Lunchtime Strolls

My job has me working in two separate offices. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I work at the Bastyr Clinic in the Wallingford /Fremont neighborhood. The clinic is about two miles from our house and with the fair weather I walk or ride my bike. Tuesdays and Thursdays I work on the Bastyr University campus over across Lake Washington from Seattle in Kenmore. The campus is situated next to a lush wooded state park. I've got a carpool buddy so I typically drive one day a week and then ride along the other day. Both commutes take between 20 minutes and a half hour, but I prefer the walk to other modes.

Walking up 45th in the Wallingford neighborhood in the afternoon you pass through a wonderful variety of smells - vanilla waffle cones at the ice cream shop, savory spicy pork aromas from the taco truck that never moves and always has a line, warm starchy smells of french fries sizzling in the fryers at Dick's Hamburgers (which also always has a line - whenever we drive by it's hard to resist cracking some remark like, "Wow, that's a lot of people lining up to cram some Dick's in their mouths."), sickly-sweet sticky smells from Winchell's Doughnuts (yeah, they still have one of those here), slightly mildewy-beer and cigarette carpet smell of the Irish pub always reminds me of the Shady Lady back in Jackson, the occasional stinky homeless fellow and of course, a deliciously acrid nose-tickling coffee shop every half block or so.

Since the clinic is in the city, each day after lunch I take a half-hour walk around Fremont - the neighborhood beyond the clinic in relation to the house. Today I brought my camera along and took a few photos.


Green siding peeling away to reveal red brick


Clever hanging pots - that's a bike helmet and a batting helmet. Both are apparently hung using their original straps. And how they drain!


Under the 99/Aurora Bridge looking toward the water. This was taken with my back to the famous Fremont Troll.


Bridge from another angle


Life-size fairy resting on a rooftop