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One day vacation: Beach vacation doesn’t require a sunny, summer day

Destination: Alki Beach

As Washingtonians, we know that going to the beach is not always about sun. Sometimes it is about a great winter walk or finding the perfect bakery with a view or about getting an early glimpse of Spring.

Located across Elliott Bay from downtown Seattle, Alki Beach Park offers a 2.5-mile walking path that meanders along a great seawall that overlooks a sandy beach. Walking (or biking or skating) along this path you get great views of the city, you get to go by an obelisk commemorating the arrival of the first European settlers and see a replica of the Statue of Liberty, one of 100 remaining “Little Sisters of Liberty” still remaining in our country. At one end of the path is Alki Point where we visited the Alki Point Lighthouse, which is one of eight lighthouses in the Puget Sound that is open to the public.

In order to keep up our strength, we visited Pegasus Pizza for an elaborate lunch of gourmet pizza. Tom’s Special is our favorite menu item because it features so many great ingredients including spinach, olives, diced tomatoes, garlic, sunflower seeds and shredded pepperoni. After some more walking, we found our way back to Alki Bakery. This place is a perennial favorite with our family because it always manages to feel like a lazy Sunday morning even when it’s not Sunday. Plus, the baked goods are amazing.

Here are some details to make your trip to Alki an adventure no matter what season it is:

Spud Fish & Chips

2666 Alki Ave. SW

Seattle, WA 98116

206-938-0606

Spud Fish & Chips has been serving fish and chips on Alki since 1935. Although the business was sold to Seattle’s fast fish conglomerate, Ivar’s, a few years back, the name and the menu have remained the same. The lines for food can reach around the block. Get yours to go, and walk across the street to the beach for a picnic.

Pegasus Pizza & Pasta

2770 Alki Ave SW

Seattle, WA 98116

206-932-4849

www.pegasusonalki.com/

Alki Bakery

2738 - Alki Ave SW

Seattle, Washington 98116

206-935-1352

Alki Point Lighthouse

3201 Alki Ave SW

Built in 1913 and still maintained by the Coast Guard, the lighthouse has been fully automated since 1984. Inside the house, you can see old instruments, photographs, and charts of Puget Sound. Admission is free. Tours of the lighthouse are offered from 12-3:30 May thru September on weekends and most major holidays.

The Birthplace of Seattle Monument

This obelisk marks the place where Seattle’s first European settlers, the Denny party, arrived on Alki Beach in 1851. They were helped through their first winter by a band of the Duwamish people, led by Chief Seattle. The settlers named the area New York-Alki. Alki is a native word meaning “by and by”, and the settlers chose it to reflect their hope that the new settlement would grow to achieve the size and importance of New York City. After one winter camped on the beach, most of the party moved across Elliott Bay, to the less exposed shores of Seattle’s current waterfront.

SeaLady

This smaller version of the Statue of Liberty, placed here by the Boy Scouts of America in 1952, sits across from 60th Avenue Southwest on Alki Ave. The Seattle Statue of Liberty Plaza where this “Little Sister of Liberty” sits was completed and unveiled in September 2008.

www.sealady.org

The Alki Bathhouse Art Studio

2701 Alki Avenue SW

206-684-7430

This converted 1911 bathhouse located right on the beach, offers offers pottery classes for parents and children; ongoing drawing, pottery, ceramics, and painting classes for grade-schoolers and teens - as well as one-day workshops - and open studio time for artists of all levels and interests.

As a lifelong Puyallup resident, Sally Zeiger Hanson has been taking One Day Vacations here in the Puget Sound for years. To join the conversation about the fun that can be had close to home, contact he at:sallyzeigerhanson@gmail.com or on her blog at htt