Light Rail "Connect" Celebration: Two New Stations, Two Lines, One System

Thank heavens for Sound Transit's volunteer ambassadors who tried to manage the intense flow of riders into the South Bellevue train station. Everyone wanted to be the first to cross the lake. We were all literally crammed in like a can of sardines. (Dogs Out of panic, some departed at the next station.  We all rode free this day, but starting Monday agency ambassadors on Line 2 will be looking for boarding tickets.

Pam joined in on the fun :) 

We made it to the Judkins Park "Connect" celebration starting from the Redmond Marymoor station.  (Parking at the Redmond Downtown station is problematic.) Thousands attended.  I especially liked the Cascade Bicycling Club booth.  Most everything was small, tented merchandizing booths. 

The community art center was fabulous. Local artists painted on three panels. 

A video of people lined up for miles trying to get home from the celebration. Pam and I took a bus instead.😂 We got off at the Mercer Island light rail station then home to the Marymoor station, where our car was parked.  Who knows what hour or day these people would make it home.  Some express!

-- Bob Yoder, (click images to enlarge)

   3/26/2026

The Redmond "Heron Rookery"

 

The Heron rookery, minus birds and trees

My wife and puppy are in the middle-third of this large unforested portion of the Heron Rookery.  There's a lot of dirt behind me that you can't see.  Unfortunately, the trees that once stood there are gone.  No one seems to know why the trees died off. A quandary, since there are no stumps. 

 

A must see short video on the history of the herons and rookery forest is HERE. 

The 4.6 acre open space site is located on the southwest corner of Bear Creek Parkway and Leary Way in Redmond, Washington. It stands at the entrance to Downtown Redmond and features what's left of an urban forest and a trail that runs through the middle.  The city lists it as a park with use for hiking.  

The infamous Workshop Tavern, long torn down abutted the rookery.  It was an historic establishment serving Redmond's first hamburgers and beer.