My first trip to Carkeek Park

Rocks on the beach at Carkeek Park, Seattle

Since I've returned from Phoenix, the weather in Seattle has been just fantastic. Blue skies, sun, short-sleeves weather. Yesterday I charged the camera batteries and Jer and I went to Carkeek Park for the first time.

The thing about parks in Seattle, which I am still getting used to, is that they're not parks in the sense I know. In southern CA, a park was a deliberate patch of land, maintained and sculpted. You could generally stand in the middle of a patch of grass and see it from end-to-end.

Parks in Seattle are on a different scale. They have nature trails. They often have educational centers. Some of them even have model airplane fields. According to Wikipedia (which I think all Internet articles should begin with as a rule), Carkeek Park is 216 acres, nearby Discovery Park in Magnolia is 534 acres, and Lincoln Park in West Seattle is 135 acres.

You can get lost in a Seattle park. That is some serious nature.

It seemed an awful waste to ignore this weather opportunity, so I charged the camera batteries and Jer and I made a trip to Carkeek Park. My first, his second. When we arrived I handed him my trusty Nikon D70, I picked up my D700, and I gave him his first lesson on shooting manual.

It went very well and we will likely do it again. The next place I'd like to vist is Saint Edward State Park in Kenmore, WA. It's only 316 acres but for some reason it gets to be a state park.

My quest is to find out what makes it so special. And also to take a lot of pictures.