Birds and a Band and the Sun

Sunday, November 1 was stunningly beautiful and sunny, unusual for this time of year in Seattle. My partner and I started out for a ride to the trail behind the Center for Urban Horticultural (CUH). We started off wearing layers, for warmth, necessary despite the sunshine. The map of the CUH showed the path to be for "pedestrians and bicyclists", but once we got there, it was clear that most of the people there, on that sunny day, were birders, so we walked our bikes on part of the mile-long loop trail, whenever somebody with binoculars stopped and searched the bush or trees. The whole area behind UW's athletic fields used to be a garbage dump, created on fill dirt. So it's basically a large filled-in estuary, and is now considered a wildlife area, with lots of little ponds. A great blue heron stood, sunning herself as we rode by one of the ponds. After we left the CUH trail, we passed by UW's soccer field, where the Huskies band was huskily warming up for a performance. By this time (and in this place--behind the band's bleacher area, where the players got full value of the blaring November sun), we were able to remove our outer layers, because we were so warm! Then, back onto the Burke Gilman, and we had to re-coat ourselves. Total mileage: 13.6 miles