Kayaking by the Boeing 737 MAX factory

All the Boeing 737 airplanes you see around the world (including the latest version, the infamous MAX) come from just one location: the massive Boeing plant in Renton, at the southern tip of Lake Washington. It's a huge complex where you can see 737s in various stages of assembly and where there is a small airport from which the brand new airplanes take off. What most people don't know, however, is that squeezed between the plant and the airstrip there is a small (and very narrow) public park: the Cedar River Trail Park. It's a lovely little park on the east margin of the Cedar river that among other recreation facilities has a small boat launch, from which I launched my kayak today.

It was a wonderful day for paddling on the lake and the waters were calm and transparent. The cool thing about paddling here is that you can get really close to some brand spanking new 737 MAXes: in fact, I could even see some Boeing employees working overtime on one of them this Saturday morning. In addition, you can get really close to the airstrip, where you can see plenty of warnings about not getting too close because of the jet blast. There were no 737 takeoffs today (it is a Saturday, after all) but I'm looking forward to coming again during the week to see (from a safe distance) some 737 jets flying above me. On the other hand, there were a number of bald eagles flying by, plus some more birds like geese, ducks and seagulls. Given that, even if you don't have a small boat, it is still a great idea to come check this park to see the lake and the marine life.