Waterfront Foot & Bicycle Paths

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

Very pleasant weather between rain showers, and people are out and about enjoying the sunshine this weekend. Along the Myrtle Edwards Park/Elliott Bay Bike Trail below the Olympic Sculpture Park they have improved pedestrian and bicycle path system. It's unusual to see a cyclist here in Seattle riding without a helmet, but perhaps this fellow out running his dog feels very confident of his own safety on this long stretch of bike-only smooth surface. An experienced commuter cyclist we know riding in West Seattle this week was glad it is his habit to wear his helmet because he went down, very hard without warning, and seriously broke quite a few bones and cracked his helmet which took the head blow for him. Most cyclists we know have had very close calls or even been hit by cars or gone down with a pretty bad road rash to show for it. Recreational riding like that pictured here is not as prone to accidents, but I think I would always wear my helmet, nonetheless. When we were riding around Paris we noticed very few people using helmets, and the rental place didn't require that we wear them.

It is Earthday here in the USA, an observance that started back in the early 1970s. Seattle prides itself for innovations in green building practices, its household and commercial recycling efforts, and other environmental endeavors; but, Seattlites would be the first to tell you we've got a long way to go on issues like transportation and the plight of wild Salmon. The Pacific Northwest is a region of the US and Canada that is acutely aware of environmental issues and the struggles to change damaging practices such as clear cutting forests and non-organic agricultural practices. Seattle "Seattle Daily Photo" bicycle "bike path" waterfront "OlympicSculpture Park" sunset outdoors Earthday helmet" dog people