It has been several years since we could call Ballard a "sleepy burg" and keep a straight face. And sometime over the past year or two, the neighborhood northwest of downtown has gone beyond standard Seattle gentrification and reached a new level: destination.
The once working-class neighborhood is still a community unto itself. But it's also a bona-fide district of good shopping and great eating, with new and hip businesses opening up regularly on Ballard Avenue and Market Street, where parking places can be tough to find even on a weekday night.
By Rebekah Denn | February 24, 2005
Location:
Newcastle/Bellevue.
Length:
Half-mile round trip; connects to miles of trails.
Level of difficulty:
Level-to-gentle dirt/gravel trail (muddy after rains, but drier than many other trails in the park).
By Cathy McDonald | February 24, 2005
There are few things I have an easier time talking myself out of than riding my road bike outside this time of year. Obstacles abound. The rain. The cold. The wind. The cold, windy rain, too.
By Mike McQuaide | February 24, 2005
BOW, Skagit County -- Patricia Lott and Ann Marie Wood may not be able to run or climb mountains anymore, but they've found something that's given them wings to soar above their troubles.
And they want to share it.
Birding, they say, has given them back their lives.
By Greg Johnston | February 24, 2005
Hike of the Week
Hikers may differ about the best time of year to visit Mount Walker in the eastern Olympics, south of Quilcene. For solitude, winter is ideal because the hiking trail is the only approach to the summit. To see magnificent displays of rhododendrons, wait until May when the salal-covered hillsides of Mount Walker are aglow with pink. By then the Mount Walker Road is open to vehicles, so if you're not up to hiking the two-mile trail you can drive to the summit.
By Karen Sykes | February 24, 2005
