During that string of sunny days last week we did a leisurely half-day, 7.6 mile loop in West Seattle, starting from our front door. We had just caught an episode of "Bird Note" on NPR about the annual return of the many Swallow species, and we wanted to head out in search of the largest of these, the Purple Martin. This bird is impressive to us partly because of the epic migration it makes, all the way up from the Amazon River Basin. Jack Block Park has a row of roomy artificial "gourds" hung high off a pier above Elliott Bay, to give these birds a place to start families after their long journey, so we decided to make the park our ultimate destination.
Jack Block Park is a little obscure, and therefore uncrowded, which adds to the attraction. You can climb stairs and walkways to a viewing platform with 360-degree views - of ships loading at Terminal 5, the downtown skyline, and the Olympics across the Sound.
We didn't see any Purple Martins, but as always on a stairway walk, lots of cool things caught our eye.
