them out):
That's on the left as one faces the water.
Thinking as I went there that it really was a street end, I took my standard three photos. But the street that ends is no beauty, and the land the city claims (though not under the street end law) doesn't look like much in my photos. So that leaves only the park's main point, its view. My third try:
Good night, dear Diary.
