Seattle Blogger

Sun starved Seattle residents love when summer arrives. The summer months are well deserved after a Fall, Winter, and Spring that blend together into one wet and cloudy season. From the moment the clouds part, Seattle is reminded that there really is a sun up there, even though it’s rarely seen. Houses and apartments are empty, and the mall doesn’t get as much traffic as it usually would. Instead, the beaches along Lake Washington and Alki Point fill up with happy Seattleites sporting beach blankets and picnic lunches.

Madison Park is a favorite spot for the types who have enough energy to swim out to the floating dock and catapult off of the diving boards, but it’s a great spot for anybody who wants to enjoy the sun and their friends. Parents accompany small children wearing their water wings, while the tattooed hipster crowd sits around a boom box playing their favorite tapes. The lifeguards ensure that everyone plays nicely in the water and that everyone is safe as they enjoy the sun.

The fact that the place is named Madison Park and not Madison Beach makes sense. Nobody minds that it’s impossible to lie directly facing the sun, or that the hill their blanket is on is actually grass, rather than a sandy beach. On a nice day, everyone tries to squeeze into the mid-sized space, and the hill is a colorful quilt made up of overlapping beach blankets. Perhaps nobody minds that the beach is grass because you can’t really see it anyway, and it does make a comfy base to lie down and flip through a magazine.

Madison Park is a community, not just a grass covered beach. If you forget to pack a picnic lunch, there are several privately owned cafes and restaurants not far from the water. You can find Mexican, Italian, and American cuisine, as well as, ice cream, pizza, and coffee within walking distance. If you packed sandwich fixings but left the mustard in the fridge, there’s a Red Apple grocery store. If you forgot your sunglasses at home, there are plenty of small shops to browse. With a Washington Mutual ATM and all of these places available, it would be hard to spoil a day out at this beach.

Since you can swim, eat, and shop all in the same place, it gets crowded, so be prepared to drive around for a few minutes to find parking. The parking that’s closest to the stores and restaurants varies between 1 and 2 hours from 8 AM to 6 PM Monday through Saturday. If you want to stay all day though, look for curbside parking in the neighborhoods surrounding the strip. There’s plenty to go around, but you have to keep an eye out and not be intimidated by parking that’s parallel because once you get your car in the spot, you’re in for a fantastic day.

I love coffee. There’s something very comforting about a hot cup of coffee on a rainy day or a bright coffee shop when you want to hang out with friends. I’m proud to live in the coffee capital of the country. I own a coffee pot, an espresso machine, a grinder, and several airtight containers of beans, yet I still insist on picking Café Ladro in Lower Queen Anne as my first choice of places to rendezvous in Seattle.

When you walk in, the first thing you see is the pastry case loaded with locally made goodies, and you're greeted by an attractive, trendy barista. People who have never been don't know this, but the line doesn't start at the register and head out to the door. It actually starts at the register and wraps next to the bar. Whenever I hear the barista say, "When you're ready, the line starts over here," I can tell that it's a tourist. That's common, actually, since Key Arena and The Seattle Center are just down the street. 

But most of the customers are clearly regulars, and the barista can call their drinks. It's amazing, and it's nice too because it feels like Cheers, that bar in the old TV show where everybody knows your name. I always recognize at least a third of the people sitting at the small marble tables, and I enjoy the familiarity of the faces and the bright orange walls that display work by a local artist. The music varies, depending on who's working, but you can expect some varied indie music or light hiphop on any given day.

I live on Lower Queen Anne, so I go to that location. There are few others in the city as well - Upper Queen Anne, Fremont, Capitol Hill, West Seattle, and Downtown. All of them are friendly, warm, and steam the best foam in the city. I'll head down there with my laptop because you get an hour of free internet with any purchase, and I've never had a problem getting more time when mine expires. When I have nothing to do, I walk down to Ladro with my travel Scrabble board or my journal because I know that something interesting will be going on and there will be someone to talk to. Seattle is bursting with coffeeshops, and I've been to many of them. Cafe Ladro is easily my favorite. You'll be impressed.