Adventures by Foot: Queen Anne & Magnolia - Day Five of Walking the Seattle Route

I got back to walking today after having a day off yesterday due to work. This is a difference of walking an urban route in my own city. I have other things to do in addition to walking, since I'm 'home,' and so this route is ending up taking longer than I had hoped. I started in Belltown and quickly made my way to Queen Anne. The first few blocks of steep uphill burned in my calves and my lungs. I wondered at feeling so out of shape; I had expected to be reaping rewards by this point of my earlier exercise. The day was gorgeous - clear skies and bright winter sun. The flowers have begun to bloom in parks and yards. I walked part of the day in comfortably in shirt sleeves because the day was warm and the climbs caused my upper body to soak itself in sweat. This route includes those stairways that have at least 100 steps in them, which sometimes means walking right by a stairway in search of a longer one. That happened many times on Queen Anne, and is the reason that I didn't see north Queen Anne at all today. Walking the circumference of Magnolia allowed me to see it in its entirety, how very large it is, and to walk two stairways that I certainly wouldn't have seen otherwise. They were tucked down below the grand vistas of Magnolia Blvd West. Evening fell fast while I hiked my final miles through Discovery Park, managing to find both of the long stairways hidden away deep in the park. I had arrived to start hiking by bus, and I again took the bus at the close of the day. I'm grateful for excellent public transportation.