Adventures Around the "Block" - Jack Block Park

During that string of sunny days last week we did a leisurely half-day, 7.6 mile loop in West Seattle, starting from our front door. We had just caught an episode of "Bird Note" on NPR about the annual return of the many Swallow species, and we wanted to head out in search of the largest of these, the Purple Martin. This bird is impressive to us partly because of the epic migration it makes, all the way up from the Amazon River Basin. Jack Block Park has a row of roomy artificial "gourds" hung high off a pier above Elliott Bay, to give these birds a place to start families after their long journey, so we decided to make the park our ultimate destination.   

Jack Block Park is a little obscure, and therefore uncrowded, which adds to the attraction. You can climb stairs and walkways to a viewing platform with 360-degree views - of ships loading at Terminal 5, the downtown skyline, and the Olympics across the Sound.

We didn't see any Purple Martins, but as always on a stairway walk, lots of cool things caught our eye. 

 

Perfect Holiday Walk

Seattle stairs are, in one important respect, at their very best during the holidays. By this time all the leaves are down on the deciduous trees, which really opens up a lot of stairway views. This was apparent on a surprisingly nice Friday, on the Thistle Street stairs (second-longest in Seattle at 367 steps). So if friends or family will be visiting over the holidays, try the stairs!

These stairs are part of the "Fauntleroy and Morgan Junction" stairway walk in West Seattle.  This route, as well as the "Alki from Above" stairway walk, will not only provide great views across Puget Sound; they also give a sense of the power of recent winter storms. You'll see many logs piled high up the shore, and many others still floating around.

For additional (and better) pictures of this route in a variety of seasons, consult the book and/or click here.

This photo shows how the leaves are down for the winter; of course there are also nice views on either side of these trees! (iPhone photo)

Storm-tossed logs in Puget Sound (iPhone photo)