Marysville to Seattle, Washington. Sunday, April 28, 2024
I can’t think of Seattle without this song coming to mind. It was the theme song for the short-lived series Here Come the Brides starring the teeny bopper heartthrob Bobby Sherman. My sisters, tweens at the time, couldn’t get enough of him, or the show.
Seattle. The very name evokes the space age. It was named for the revered Chief Seattle, leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples, but to me, it has always signified the cutting edge. The 1962 worlds fair. The space needle. Microsoft. Boeing. Starbucks. Frazier. Grunge rock. Pike Place Market. REI. The spectacular setting on Puget sound.
My mother’s birthplace, although she moved away when she was two. Back in 1980, when I was doing my residency interviews, I was dazzled by the city, even though it was pouring the whole time (the place is famous for its rain, that theme song was ironic). The University of Washington was my first choice, but as an out-of-stater, I never had much of a chance. I matched at Mount Auburn Hospital instead, and in retrospect, I was glad UW didn’t take me, I never would’ve met Jane. Still, UW endures as the one that got away.
One more reason Seattle has a warm spot in my heart, it’s the home of two of my dearest friends, Bob Kitchell and Ann Krumboltz, and I’m delighted to be able to spend a day with each. Supposedly an easier day today, just 46 miles, but I managed to turn it into a challenge anyway. A “shortcut” turned out to be a fiasco, had to cross a series of scary, rusting metal bridges across a tangle of sloughs to get into Everett. The only bike/pedestrian access was a catwalk so narrow I had to push my bike the whole way, almost a mile. Everett itself had a long, slow hill that sucked my energy until I got on the Interurban bike trail, a challenge in itself with lots of marginally-marked turns.
But it was all good. The Burke–Gilman Trail was a stunner, one of the nation’s top rail trails, going all around Lake Washington. It went right by the UW campus, and I was happy to take a steep hill detour to get a look at its signature Drumheller fountain
and the comically massive Husky Stadium. I’m always amazed how colleges can have such huge sports venues.
The final 1/10 mile to the Kitchell’s was so crazy steep I had to push my bike and stop 10 times to catch my breath. But the best things in life are worth struggling for, their house is perched on a hill with a great view of Lake Washington, and the evening with Bob and his wife Carolyn was pure gold. A lovely meal, stories and reminiscing that took me past 10 o’clock without even realizing it. They’re both doctors, Carolyn is a pathologist, Bob and I did our residency together, and we shared our medical experiences, our families, and our great adventures.
Distance 46 miles, total 166. Time 8 hours with stops. Elevation gain 1,768 feet
©️ 2024 Scott Luria
The Ends of the Earth 