Fitness Walking Through Fremont

 

5/2/25 Fremont neighborhood

This chunk of the Berlin Wall stands outside Milstead & Company Coffee.

Now that the weather is improving, I’m hoping to take more fitness walks in other neighborhoods. Fremont was the first to come to mind: While it has plenty of fun things to sketch, it’s also a bit of a pain to get to because parking is scarce. My solution was to park in Wallingford, where the neighborhood streets offer plenty of free, unlimited parking, and then walk the easy 20 minutes to Fremont.

In addition to sketching a couple of my favorite Fremont icons (the Troll and J. P. Patches & Gertrude), I discovered a small P-Patch that’s difficult to see unless you climb up to the Aurora Bridge pedestrian overpass.

The highlight was taking a break at Milstead & Company Coffee, which has outdoor seating with a fantastic view of the Aurora Bridge. I wished I had left more than a couple square inches of space for it on my sketchbook spread, but I also didn’t want to start a fresh page and break the continuity of the “story.” I’d like to come back some day to sketch the same scene larger, but Milstead must be the only coffee shop in Seattle that doesn’t offer decaf! I suppose I’ll have to make a special trip first thing in the morning.

Overall, the afternoon was ideal: Good weather, fun sketches and fitness walking achieved!