100 Mile Walk: Day Three

[This post is part of a series detailing Cale and my plans for each leg of our 100 mile walk to Great Wolf. Our goal is to establish a safe route that follows sidewalks and trails as much as possible, and provides good places to stop, refuel, and refresh along the way. We actively solicit your suggestions if you know the area we will be walking through.]

Looking at Day Three of Cale and my 100 mile journey, it seems relatively unexciting. We will follow the Pacific Highway for pretty much all of the 15 mile journey.

Start: Cedarbrook Lodge, 9:00am
End: Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino, 5:00pm
Total distance: 14.9 miles

Breakfast: Cedarbrook Lodge
Snack: Anywhere along the road
Lunch: Pac Island Grill
Dinner: Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino

Morning

Start: Cedarbrook Lodge
End: Pac Island Grill
Distance: 9.0 miles
Time: 4 hours (9:00am to 1:00pm with breaks)

There are sidewalks, crosswalks, gas stations, and convenience stores for the first two thirds of the walk, so Cale and I will want for little during the first part of the walk, except perhaps quiet and pretty views. For food, the Cedarbrook Lodge provides a complimentary breakfast that is supposed to be pretty good, so we will fill up there before we head out. There's a 7-11 at the intersection of the Pacific Highway and 200th where Cale and I could buy snacks for the road, but given the large number of places to stop along the road, snacks do not seem like they will be hard to come buy.

Starting at the Commons at Federal Way, the last 5 miles will be along the shoulder of a four lane road. The shoulder seems reasonably wide and well marked, and the traffic light, but we will need to be alert for the afternoon segment. There are also fewer places to make pit stops, so we should be sure to have snacks, water, and empty bladders by the time we pass the Commons. I think we will aim to have lunch here.

The Pac Island Grill provides Hawaiian fare, so perhaps Cale and I will eat there to remember the trip the two of us took last year to Hawaii. Other nearby options include Salty's and all of the usual chains. And if 9 miles feels too long for our morning segment, we could also stop just 7.3 miles in at Kwan Tip Thai (29426 Pacific Highway), which gets good reviews on Yelp.

Afternoon Segment

Start: Pac Island Grill
End: Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino
Distance: 6.4 miles
Time: 3 hours (2:00pm to 5:00pm)

The afternoon segment is relatively short, but without sidewalks walking will require our attention. While our goal will be to power through to the Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino fairly quickly, I expect we will stop to rest along the way. The Brooklake Christian School is about 3 miles in, at S 356th Street, and might have a playground for Cale to run around on. We'll be walking on a Sunday, so classes won't be in session. About a mile on from there, there is a cemetery (Gethsemane Catholic Cemetery) that might be a nice place to get off the road and away from the cars for a few minutes to enjoy some peace and tranquility.

Our destination is a casino, which I chose because I think Cale will have fun with the surreal experience to be had within a casino. I had a momentary fear that we would not be able to stay, given the Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino's website states: "Registered guests must be 21 years of age or older." When I called, however, they confirmed that Cale is welcome as long as I am over 21. For dinner, we'll head to the casino's Pacific Rim Buffet. I think Cale would prefer the lobster buffet at the ECQ I-5, but it looks like he would have to be of age for that.