Picture a perfect summer day, and chances are your thoughts will take you to Alki Beach Park, a long beach strip that runs from Alki Point to Duwamish Head on Elliott Bay. It's a great spot for a 2.5 mile walk any time of year, and in the summer draws joggers, rollerbladers, volleyball players, beachcombers, sunbathers, bicyclists and strollers out to enjoy the sun.

The widened path accommodates a lot of folks, and there's plenty of parking along Alki Ave. SW. There are picnic tables, a bathhouse housing an art studio, and a restroom at the south (Alki Point) end of the beach, and there you'll find the monument to the arrival of the first white settlers on November 13, 1851.

The water temperature ranges from 46 to 56 degrees Fahrenheit.