Swimming in Puget Sound isn’t for the faint-hearted, but frigid waters aside, the shore turns into a perfect promenade on summer days like this last Sunday. The tide was heading out so the air smelled deeply of ocean. The sky was very clear (we’ve had a fair bit of rain over the last week) so the mountains were sharp on the horizon. The strip was a regular UN of languages; I heard Russian, Italian, Chinese, and a fair bit of Spanish. The beach volleyball courts were all in use and the bike lanes full of pedal surreys. Walking along the shore, there were places where it smelled like BBQ or sunscreen and sometimes, of Washington’s now legal weed.
I visited with a friend, slurped a coffee bubble tea (how do those three words add up to something delicious?), and then rode my bike home along Beach Drive. The lighthouse was open for tours and I almost stopped, but a nap was calling me. I ended up stopping anyway because when I came around a bend, I saw two bald eagles picking their way through the rocks exposed by the low tide.
In the winter it’s easy to forget how great West Seattle is. But when summer comes, I can’t believe this is where I get to live.
Beautiful piece of writing. I just read this out loud to my daughter. So evocative.