Friday, July 25, 2025

Premier

Maybe “Seattle is dying,” but its bicycle infrastructure sure is vivacious; you can now ride all the way from Belltown down to the waterfront and onto the Elliot Bay Trail (assuming you don’t miss the entrance to it) via a protected bike lane that’s so lovely and well-marked that you feel like you’re just a tiny model of a cyclist in the architectural firm’s 3-D rendering of the project.

And maybe the path itself isn’t meant for speed; you’ve still got to snake around a bit and watch for pedestrians and electric scooters, but it sure beats taking your life into your hands as cars and trucks zoom by you on Alaskan Way underneath a crumbling viaduct.

And maybe it is fairly easy (especially when under the influence of cannabis flower, bubble hash, and sunshine) to miss the slight wiggle to stay on the trail past the ferry building, but who knew there was another pristine bicycle path to the east of the freeway that eventually reconnects farther south just where you need it to.

And maybe the first “Jack” in the traditional “Two Jack Parks” route isn’t all that spectacular of a venue, but when the sun is starting to set and so lays a flaming sheet of gold atop the surface of the Duwamish you can’t help but be a little awestruck at your good fortune to have been able to arrive their on two wheels via such a pleasant pathway.

And maybe the visit to the second of the Two Jacks isn’t unprecedented—in fact, it may be one of the MOST precedented spots—but the view of our fair city from the platform suspended above the Superfund site still never fails to amaze; lots more high-rises and a lit-up Ferris wheel that wasn’t there the first time some twenty years ago; what will it look like in another two decades?

So maybe some Thursday night on two wheels in 2045 we’ll find out.


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