Downtown Spokane - Riverfront Park
May. 21st, 2021 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerInland Empire Travelog #14
Spokane, Washington - Sun, 16 May 2021. 1:30pm.
"Let's go sightseeing in downtown Spokane, Washington," probably does not sound like a fascinating idea to most people. That's largely because a lot of people probably don't know enough geography even to know where/what Spokane is (it's a city of 225,000 in a metro area of almost 600,000 in eastern Washington state), and very few are aware that there's a lovely park right at the center of town on the falls of the Spokane River. It was the site of the 1974 World's Fair.
![The castle-like Holiday Inn Express in Spokane, WA [May 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/724939/724939_original.jpg "The castle-like Holiday Inn Express in Spokane, WA [May 2021]")
We began our trek from the castle-like Holiday Inn Express downtown, where we stayed last night. We left our car with its wobbly 50/50 spare tire in the parking lot to walk to the park. It was only a few blocks away. That was one of the reasons we chose this hotel. Another was that we liked the exterior design, including its perch atop a natural rock outcropping a block above the Spokane River. (A third was that the night was free using a voucher from an IHG credit card Hawk owns.)
After descending one block to the river we walked 2-3 blocks along the riverfront then crossed over a foot bridge to an island in the middle of the Spokane River. Actually there are two islands here, and they make up most of the park.
![Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA [May 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/724424/724424_original.jpg "Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA [May 2021]")
The park was quiet in the morning hours on Sunday. There were handfuls of tourists out enjoying the immaculate weather and lots of geese and ducks. We crossed the island to the center of town. The picture above shows the clock tower on the island.
![Riverfront Park and falls in Spokane, WA [May 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/724684/724684_original.jpg "Riverfront Park and falls in Spokane, WA [May 2021]")
As the Spokane River splits around these islands it crashes down a series of falls. A small tram (seen in the picture above) takes passengers on a short ride from the upper level, down near the falls, and back. We thought about riding the tram, but it wasn't open until later in the morning. Instead we walked down past the falls, using the stairs and railings also visible in the picture above, then climbed back up to the top and crossed over the gorge on the Monroe Street Bridge (far left).
Crossing the big bridge took us back to the north side of the river, blocks from where we started, but we crossed a footbridge back onto the islands again. We made sure we saw everything... everything that wasn't closed to construction, anyway. And it lengthened our walk. By the time we trudged back up the hotel hill, hot and tired, we'd walked almost 5 miles. Time for lunch!
Spokane, Washington - Sun, 16 May 2021. 1:30pm.
"Let's go sightseeing in downtown Spokane, Washington," probably does not sound like a fascinating idea to most people. That's largely because a lot of people probably don't know enough geography even to know where/what Spokane is (it's a city of 225,000 in a metro area of almost 600,000 in eastern Washington state), and very few are aware that there's a lovely park right at the center of town on the falls of the Spokane River. It was the site of the 1974 World's Fair.
We began our trek from the castle-like Holiday Inn Express downtown, where we stayed last night. We left our car with its wobbly 50/50 spare tire in the parking lot to walk to the park. It was only a few blocks away. That was one of the reasons we chose this hotel. Another was that we liked the exterior design, including its perch atop a natural rock outcropping a block above the Spokane River. (A third was that the night was free using a voucher from an IHG credit card Hawk owns.)
After descending one block to the river we walked 2-3 blocks along the riverfront then crossed over a foot bridge to an island in the middle of the Spokane River. Actually there are two islands here, and they make up most of the park.
The park was quiet in the morning hours on Sunday. There were handfuls of tourists out enjoying the immaculate weather and lots of geese and ducks. We crossed the island to the center of town. The picture above shows the clock tower on the island.
As the Spokane River splits around these islands it crashes down a series of falls. A small tram (seen in the picture above) takes passengers on a short ride from the upper level, down near the falls, and back. We thought about riding the tram, but it wasn't open until later in the morning. Instead we walked down past the falls, using the stairs and railings also visible in the picture above, then climbed back up to the top and crossed over the gorge on the Monroe Street Bridge (far left).
Crossing the big bridge took us back to the north side of the river, blocks from where we started, but we crossed a footbridge back onto the islands again. We made sure we saw everything... everything that wasn't closed to construction, anyway. And it lengthened our walk. By the time we trudged back up the hotel hill, hot and tired, we'd walked almost 5 miles. Time for lunch!
