Day 45-The long way to Bellevue

I was invited to Bellevue this evening to a bon voyage party.  The most direct route available to bikes would be just under 14 miles, via the I-90 floating bridge.  Taking The Evergreen Point floating bridge would be significantly shorter, but bikes aren't allowed on that bridge. (One would think that with Seattle being home base for the largest bike club in the US that SDOT wouldn't be able to build bridges that didn't have facilities for bikes..........  but I digress)  Last night the weather was predicted to be wet today, but by early afternoon it still looked quite nice.  I decided to forgo the bridge and go for bonus miles by riding around the north end of Lake Washington. I'd end up with 29 miles.

I rolled down Queen Anne and crossed the Fremont Bridge then followed the Burke-Gilman Trail along Lake Washington. The temperature was in the low 50's but one didn't have to look too far to see snow.

As I arrived in Kenmore I stopped for a quick sandwich.  After the brief stop I continued along my way.  When I arrived at Wayne Golf Course in Bothell, I left the trail and started riding my road bike on roads. I pedaled along until I reached Juanita Bay then stopped for this photo op.

Throughout the late 1800's until 1916 this was a bustling steamer landing. Sleepy Juanita was then the center of activity for the east shore of Lake Washington.  In 1916, the Montlake Cut was completed, the level of Lake Washington dropped nearly 9 ft, the Black River, the original outflow for Lake Washington was left high and dry, salt water Salmon Bay became a freshwater shipping canal, and Juanita Bay a wetland,  no longer deep enough to support steamships.

I took the old bridge over the former bay, now wetlands, which is now only open to pedestrians and bicycles.  I stopped to read every one of the informational signs. ;-)

My route had been straight south since turning at Wayne Golf Course, but now took a couple of squiggles at Marina Park in Kirkland. The taller buildings of Seattle could be seen in the distance across Lake Washington.

I had just 6 miles to go before reaching Meydenbauer Bay, my destination.  I arrived just as the sun set, 4:18 PM.

The 45th consecutive day on the bike was pretty darn nice!

...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today............29...............0..............0...............0..............29 Jan.............710...............0..............0...............0............710
Feb............ 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ..........701...............0..............0...............0............701
April...........749...............0..............0...............0............749
May.............613...............0..............0...............0............613
June............309...............0..............0...............0............309
July............615...............0..............0...............0............615
August..........359...............0..............0...............0............359
Sept............292...............0..............0...............0............292
Oct.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............650...............0..............0...............0............650
Dec..............276.................0..............0...............0...........276 Total..........6462...............0..............0...............0...........6462