The Rural Life: King County’s Scenic Small Towns

The King County Web site has recently uploaded several short videos on the scenic small towns of Snoqualmie, Fall City, and Duvall.

Snoqualmie
The city of Snoqualmie is best known as the home to Snoqualmie Falls and the Northwest Railway Museum. Until recently, logging and Weyerhaeuser's milling operations were the mainstays of the local economy. Currently, the city's scenic and recreational attractions are fostering the growth of a growing tourism industry.

Fall City
Located 26 miles east of Seattle on I-90, Fall City sits at the confluence of the Snoqualmie River and the Raging River. In the early days of the automobile, Fall City was a popular stopping off point for travelers going across Snoqualmie Pass. These days, travelers head to the stunning collection of tree houses at Treehouse Point.

Duvall
The town of Duvall was named after Francis and James Duvall, who were early settlers of the area in the 1870s. Railroads and logging were the main industry of the town until the 1930s. After that, dairy farming took on a greater role. Today, Duvall is known for the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, which is popular with bicyclists and walkers.

For more info on rural areas in King County, see Rural services.

movies @ marymoor: Seeing Stars Under the Stars

Wednesday night outdoor movies at Marymoor Park continue through the month of August 2010. Seating opens at 7:00 pm, with the movie starting at dusk. Here’s the lineup for August:

The Blind Side
Wed, August 4th

The Neverending Story
Wed, August 11th

Star Trek (2009)
Wed, August 18th

The Princess Bride
Wed, August 25th

For more info, see movies @ marymoor on the King County Web site.

Movie Screen
The movie screen is a large inflatable outdoor cinema system. The projection surface is 40’ wide by 22.5’ high, which provides a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Green Holidays: Tips on D-ECO-rating

Festive doesn’t have to mean wasteful. Green can be your holiday color as well as your way of life. This year the King County EcoConsumer team has expanded their Green Holidays resources to offer new and innovative ideas to green up your celebrations. Here are some of their suggestions:

Eco-tastic Holiday Decor
Energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) or solar-powered lights add a sleek look to your holiday decorations, and may save you $30 or more on your winter electric bill. Make sure your cut tree gets composted and turned into mulch after the holidays. Consider a living tree. These potted Christmas trees, available at many nurseries, are usually smaller than cut trees.

Wrap It Up, Sent It Out
Wrap presents in old calendars, maps, posters, sheet music, wallpaper scraps, kids’ drawings or the Sunday color comics section of the newspaper. Consider wrapping a kitchen gift in a kitchen towel to make the packaging part of the present.

Give It Up 
Draw names for family giving so everyone just gives one person a gift instead of buying for everyone. Nearly every family who switches to this method loves it! Pick a friend who you know will be receptive, and agree not to exchange gifts. Go out for dinner or drinks instead. If you're not sure what to give someone, gift cards can be a greener gift rather than just taking a wild guess at what they want. The recipient gets exactly what they desire, which usually reduces waste.

The Interurban Trail: A Ride Along the Rails

The Interurban Trail is a paved 14-mile recreational trail linking Tukwila, Kent, Auburn, Algona, and Pacific. When completed, the trail will extend south through Pacific, across the county line into Sumner and Puyallup where it will connect with the Pierce County Foothills Trail and the planned Edgewood/Milton Interurban Trail.

The following map section shows the portion of the Interurban Trail between Kent and Auburn. You can find trail maps on King County's new interactive Bike Map, or the new Mobile Bike Map (updated May 2012). For info on King County trails, see Regional Trails in King County.

The Interurban Trail passes through a variety of industrial landscapes, such as this old cement plant in Tukwila:

The Interurban Trail is popular with bicycling teams, who use this very straight trail for training rides.

The trail occupies an abandoned Puget Sound Electric Railway corridor. However, the BNSF rail line next to it is very much in use, and you’ll pass hundreds of freight cars.

In fact, along certain sections of the Interurban Trail you’ll have to be careful, as railroad tracks cut across the trail. Fortunately, these sections are well marked with warning signs about remote controlled locomotives!

Green River Trail Intersection
When you cross the Green River bridge at South 260th Street in Kent, you’ll find that the Interurban Trail intersects with the Green River Trail — another great trail to ride.

Other Blog Postings on Trails
Here’s a list of other Redmond Library blog postings on regional trails:

Marymoor Connector Trail Partly Open

The Tolt Pipeline Trail

Snohomish County Bike Trails: Centennial Trail

King County Bike Trails: Sammamish River Trail

King County Bike Trail Maps

The Columbia Branch Library: Small is Beautiful

The Columbia Branch is one of the smallest libraries in the Seattle Public Library. Located in Columbia City, the 6,825 square foot library was built in 1915 in the Georgian Revival style of architecture. The library was constructed with funds donated by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

In 2004, the Columbia Branch was expanded to twice its original size. The new portion of the building extends from the back of the original structure, maintaining the building’s original street presence.

The renovated Columbia Branch serves the neighborhood’s multicultural community with materials in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Somali, Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tagalog, as well as many materials designed to help people learning English as a second language.

Large fan windows flood the high-ceilinged rooms with plenty of light.

Getting to Columbia City
Columbia City is easy to get via Sound Transit Light Rail. Interestingly, in 1937 the original streetcar line in Columbia City was taken out of service. The community celebrated the removal of the rails with a three-day festival.

The Historic Walking Tour Map is a great resource for exploring the 37 different historic sites and buildings that make up Columbia City.

