Location: Queen Anne/Central Seattle
Address: 211 West Highland Drive
Acreage: 1.26
You know a park has a special appeal when even on a drizzly Monday afternoon visitors take their time soaking in the views oblivious to the weather.
That’s how it is with Queen Anne’s Kerry Park.
A popular stop on the “what to do with out-of-town visitors” tour, Kerry Park is worth the cliche. Its location on the south end of Queen Anne gives it the perfect position for views of downtown Seattle, Bainbridge Island and the Olympics.
It doesn’t matter how many times I visit, I always have a hard time pulling myself away from the view. And, on our visit today, a couple of handfuls of tourists are doing the same, taking picture after picture of themselves with the Space Needle in the background. Ah, the quintessential Seattle souvenir.
Many people probably don’t even notice that Kerry Park also has a lower section that includes a well-maintained grassy area, a half basketball court (also in use on this rainy day) and a wonderful playground that features the coolest slide I’ve seen at a park so far. It looks like it was built into the natural slope, shooting kids from the playground above down onto the grass a good distance below.
A great way to visit the park is by starting in the lower section and then climbing the stairs to take in the views above. You can also continue from Kerry Park walking west on Highland Drive past elegant older homes toward another couple of great Seattle parks, which I’ll write about next.
#8 (Visited 8/10/09)