Kenmore Undressed

How I Spent My Sunday Morning: The Bicycling Realtor

Meet your intrepid bicycling adventurers, Virginia my wife and yours truly, James the Bicycling Realtor:

Virginia and I have been tandem bicycling since 1990 and there’s nothing we enjoy more than taking a ride on the bike from our home in Kenmore and doing what we call the mezzo-lake ride: we start in Kenmore, head south to the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and then travel north back to Kenmore. This morning we took off at around 8:00 and got back home at 12:00. We’ve done this ride numerous times and there is always some surprise along the way. So what follows are photos of our short adventure. What you’re going to find is that bicycling is the perfect way to experience communities in a very intimate way. As a Realtor, it’s refreshing to look at homes from a bike. One can see how the house relates to the yard and the street. You can smell the neighborhood and hear the sounds. All-too-often we pass through other peoples’ neighborhoods in our cars hardly taking notice of how things fit together. We don’t have a chance to smile at an owner working in the front yard. We pass through anonymously.

At the intersecton of State Highway 522 and 80th Ave. NE (1 mile south of our home) there has been a huge construction project to upgrade the road. It really is amazing to see the size of this project.

We then head east on the Burke-Gilman Trail to Wayne Public Golf Course and then travel south into Juanita:

We continue south (uphill) to Downtown Kirkland. On the we pass by a wildlife refuge on Lake Washington:

Our big surprise today was reaching Downtown Kirkland and bumping into a huge car show. Check these beauties out:

Fortunately, the only fatality we witnessed today was the Wicked Witch of the West. Poor gal. After drooling over some wonderful cars we continued on our way.

From Kirkland, we head bicycle up an unpleasant hill into Downtown Bellevue.

Virginia loves this portion of the ride because we pass by one of the areas most elegant malls: Bellevue Square. Too bad we didn’t have a chance to stop today (ya, right!!). We continue through Bellevue and finally reach one of the best part of the ride: the I-90 floating bridge. The I-90 path starts in the Bellevue neighborhood of Enatai:

We head west onto Mercer Island and then reach the west point of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. About 2 miles across, this is a wonderfully refreshing stretch of road. We are fortunate to have a bike lane on such a unique stretch of road.

At the west end of the bridge the auto traffic enters the Mt. Baker Tunnel which heads into Downtown Seattle. We continue by heading north on our way back home. We head along Lake Washington Blvd. through the neighborhoods of Leschi, Madrona, Madison and then hook over through the Seattle Aboretum and then over the Montlake Bridge.

It’s then past Husky Stadium at the University of Washington where Virginia must give the mascot a hug:

We usually stop at University Village for a coffee at Starbucks. University Village is one of the most charming shopping centers in the area.

After our caffene fix, we head north on 25th Avenue NE through such neighborhoods as Bryant, Ravenna, Lake City, Lake Forest Park and finally we’re back home in Kenmore.

Today was perfect for a bicycle ride. The weather was clear and comfortable. We didn’t encounter too much traffic on either the Burke-Gilman Trail or on the roads. Over the years, Virginia and I have logged literally thousands of miles on our tandem. It’s one of the most powerful and enjoyable way to enjoy bicycling together.