Other Blog Postings on Libraries
Here’s a list of other Redmond Library blog postings on libraries:

The Black Diamond: A Library Connecting with the Past

The Suzzallo Library: A Case Study of Collegiate Gothic Architecture

Coulon Park: Dressed for Spring

The bronze sculpture of three persons, entitled Interface, at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton is often decorated according to the season. Spring brings out flowery outfits, while fall brings out Halloween costumes.

The life-size sculpture is the work of Phillip Levine, who tried to capture the smooth walking style of pedestrians. Soon after Coulon Park’s creation, Levine’s sculpture was chosen for the park in 1982. Think of it as the Eastside’s version of the Waiting for the Interurban statue in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.

About Coulon Park
Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park is a 55-acre park at the southeast corner of Lake Washington. The swimming beach at the park opens for the season in mid-June. For details, visit the City of Renton site, Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park.

King County EcoConsumer: Educating the Public About Conservation

The King County Solid Waste Division promotes public education about environmental protection through its King County EcoConsumer program. This program deals with the environmental impact of our daily activities, including purchasing decisions. The EcoConsumer Waste Calculator and the Eco-Cool Remodel Tool are interactive tools you can use to educate yourself about the impact of your decisions on the environment.

EcoConsumer Waste Calculator
The EcoConsumer Waste Calculator shows how everyday simple acts, such as discarding a plastic bottle, transform into a major impact when multiplied by a large population. For example, if each household in King County receives 30 magazines and catalogs per month, 72,319 tons of discarded paper is generated. That’s enough to fill 343 747s!

Eco-Cool Remodel Tool
The Eco-Cool Remodel Tool takes you on a tour through a virtual house and shows you ways to make your next home remodel a greener project.

For example, you can click on the kitchen area and learn 7 facts about creating a greener kitchen:

Here’s a useful fact about refrigerators — in general, refrigerators with freezers on top use up to 25% less energy than side-by-side models.

Here’s another — since a refrigerator works most efficiently when it’s full, buy one that fits your needs.

There’s plenty of other useful information and links to resources on the EcoConsumer site, including a Twitter feed.

Other Blog Postings on Environmental Topics
Here’s a list of other Redmond Library blog postings on environmental topics:

KCLS Offers Eco-Friendly Bags

infoGreen: Green information in the KCLS collection

An online guide to noxious weeds in King County

SR 520: Major Construction and Repaving in 2009

Drivers face a jarring bump at overpasses where the asphalt meets concrete bridges. Along SR 520, the asphalt road is settling and crumbling in places and it’s time for WSDOT to upgrade the roadway. Asphalt is a weaker material that is more vulnerable to water and freezing damage than sturdier concrete.

This project replaces the crumbling asphalt with new concrete slabs where the road meets the concrete overpasses. Other parts of the route will be repaved to extend the life of the road.

Construction will occur between I-405 in Bellevue and West Lake Sammamish Parkway in Redmond. New concrete sections will be built between March and May 2009 near five overpass bridges. The mainline highway will be repaved in summer 2009.

Weekend Closures
Weekend closures are planned for up to eight weekends in March and April, and possibly May. One lane will remain open on westbound or eastbound SR 520 between I-405 and West Lake Sammamish Parkway.

Nighttime Lane Closures
Nighttime lane closures are planned during the summer paving months, roughly May through August 2009. One lane will remain open to traffic during construction.

More Info
For more info on the SR 520 construction and repaving project, click here.

Gold Creek Pond: An Easy Snowshoe Hike

Gold Creek Pond is an ideal destination for an hour-long snowshoe hike. The scenery is impressive and it’s easy to get to. It’s right off Exit 54 on I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass. In the photo below, snow covers the pond — Rampart Ridge is to the right, and Kendall Peak is to the left.

The first part of the hike follows a fire road that takes you to a parking area that is closed in the winter.

From here, the loop around the pond is about a mile. Probably not a good idea to hike across the pond!

It might be a little tricky to cross some of the snow-covered foot bridges. However, snowshoeing with a couple of ski poles helps a lot.

There’s not much wildlife to see during the winter, except for a hungry Gray Jay or two.

Driving Directions
From Seattle take Interstate 90 east and exit at Exit 54 (Hyak-Gold Creek). Go left under the freeway and turn right onto the Gold Creek frontage road (Forest Service Road 4832) and drive about a mile until you’re near the gate. You’ll need a Sno-Park pass to park in designated Sno-Park areas. For more info, see Washington State Sno-Park Permits.

Enjoy your visit!

Historic Murals: A Walk Along Bothell’s Past

Walk into the past in downtown Bothell. Just off Main Street, you can view a series of historic murals depicting Bothell’s early days. These large murals shows Bothell as a settlement in the late 1800s that was reached by river boats and horse-drawn wagons. In time, the railroad would connect Bothell with Seattle, and farming would begin to replace logging.

The original Bothell historic murals were created in 1989 as part of the Washington Centennial project. The murals were painted on the side of a City building. However, after the building was destroyed, a group of artists banded together to re-create the murals. If you’re wondering why the murals lack a lot of color, it’s because the murals were painted in a sepia color scheme to match the old photographs that the murals were based on.

To View the Murals
You can view the murals at the 18100 block of 101st Ave NE in Bothell, WA. Click here to view the location using Google Street View. You can also view a slideshow of the murals on the Redmond Library's Photostream on flickr.