Looking for fall leaves on a family ride (Marymoor Park to Woodinville)

As a mom of boys there really is no point asking if we can go get family pictures in the beautiful autumn leaves.

This is what will happen:

“Awww….mom!” Boy #1

“Awww…mom!!!!” Boy #2

“Do we have too?” Boy #3.  The husband.

So instead I ask if we want to bike ride and then I know they’ll all say yes and I can snap photos while we ride.And I knew where we wanted to ride because a few weeks ago the hubby and I ran a gorgeous run through Woodinville with Destination Races where we each ran half a half marathon through gorgeous wineries and farmlands.  Both of us could not believe we had never been here before and we knew that this would be the perfect place to bike with the kids.

It was gorgeously sunny when we parked near Marymoor Park. We were just going to head to the park but noticed a bunch of people parking in a lot at NE 65 St and E Lake Sammamish Parkway.  So we joined in.  It saved us ONE dollar.

We mapped our destination in Google maps and just headed toward the Redhook Brewery.

And about an hour later we were there.  This trail was crowded but not as crowded as Stanley Park in Vancouver or even the trail along the Fremont Canal and it was a rare perfect spectacular sunny Sunday so I’m sure there are days it is less busy too.   We stopped for water breaks and snacks along the way and the trail pretty much followed a small canal the whole way without many roads or cross-streets.  There weren’t a lot of hills and the boys were impressed with a part in the trail that went over a bridge and circled around to the other side of water.  They liked seeing a giant eagle’s nest and looking for birds while we rode.  So this really was a perfect kids’ ride.

At Redhook Brewery we all refueled.  And there were tasty foods and drink for all.  Redhook has a lot of kids’ meal options and the kids liked watching football on the big screens while we waited.

And then we were refreshed and ready ready to ride back.  All in all we covered about 15 miles riding and I think this was our longest bike ride to date.  This is a ride we will do over and over again.  Next time I really want to revisit the Commons Cafe for lunch.

(PS. just one sad thing to note when biking with kids; we crossed a few roads while we were in Marymoor Park and we noticed that many people were not attentive while driving so it’s just something to think about when crossing streets that seem protected. One driver nearly turned into my son because he was on his cell phone and not looking while hastily trying to drive into a parking lot instead of stopping for our family who was already in the middle of the crosswalk when he sped around the corner. I screamed and a wonderful parking attendant jumped up in front of the car and my kid to get his attention. It really does take a village. Everything was okay thankfully, but we see a lot of this in Seattle when biking and it makes me pretty vigilant when riding with the kids.)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)