Walking journeys are aiiiteee

Yesterday, Saturday, I walked all the way from my apartment in Capitol Hill to Mox Boarding House on Ballard. A two hour journey on a terribly cold night, possibly the coldest for the year. My other options for travel were: taking the public transport, a train and a bus, which would be cheap but take fifty-five minutes, or take a shared taxi, which would get me there in 20 mins but take fourty-five dollars. It made sense to just walk all the way because nothing else did.

There was the need to get my 10k steps out of the way too, and if I'd wasted all that time in walking and then taken an hour in public transport getting there it'd have been a bit silly no. So I combined both of those, got all the way to South Lake Union, walked by the West Lake avenue, crossed the Ballard Bridge (and not the Ballard locks, which I should cross one of those days, once my knee is more supportive) and walked in the boonies of Ballard, the bikepath that goes by the Industrial district of the area. A surprise for me: why does Ballard even have an industrial district, right next to the beautiful river at this day and age, shouldn't all of that industrial land be zoned for housing and have multi-storey apartments built so people can live closer to Seattle proper for cheap while getting to live by the river? And oh the bike-path that I walked on, why does it go through such sketchy area, why has nobody proposed to gentrify the crap out of it anyway?

My first trip to Seattle, I planned on walking all the way to Bellevue (and possibly, back, but that was just an idea). That didn't happen on account of me being lazy, running late, and also not wanting to smell like sweat and grime by the time I got there, it was a date of sorts. At least of of the attendants thought so anyway, and the other party showed up willingly knowing how the other side felt, so we will leave it at that. But the walk didn't happen, though I have made multiple trips cross-town in this city on foot. And it always impresses people, even if the train-ride would have been 15 minutes, I walk for an hour and a half, and people are surprised and wowed that I walked all the way. It's not a big deal. Got my earbuds, got my audiobooks and podcasts, and the two feet, the great biological machines, the unyielding engines that they are, move. All you have to do is move one foot after another until your body gives up, but long before that you get to the destination. It's no big deal.

Walking, after a point, isn't a hobby, or one of the many things one does. It becomes a lifestyle choice, the way you shape your body, your daily activities, and your social structure. It's a part of life.And soon it incorporates other aspects of life into itself, like going for board games.