Seattle

Parks and Recreation

Seattle's public park system extends over more than 2,024 hectares (5,000 acres). Landscape architects John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Olmsted Jr. (sons of famed planner Frederick Law Olmsted, 1822–1903) designed many of the city's parks, which today number around 400. Among the most popular parks are Waterfall Gardens (which boasts a seven-meter/22-foot waterfall in the heart of downtown); Volunteer Park (a graceful park that includes lily ponds and a conservatory); Green Lake (whose paved five-kilometer/3.2-mile path is popular with joggers and in-line skaters); Discovery Park (a 208-hectare/ 513-acre wilderness park that encompasses broad meadows, dense forests, and steep sea cliffs); and Gas Works Park (created on the former property of a gas-processing plant). Alki Beach on the shore of Puget Sound is a popular summertime site for swimming, picknicking, and volleyball.

Seattle also abounds in outstanding garden centers, including Bloedel Reserve, the Herbfarm, Kubota Gardens, Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, the University of Washington Medicinal Herb Garden, Woodland Park Rose Garden, and the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens. The Seattle Tilth Demonstration Gardens offer instruction to gardeners at all levels.

Popular outdoor pursuits in the Seattle area include bicycling, golf (with more than a dozen public courses), and hiking in the surrounding region, which includes three national parks. The city's maritime location makes an excellent location for such water sports as fishing, kayaking and canoeing, sail-boarding, and sailing.