If you visit Seattle, make sure you get out of downtown. There's a lot your hotel concierge isn't telling you, trust me. The city's neighborhoods, local business districts, parks and beaches are where you really suck up the taste of Seattle. For starters come on out to Lincoln Park in West Seattle.
The 54 bus from downtown will take you right to Lincoln Park. Driving directions here. This park map link shows the trail system (click on the "view map" PDF file). I recommend the upper cliffside trail, running north-south, and then a loop back on the beach below. There are trails at both ends and the middle of the park that connect the upper (cliffside) and lower (beach) levels. Up top, you'll see some serious second-growth trees (left, below) in from the path, and some of Seattle's trademark, reddish-brown barked Madronas (right, below).
Along the upper path, you'll also catch a broad glimpse of West Seattle's Alki Point (below), a good five miles to the northwest on Puget Sound. There's a Coast Guard lighthouse there, which you can just see in the picture below. You can visit, but not any old time: (lighthouse seasonal tour hours and phone number here). Watch for the rotating beacon, visible from Lincoln Park on clear days.
From atop the bluff, toward the park's southern end, you'll also find one little spot with a bird's eye view of the Fauntleroy Ferry, steaming off to beautiful Vashon Island, then Southworth, on the Kitsap Pensinsula.
Down below, there's a mile long beach, picnic shelters, large saltwater swimming pool, grassy spaces to laze about, benches and, periodically, salmon fishing. Seems like late September is prime time, at least this year. Whole bunches of guys out there in waders today again, including this fella (below).
Top it all off with a classy but casual meal at Endolyne Joe's, nearby in West Seattle's Wildwood micro-business district.
TECHNORATI TAGS: SEATTLE, TOURISM, WEST SEATTLE, LINCOLN PARK
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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at September 27, 2005 10:15 PM