Tag: walking

Quite the day, weather-wise here in Edmonds & Lynnwood

Carl Setzer

Quite a combination of weather today near the Salish Sea.

I woke to a lovely morning snowfall.

By the time we needed to head to church, the snow was mostly gone. We had a few flurries through the late morning and afternoon, with nothing sticking.

My son’s youth group went to an Everett Silvertips game in the late afternoon. The sun was shining brightly, though quite cold. Oh, and a brisk, strong wind. So we went and walked along the Edmonds Waterfront; one of our favorite things. According to the weather station at the marina, it was 34 degrees with windchill dragging things down to 27. Brrrr!

Looking north from Brackett’s Landing, Mount Baker was glorious. I didn’t bring a decent camera with me, so you get these taken with my phone. Not too bad, but nowhere near capturing it’s awesomeness.

The wind was pretty relentless. Sea water spraying and wind howling through the boats’ rigging in the marina.

A very lovely afternoon along Puget Sound. Lovely….and cold. But we weren’t alone. Many good folks dared the frigidity to enjoy the sun. Even some windsurfers with their gear on the beach. Pretty sure hoping for a break in the strong winds (there was a small craft advisory for the Sound).

How was your Sunday? Hope it was grand.

A Lovely Afternoon Along The Edmonds Waterfront

Carl Setzer

Along the Edmonds guest dock

My wife and I spent the afternoon in one of our favorite places, the waterfront in Edmonds. Ran into many friends, had a quick lunch, popped into the ranger station at Olympic Beach. Fyi, there’s a touch there that’s stocked with local wildlife. A great place to getvsine insights into our marine life. One of their volunteers, Ryan, hosts a podcast: Aquacast; go check him out!

Also made it up to the library. Lots of good flowers along the way. Lots blooming right now.

I adore this region so much. Makes my heart soar.

A haiku from this evening’s walk in Lynnwood

Carl Setzer

Walking under stars

Tranquillity of evening 

Peace filling my soul 

A Walkabout in Edmonds

Carl Setzer

This past Saturday, while the rest of my family was at a choir festival, I wandered around one of my favorite locales: the Edmonds Waterfront. As a boy, my grandparents lived down here. As an adult, I lived here shortly after I got married and this was where we lived when my son was born. Many fond memories of the area, the parks, the restaurants, the people. I love making my way back, though my life is centered just a few miles north in Lynnwood.

I was struck by the amount construction near the water. Predominantly remodeling, but also some new construction. And, right next to the post office, there’s a condo going up. Which brings to mind a key thing about this area: multi-family homes. Though there still are more single family residences being sold in Edmonds writ-large, when you refine things down to what I’ll call the bowl, you find the stats switching. In the past 6 months, 53 condos were sold vs 30 SFRs. And watching the construction going on in the area, including Lynnwood, we’re going to see more condos built. This higher density model will impact life, but I don’t expect a gross degradation in lifestyle.  If anything, with a growth in transit options, this might make for a bright future in south Snohomish county.

So, below is a slide-show of my wanderings. Enjoy!

February 6, 2016 Walk Around Edmonds

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Walking in Lynnwood

Carl Setzer

I love walking; decent exercise and good for maintaining connection to the neighborhood. Yes magazine featured their Most Walkable Suburb, and we have much to learn from Arlington, VA. I’d like to see businesses better integrate into neighborhoods. This would feature some really basic notions, like sidewalks in parking lots and better flow design. The good folks at America Walks created a great resource for making communities walkable.

The gardens and trees I see delight me, as do the brief chats with neighbors. Signs of construction and repair are easily seen, too. Lynnwood had become much more walkable over the past few years. The city is taking it seriously, adding sidewalks and such. We’re not perfect and have a long way to go, but we’re moving the right way. I see more people walking, which reinforces my view, and makes me happy.

A Saturday Walk

Carl Setzer

Today’s lovely rainy morning makes me glad I spent so much time outside yesterday. Walked quite a bit around Lynnwood. My FitBit motivates me to exercise. Dropping a few pounds really encouraged me to go further. For a suburb, Lynnwood is remarkably walkable. Not like downtown Edmonds, but still. Crossing 99 is a little nerve-wracking, as everyone there is in such a hurry that common sense and compassion fail. Anyways, walking in Lynnwood’s challenge: the bigger time-commitment.

I walked over to Scriber Lake park. As it’s been rainy, I expected to see Yoda pop out crying “slimy mud-hole? My home this is! ” Ok, some of the trail was a little squishy, but it was mainly fine. This time of year, make sure you have non-leaky shoes.

I wandered from there up to Edmonds Community College, then over to Lynndale. On the whole walk, I saw three land-use signs up. One at the ancient Taco Bell, (of late a taco shack) next to Ed’s Surplus. Sadly, didn’t like too closely to see what’s going in. Then one at the old Ballys. Looks like a church is building there. And then the college is getting ready to build a science, engineering and technology building. Lots of growth coming. That didn’t count all the road work projects.

There are things I notice while walking that I otherwise missed. Too much hurry and we miss detail, and it’s these details that build connection to ‘place’. Hence why I love walking and bicycling to explore, to understand. The weight loss helps, too.