Day 5: Burke-Gilman continued: Lake Forest heading to U. District

 

 Day 5 Highlights:

It’s Day 5 and I feel different. My feet have settled in and I am starting to feel as if this is my (dream) job, becoming a real Pilgrim.  If I were in Spain (not good right now because of Covid), my feet would have carried me 13.5 miles from Puenta la Reina to Estella.  My guidebook tells me that I would have “reveled in marvelous rolling agricultural views, enter history on a Roman road, and discover a wealth of churches in ‘Estella la bella’. 

What really happened is that I started before 8 am when the air was cool and the sun just warm enough and entered the never disappointing Burke-Gilman trail heading towards the university district of Seattle.  We are now in what we have learned to call the Pacific Northwest perfect summer where, for days on end, the sun comes out, the skies are clear, and the nights are cool.

As I got into my zone (3.6 miles/hour), I ran into a rude sign saying the trail was closed for “large machinery” and I had to detour. I asked the kind construction gentleman how long the detour was, and he told me.  (It wasn’t good.) 

The detour had me heading uphill, and more uphill, and turning a corner to yes, another uphill to get back to the road that runs parallel to the trail.  (Where is a European funicular when you want one?) 

As I expect it will also go on the real Camino, the detour was where the treasures and interest were found today.  I explored streets I had never walked before, saw old RV “homes” lined up on residential streets beside a new build in progress thanks to Habitat for Humanity. My GPS then led me via my favorite sign (Restrooms) to Matthews Beach Park, where I will start Day 6 and return there at the end of the day to have a dip to cool off. (If you follow the link, you will see lots of people in the web picture.  Look below to my picture - just geese.)

I reached my halfway point and turned back to enjoy more of the Burke-Gilman until, I again was met with the detour.  I huffed and sweated up what I hyperbolized as my Faux Pyrenees, and decided to just stay on city streets to cover the last miles to my car.

This second detour yielded some eclectic sightings:  an update on the Dark side (still with us but it has moved), a car decorated with many (many) plastic bags that could be interpreted as “just married” or as my friend Carol suggested, “just buried”.  And Lake City would not be Lake City without the long legs of a very tall sign advertising Lake City’s Premiere Gentlemen’s Club.

I ended this 5th Day feeling accomplished, had another socially distanced Starbucks (iced latte), filled up my car with discount gas and headed home. 

I’m grateful for your interest in what has become a deep interest for me.  Tomorrow will be my first “rest day” where Hubbie and I will drive to Mount Rainier National Park, a favourite force of nature, where I plan to walk as little as possible.

See you on Day 6.  Buen camino!




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