Parks & Gardens

Seattle's many parks are part of what make it such a livable city and an enjoyable place to visit. In the downtown area, Myrtle Edwards Park, 3130 Alaskan Way W. (tel. 206/684-4075), at the north end of the waterfront, is an ideal spot for a sunset stroll with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. The park includes a 1.25-mile paved pathway.

Freeway Park, at Sixth Avenue and Seneca Street, is one of Seattle's most unusual parks. Built right on top of busy I-5, this green space is more like a series of urban plazas, with terraces, waterfalls, and cement planters creating walls of greenery. You'd never know that a roaring freeway lies beneath your feet. Unfortunately, although the park is convenient, the isolated nature of its many nooks and crannies often gives it a deserted and slightly threatening feel.

For serious communing with nature, nothing will do but Discovery Park, 3801 W. Government Way (tel. 206/386-4236). Occupying a high bluff and sandy point jutting into Puget Sound, this is Seattle's largest and wildest park. You can easily spend a day wandering its trails and beaches. The visitor center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 8:30am to 5pm. Discovery Park is a 15-minute drive from downtown; to get here, follow the waterfront north from downtown Seattle toward the Magnolia neighborhood and watch for signs to the park. When you reach the park, follow signed trails down to the beach and out to the lighthouse at the point. Although the lighthouse is only occasionally open to the public, the views from the beach make this a good destination for an hour's walk. The beach and park's bluff-top meadows both make good picnic spots.

Up on Capitol Hill, at East Prospect Street and 14th Avenue East, you'll find Volunteer Park, 1247 15th Ave. E. (tel. 206/684-4075), which is surrounded by the elegant mansions of this old neighborhood. It's a popular spot for sunning and playing Frisbee, and is home to the Seattle Asian Art Museum, an amphitheater, a water tower with a superb view of the city, and a conservatory filled with tropical and desert plants. With so much variety, you can easily spend a morning or afternoon exploring this park.

On the east side of Seattle, along the shore of Lake Washington, you'll find not only swimming beaches but also Seward Park, 5902 Lake Washington Blvd. S. (tel. 206/684-4396). This large park's waterfront areas may be its biggest attraction, but it also has a dense forest with trails winding through it. Keep an eye out for the bald eagles that nest here. The park is south of the I-90 floating bridge off Lake Washington Boulevard South. From downtown Seattle, follow Madison Street northeast and turn right onto Lake Washington Boulevard.

Near Alki Beach in West Seattle, Jack Block Park, 2130 Harbor Ave. SW (tel. 206/728-3654), is well worth a visit. The park, wedged between the port and Elliott Bay, has a .25-mile paved walkway that meanders along beside the water. The path eventually leads to a viewing tower overlooking both the water and the port. Kids will love watching all the port's cool equipment and the boats coming and going. Now, I know I've made this park sound like it's in the middle of an industrial area, but it actually has plenty of natural shoreline. For the little ones, there's even a play area that incorporates old buoys. You'll find the park adjacent to Terminal 5 on Harbor Avenue.

North Seattle has several parks worth visiting, including the unique Gas Works Park, 2101 N. Northlake Way, at Meridian Avenue North (tel. 206/684-4075), at the north end of Lake Union. In the middle of its green lawns looms the rusting hulk of an old industrial plant; the park's small Kite Hill is the city's favorite kite-flying spot.

Moving farther north, on Green Lake Drive North near Woodland Park Zoo, you'll find Green Lake Park, 7201 E. Green Lake Dr. N. (tel. 206/684-4075), a center for exercise buffs who jog, bike, and skate on its 2.8-mile paved path. It's also possible to picnic on the many grassy areas and swim in the lake (there are changing rooms and a beach with summer lifeguards).

North of the Ballard neighborhood is Golden Gardens Park, 8498 Seaview Place NW (tel. 206/684-4075), which, with its excellent views of the Olympic Mountains and its somewhat wild feeling, is my favorite Seattle waterfront park. It has great views, some small wetlands, and a short trail. Golden Gardens is best known as one of Seattle's best beaches, too, and even though the water here is too cold for swimming, the sandy beach is a pleasant spot for a sunset stroll. People often gather on summer evenings to build fires on the beach. To reach this park, drive north from the waterfront on Elliott Avenue, which becomes 15th Avenue West; after crossing the Ballard Bridge, turn left on Market Street and follow this road for about 2 miles (it will change names to become NW 54th St. and then Seaview Ave. NW).

Pole to Pole

Totem poles are the quintessential symbol of the Northwest, and although this Native American art form actually comes from farther north, there are quite a few totem poles around Seattle. The four in Occidental Park at Occidental Avenue South and South Washington Street were carved by local artist Duane Pasco. The tallest is 35-foot-tall "The Sun and Raven," which tells the story of how Raven brought light into the world. Next to this pole is "Man Riding a Whale." This type of totem pole was traditionally carved to help villagers during their whale hunts. The other two figures that face each other are symbols of the Bear Clan and the Welcoming Figure.

A block away, in the triangular plaza of Pioneer Place, you can see Seattle's most famous totem pole. This totem pole is a replacement for the plaza's original pole, which was damaged by an arsonist's fire in 1938. Seattle businessmen, on a cruise to Alaska, stole the original pole from a Tlingit village near Fort Tongass, Alaska, in 1899. According to local legend, after the pole caught fire in 1938, the city fathers sent a check to the tribe with a request for a new totem pole. The Tlingit response was, "Thanks for paying for the first one. Send another check for the replacement." The truth is far more prosaic: As part of a Civilian Conservation Corps program, the U.S. Forest Service paid Tlingit carver Charles Brown to create a new totem pole.

Up near Pike Place Market, at Victor Steinbrueck Park, which is at the intersection of Pike Place, Virginia Street, and Western Avenue, are two 50-foot-tall totem poles. To see the largest concentration of totem poles in the city, visit the University of Washington's Burke Museum. If you take the Tillicum Village tour, you'll also see totem poles outside the longhouse on Blake Island where the dinner and masked-dance performances are held.