Despite all the turmoil surrounding West Seattle residents' ability to get to or through downtown on the Alaskan Way Viaduct or Interstate 5, West Seattleites still have a considerable advantage to some other city neighborhoods in getting around town.

Take for instance our two sets of "back" streets which take us either to Sea-Tac Airport or the general Southcenter area. From nearly anywhere in West Seattle it's a breeze to get to White Center, or hook up to West Marginal Way. From White Center or West Marginal Way, it's a literal piece-of-cake to get to the SR 509 expressway. From there the airport is less than 10 minutes and Southcenter (via the SR 518 access) is a modest 5 to 10 minutes more.

Next time you feel left out of the transportation game, remember that you're generally less than 20 minutes away from Sea-Tac, and generally less than 30 minutes away from Southcenter. No one else in Seattle has this time advantage for destinations in the South End. We do and it's not just with the SR 509-SR 518 combination. West Seattleites can take Delridge and follow it through 16th Avenue as it becomes Ambaum and, using S 154th - S 156th streets, also get to the airport and Southcenter in nearly the same time as using the expressways.

West Seattle Advantage on Rainy Days: Now that fall has made its arrival obvious, West Seattleites can comfort themselves in the knowledge that Alki and Harbor Avenues are once again, more-or-less, local streets and not the cruising avenues they become in Summer. With that in mind, one of the best uses of a dreary rain-soaked morning is to drive down to Alki, park you car in the now-available spots along the beach, and head over to Alki Bakery for a morning bagel, roll or other locally-made treat, get a coffee or tea, and sit by the window facing Elliott Bay, Puget Sound, the hills of Magnolia and Queen Anne, and watch the rain and wind play out their games on the water.

It's a comfortable hour one could spend at Alki Bakery, or any of the other restaurants or coffee shops along the avenue. If you're a businessperson, Alki is one of the best locations in the peninsula to hold a morning meeting. You get out of the office, it takes a scant five to ten minutes to get to Alki, park, and meet your party at whichever restaurant or coffee shop you coordinated on, and have your meeting with an incredible backdrop in a neighborhood which once again belongs pretty uniquely to West Seattle. The environment and mood of the locations on Alki set a calm and completely Northwest backdrop for whatever business you're about to conduct.

If you're self-employed or one of the many stay-at-home parents in West Seattle, the diversion of taking the kids or your laptop to Alki works wonders on both your sense of perspective and on eliminating the feeling that somehow you're "trapped" in the house or with the kids. There are plenty of diversions to keep any kids occupied and plenty of locations offering free or affordable WiFi to conduct laptop business with.

Walking Across the Peninsula: Did you know, you probably did, that West Seattle has some of the city's longest stair-steps connecting streets on different levels. One you may not have known about is just east of the newly opened High Point neighborhood. Walk from 35th Avenue east on S.W. Graham Street, it's open now. Follow the winding path Graham makes as it snakes through the new homes and follow the sidewalk east towards the woods.

There's a steep set of stairs, with guardrail, which lead down from there to Longfellow Creek. You can cross the creek on an elevated path and continue east. Cross Delridge at the nice gateway to Longfellow Creek watershed and head for the baseball field across the street. Cross the ball field and head up the stairs (they'll be visible once you're near the back of the ball field). Follow the street through the next several ridges (part of the Puget Ridge section of the peninsula). Keep following the trail or sidewalk and keep heading east. You'll begin to recognize the landscape once you pass through the little tucked-away residential area at 18th and 17th Avenues SW. Climb the final steps to 16th Avenue Southwest and you'll find yourself right across the street from South Seattle Community College.

While at (the college), enjoy the alpine rock and tree garden on the north end and check out the work being done on the Chinese garden. Stop in at the Alhadef Cooking School's bakery and treat yourself to one of their simply outrageous and affordable cookies, cakes or tarts.

There's a group of residents and neighborhood councils working on this and other cross-peninsula trails. If you've got ideas for an east-west link across West Seattle let us know.

Chas Redmond

Lincoln Park